Gary Rubinstein: The Strange Case of the Disappearing Success Academy Videos

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1. Wendy Johnson-Niblick says:

   September 8, 2016 at 9:13 am

   Your article posted 6:02, PST. I was on SA’s vimeo page by 6:10, and all videos were either locked or gone, except for one about the soccer club. This supposedly so-great school is scared to even let people look at their strategies, apparently.

   Reply
2. Jack says:

   September 8, 2016 at 9:18 am

   “Sweet Jesus!”

   — Daniel Katz’ two-word response after watching a video of a couple of young Success Academy teachers demonstrating cutting edge Success Academy pedagogy:

   Ouch!

   Cheers to Jersey Jazzman, for finding this video and then getting this discussion going among veteran teachers’ opinions of the video:.

   First, here’s vimeo url of that video that was just made “private”

   Well, you’re going to have to used your imagination.

   However, you can read the withering critiques from veteran teachers (posted on Facebook):

   Jersey Jazzman –

   Dear followers who teach K-5: would you please take a few minutes and watch this training video from Success Academy?

   Katie Lapham

   “They need to be shut down. This is hideous.”

   Lynn Fedele

   I watched (mostly, I had to do some scrolling), but this lesson includes: An introduction that focuses solely on scores and score goals, over 5 minutes of lecturing about reading, no pre-reading or anticipatory set related to reading content, a 4-minute discussion of one child’s error, a score competition.

   It is pure test prep under rigid disciplinary conditions. I thought charters were supposed to be about innovation. There is nothing here that couldn’t be found in a classroom mid-nineteenth century, except maybe the bubble sheets. (The screen only shows a projected image of the reading passage.)

   Denise Concidine Funfsinn

   I was a 6th grade reading teacher. Lead teacher is not a reading teacher. She is an over the top cheerleader for inane testing. She turned me off at the start, but I persevered for 5 minutes. I feel so sorry for these kids.
   I gave up after watching it after six minutes. It was appalling to watch!

   Adrian DeVore
   I gave up after watching it after six minutes. It was appalling to watch!

   Suzanne Libourel

   I’m a bit late to the party, Jersey Jazzman, but I wanted to offer my perspective as a School Psychologist who works with 5th and 6th graders. My first thought was that there was way too much ‘teacher talk’ and way too little ‘student talk’.

   It was skill-and-drill with a shiny new coat of paint. Although the lead teacher stated that ‘we’ care about the thinking, it was clear that the sales pitch was focused on only the answers to the questions.

   My next thought was, what about the children who learn differently? What about the children who have slower processing speeds? What about the children who are uncomfortable being put on the spot to answer in front of the class? What about the children who have a different opinion about what the most important sentence is, and has a great reason for why their choice is important?

   This looks like more about creating widgets than creating thinkers.
   I gave up after watching it after six minutes. It was appalling to watch!

   Jenn Martin-Kochis
   Couldnt make it to the 1 minute mark!! What quality teacher spends day one psyching kids up for their pretest score (which can a 0and its still TOTALLY ok since they haven’t been taught anything yet…)instead of getting to know their students and building community in the classroom?!
   I gave up after watching it after six minutes. It was appalling to watch!

   Meño Mayorrga replied · 1 Reply
   Jameson Michelle
   Why was this posted? Is it to be considered exemplar? I mean I applaud their enthusiasm, they look young and maybe this is their first job?
   I gave up after watching it after six minutes. It was appalling to watch!

   Ladd Turner
   My biggest concern about the video is that -this- is what is used as a training video for new teachers. The objectives were not made clear and the lesson starts off with kids scoring themselves before a detailed explanation of the task is provided. Y…See More
   I gave up after watching it after six minutes. It was appalling to watch!

   Melissa Love Light Tomlinson
   I made it about half way through before I felt the stress that was created in this classroom and then had to stop. The assumption that all kids do not want to do their best, the call and response that is devoid after human nature, the purpose of learning this to get good test scores, the emphasis on how fast everything can get done, the lack of conversation with the students being replaced with ‘talking to’, the direct disregard for deep full understanding of what you read…disgusting
   I gave up after watching it after six minutes. It was appalling to watch!

