Blogger Peter Goodman reports that a last-minute deal was struck in the closing hours of the legislative session in New York State. Charter schools authorized by the State University of New York (which includes Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy schools) will not be required to hire professional, certified teachers. This is yet more evidence that charter schools are not public schools. Teachers in public schools must be professionals, with appropriate professional education and certification. To become a public school teacher, applicants must pass three different tests.
Goodman writes:
“Within days of the end of the special session of the state legislature the SUNY Board of Trustees approved a new regulation – teachers in SUNY authorized charter schools are no longer required to be certified by the State Department of Education – charter school networks can now self-certify teachers: no college courses, no student teaching, no pre-service tests. Politico writes,
“New York City’s charter school sector appears to have secured a significant victory in the 11th hour of the Legislative session Wednesday night, with a set of regulations that will make it much easier for large charter networks to hire more uncertified teachers.
“All other teachers must complete a program approved by the state education department as well as meet CAEP Standards (Council on the Accreditation Of Education Programs) and pass three separate tests: the edTPA (a self-assessment developed by Stanford), Educating All Students (multiple choice and essay test emphasizing teaching children with disabilities and English language learners) and a Content Specialty Test, also multiple choice and essay testing knowledge and literacy within their area of expertise. SUNY teachers would not have to meet ANY of these requirements.”
Charters are already free to hire as much as 30% of staff from uncertified persons.
Bottom line: the public schools have genuine standards for teachers. The charters authorized by SUNY have no standards at all for their teachers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Commenting on your blog is like preaching to the choir. Charters were supposedly brought into existence to show us novel ways to improve education then pass their great ideas along to the regular schools. So now we are lowering the standards to allow these charters to survive. I struggle everyday not to feel overwhelmed with the ignorance and greed we are drowning in.
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Nicely said: “…we are lowering the standards to allow these charters to survive.” Charter school profiteering not only sucks up public money, its lack of quality control diminishes and dismantles expectations inside the entire school system.
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This is part of the anyone can teach and anyone can open a school mentality that has been propagated by networks of billionaire funded foundations who support “free-market” education. The anti-intellectualism and hostility toward institutions of higher education is well documented in this 2017 report from the Pew Research Center. The project to dismantle democracy requires a large-scale shift in public views of trustworthy institutions. A few of the shifts are documented in the Pew Surveys
All over the internet you will see that critics of the emerging authoritarian state, and the dangerous actions of the Trump administration are put down as nothing more than complaints of disgruntled Hillary supporters.
http://www.people-press.org/2017/07/10/sharp-partisan-divisions-in-views-of-national-institutions
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I would think that it would be a violation of equal protection for students in charter schools if charters receiving public school dollars are not required to meet the very same standards for teachers as the public schools.
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That is an excellent point, SomeDAM.
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Where’s FLERP! When you need him/her?
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Love that. Who would be best to challenge this in court? Advocacy for kids is what this is about.
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Good catch.
Remember that not so long ago charters touted themselves as educational quality-promoters [aka the “rising tide that lifts all boats”] when in reality they were engaged in what they now openly push for and mandate—
A RaceToTheBottom as their tsunami of “innovative disruption” [aka “creative corruption”] quashes even the hope of excellence in learning and teaching for the vast majority.
With the caveat, of course, that those at the top (e.g., owners and top admins) make out like bandits.
But no need to feel uneasy because “it’s all for the kids.”
Rheeally!
But not really…
😎
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Back to the good old days where young, unwed girls taught in one room school houses for pittance.
Is this new policy because charters are having difficulty finding anyone to teach so many hours for so little pay?
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I suspect that having Eva Moskowhips standing over her teachers with a whip might have something to do with it.
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On ABC’s GMA, the 4 co-hosts (including Stephanoupolis) praised the practice via an example of an Indiana contractor school graduate returning to teach in her prior school at the age of 18.
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If you had the seniors teaching juniors, juniors teaching sophomores,etc all you would need would be people like the person who had just graduated to teach the seniors.
That would save the school a huge amount of money.
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I bet there were some students older than her.
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Oh, come on Eva Moskowitz: can you really defend this nonsense in a public forum?
Parents beware!
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Moskowhips as demonstrated her ability to defend nonsense in a public forum time and again.
She either has no awareness or no shame in that regard.
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If you believe that traditional certification and training matter and you also oppose charter schools, then this deal ought to be cause for celebration. On the surface it may seem good for charters that they have been given the same flexibility in hiring as Sidwell Friends or the Dalton School, but in reality they have only hoisted themselves by their own petards. The quality of instruction in charters will quickly and obviously suffer, starting a cycle that will