   Suzanne Munk Brian Timbrouck
   HORRENDOUS! A “score” means nothing. Who is training these teachers? What kind of teacher thinks this is OK?
   Like · Reply · 1 · August 29 at 3:24pm

   Shoshanna Ramone
   So from day one they are taught testing drills, timed, and lectured at about test scores. This all seems extremely scripted, the children are visibly not excited to be there, and competition is encouraged, not love of learning and thinking skills.
   Like · Reply · 2 · August 29 at 3:30pm
   I gave up after watching it after six minutes. It was appalling to watch!

   Renee Goularte
   Well I lasted three minutes and I could not take any more. I can’t stand the way she is talking to the kids. She sounds like a football coach or something, not a teacher.

   Tina Andres
   I swear I can’t do it again, I just watched a different one last night and my blood pressure went up. Nope, not doing it to myself again. All I know is that hell hath no fury like the fury any teacher treating my own kids like this will receive.

   Cecilia Palao-Vargas
   :47, tuning out because I detest the stress and emphasis on measuring your self-worth based on a number. My child would panic, listening to this BullShit!

   Vicky Smith
   This is suppose to be the “first score of the year” which leads me to believe that this is one of the first days of school. It is perplexing that ALL of these children have their behavior “cues” down pat. My question is; where are the students with b…See More

   Ami L. McChesney replied · 1 Reply
   Bert Van Dyke
   This is pushing a ‘hard sell’ on children. Entirely invalid, non-educative, and likely harmful. Distorted purpose. Actresses, not educators.

   Emmy Thevanesan
   My thoughts are similar to when I saw the video of the Success teacher who ripped up the kid’s math paper. First, at least some of those kids are sick to their stomachs with nerves from being forced into an environment like that. And that is criminal. Second, these teachers will one day become parents, may actually learn a thing or two about childhood and adolescent development, and will be sickened by what they did to these kids. Or, charter school teaching is just a stepping stone for them and they’ll never look back.

   Steve Spangler
   This is hideous. The score becomes the child’s identity, and the teacher sells it as if it were the most exciting thing since sliced bread. Actually looks like a training video for selling used cars.

   Andy Mitchell
   50 points for Slytherin! Potter, there are consequences for thinking. De-TENT-tion this Friday evening.

   Mark Collins
   Download for possible use in an abuse trial. This is nuts.
   (This video) Should be blasted on the airways as a B roll on an endless loop.

   Reply
   • Jack says:

     September 9, 2016 at 11:20 pm

     Over on Jersey Jazzman’s Facebook page, Kevin Reed provoked a spit-take on my I-mac screen with his link comparing the now un-viewable Success Academy female teacher duo to a brief scene in the teen classic “FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH”.

     It’s the scene where the two cheerleaders are overly enthusiastic one moment, then attempting to manipulate through fabricated victimhood and through guilt a moment later.

     I’ve seen the original Success Academy video of the two female teachers and Kevin is spot on. The two S.A, teachers are quite similar to the two cheerleaders in this video:
     
     Note: the brunette is played by Bruce Springsteen’s kid sister Pamela.

     Reply
3. Jack says:

   September 8, 2016 at 9:28 am

   As for Eva — and it was she who made that call — removing these videos from public view, some cliches come to mind:

   “That which we hide is that of which we are ashamed.”

   “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you hide nothing.”

   Also, regarding their claims of higher test scores, these videos are similar to a video expose of the meat industry. You get to see how the sausage (higher test scores) is made, and it’s not pretty. It’s also analogous to steroids. You may get short-term results — impressive athletic performance — from using them, but you do permanent long-term damage in the process, and the effect doesn’t last.

   One more cliche: in Citizen Kane, is asked his opinion of Kane’s guardian, the wealthy Thatcher, with the interviewer prompting Bernstein, “Thatcher made a lot of money.”

   Bernstein, “There’s no trick to making a lot of money .. if all you want … is to make a lot of money.”

   It’s the same thing with higher standardized test scores. If that’s all you want, it can be done… even if you have to cheat like they did in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

   Reply
4. Chiara says:

   September 8, 2016 at 9:30 am

   This is kind of interesting. It’s on a charter school Trump is visiting.

   “The original site claimed the school was managed by Mosaica, a for-profit company that went belly up and was bought by another for-profit company, Pansophic Learning. It is not clear if Pansophic manages CASSA.

   According to its 2014 990, CASSA had a deficit of $1.8 million.

   In its 2014 990, CASSA did not disclose rent but in 2013 it paid $812k in rent. The property is owned by a for-profit Oregon company. Charter School Capital which buys property and then rents to charter schools. ”

   Besides the mystery of who owns or operates the school, does he know it’s ranked D or F by ed reform’s own grade scale?

   Then there’s this:

   “The company that manages CASSA, ACCEL, is a subsidiary of Pansophic Learning which is owned by a Saudi Businessman”

   Charter School Capital is new to me. Out of Oregon, apparently. There’s an “Oregon” in Ohio, so maybe it’s a city not the state? I also didn’t know Mosaica had been purchased by a larger company. Mosaica runs a lot of Michigan and Ohio charters. These “local” charters are international?

   http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/7/1567715/-School-Trump-visiting-tomorrow-suddenly-changes-website

   Reply
5. LeftCoastTeacher says:

   September 8, 2016 at 9:35 am

   I had a reformster principal a few years ago who made and posted videos on our school website. Parents (and district legal advisers) were upset that children’s images had been published without written permission. Students have a right to privacy. I’m not aware of what caused Suppress Academy to remove the videos, but it might have been complaints from parents or legal. Let’s face it, Suppress has a history of questionable uses of children to advertise its brand.

   Reply
   • NYC public school parent says:

     September 8, 2016 at 10:08 am

     I am certain that parents complained! But no doubt the parents complaining were the affluent college educated parents (they have an ever growing number of those) who want to pretend their kids are at a school just like the fancy private schools their richer friends with smarter kids attend and get embarrassed if it seems like their own kids are treated like little animals to be trained and not children.

     Success Academy doesn’t care one whit what the parents of their at-risk kids think but they care a huge amount what their affluent parents think. Those affluent parents only deign to send their kids to “special” Success Academy schools that have very few of the at-risk kids because while they like Success Academy, they certainly would never subject their own kids to the kind of demeaning treatment that the kids in the video get. And you don’t see quite the level of dog training 5 year olds in the Success Academy schools that are mostly white and middle class as you did in the video. Obviously, their parents are embarrassed to have their friends think that their own kids are treated like this — stickers placed on their children’s foreheads if they don’t sit perfectly straight with eyes never ever leaving the teacher’s.

     When the affluent parents complain, Success Academy hops to it immediately! The affluent parents didn’t like the extra long days because their kids had expensive private lessons and sports they needed to be at. So Success Academy – after years of claiming the long days were part of their “special sauce” — suddenly dropped them! Who cares if most of the parents who weren’t rich liked the long days. It’s all about pleasing the parents whose kids are easier and cheaper to get brag worthy test results with because people are starting to question why a charter school with the best results in the state would have double digit attrition rates. The college educated, middle class parents said they wouldn’t stay if their kids couldn’t do their after school activities. So poof go the long days. And poof go the videos.

     Reply
6. FLERP! says:

   September 8, 2016 at 9:40 am

   People need to learn how to download streaming videos.

   Reply
   • NYC public school parent says:

     September 8, 2016 at 10:50 am

     True. But fortunately Gary Rubinstein managed to capture a screen grab of the moment the happy and smiling Success Academy teacher places the “sticker of distinction” on the forehead of the 5 or 6 year old child who had previously been corrected because her legs had become a little uncrossed. And when I watched the video I was nearly certain I also witnessed that student committing the crime of once looking slightly away from the teacher’s eyes before moving her eyes back. And while it is true that the student was sitting with back straight up at the beginning, I noticed a very slight slumping of the shoulders as the teacher shouted the story at the class with her frequent interruptions.

     I wonder if that’s something that parents sign on to when they sign the contract promising to do all that is asked of them in order to enroll their kid. I can just imagine how it reads:

     “At various times while engaged in learning, your 5 year old son or daughter may suddenly have a sticker placed on his forehead and will be asked by the teacher not to remove it under penalty of further punishment. Please do not object as this is the way we have found works best to train your children to become proper scholars. Please do not question our Ivy League educated teachers as to whether their own Kindergarten experience required them to sit with legs crossed, back straight, hands folded and eyes never leaving the teacher for long periods of time when they were 5 years old. Please do not question the teachers as to whether their own Kindergarten schooling included a second adult whose job it was to put stickers on the foreheads of “chosen” students during read alouds to signify something. Just be reassured that these young Ivy League graduates who teach your children for us understand perfectly that your children need this “special sauce” to turn them into scholars while they themselves did not need a school that practiced “forehead stickering” due to their obvious natural “scholarliness”. Your job is not to question them but to obey them as they understand exactly what is needed to teach your child. And if you don’t like it, you are welcome to give up this incredibly well-funded charter school with all the bells and whistles and return to that failing and decrepit underfunded public school down the block that takes all of our rejects (oops, I mean all the students whose parents “voluntarily” pulled them out of our wonderful school). Thank you. Signed, The Success Academy Team looking out for your child”.

     Reply
7. Lloyd Lofthouse says:

   September 8, 2016 at 10:35 am

   Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:

   Learn more about why parents should not trust Eva Moskowitz with their children? The autocratic, often child abusing, publicly funded, private sector, secretive, Success Academy Corporate Charter Schools in New York City treat Children like future prison inmates. Grade school should not be a U.S. Marine Corps boot camp.

   Reply
8. Jon Lubar says:

   September 8, 2016 at 12:05 pm

   In an echo chamber like Suppress Academies, it is often the case that the left hand has no knowldge of what the right hand is doing, and/or neither are able to predict the response to their actions by “outsiders” not ensconced in the hubris of their monoculture echo chamber. This all could be as simple as somebody in power or who was responsible for publicity thinking this was a great idea until they discovered that it really wasn’t. When it comes to student and family privacy concerns, I wonder if that is an issue here or not since many schools offer parents a release form that allows use of their kids images etc. for non-commercial purposes. Suppress is the kind of place where signing such forms could be stealth-mandatory in the same way that attending pro charter rallies while wearing company T-shirts has been for Suppress families.

   Reply
   • Duane Swacker says:

     September 8, 2016 at 12:20 pm

     “. . . the left hand has no knowldge of what the right hand is doing, and/or neither are able to predict the response to their actions by “outsiders” not ensconced in the hubris of their monoculture echo chamber.”

     Just one of the many control aspects of control fraud.

     Reply
   • NYC public school parent says:

     September 8, 2016 at 12:55 pm

     They were proud of these videos. It never occurred to the people who oversee all the training of teachers that their model teachers are actually quite terrible and awful.

     No doubt some of the educated and affluent parents they are desperately marketing to got word to Eva about how repulsive this kind of education is. She no doubt reassured them that their blonde little darlings would never have to experience a sticker on their forehead since that is reserved for those at-risk kids who need humiliation and shame.

     Reply
9. Jack says:

   September 9, 2016 at 12:41 am

   Campbell Brown, who serves on the Board of Directors for SUCCESS ACADEMY, keeps claiming these Success Academy schools are cutting edge, miracle-working schools, schools that every child should experience:

   ( 01:36 – )
   
   ( 01:36 – )
   CAMPBELL BROWN: ” … I’m a soldier in Eva’s Army. … the accomplishments of Eva and the team that makes (the SUCCESS ACADEMY schools) possible. It amazes me that anyone would dare try to put a chokehold on the most exciting, innovative things happening in public education right now.

   Therefore, I keep asking this question… if treating children like they do in these godawful videos is so gosh-darn great …

   Then why aren’t Campbell Brown and Dan Senor’s two little boys enrolled in a SUCCESS ACADEMY school? Why are they instead currently attending the rich kids’ private school Heschel, a school where to two Senor boys, and the rest of the Heschel student body, are not subjected to ANY of this SUCCESS ACADEMY bullsh#%, where they attend a school (Heschel) where the pedagogy, the classroom management, the curriculum, the overall philosophy of how kids get educated IS THE DIAMETRIC OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING THAT GOES ON IN SUCCESS ACADEMY?

   I’m going to keep asking this question to both Campbell and her allies until mother-freakin’ Doomsday until one of them answers it.

   Reply

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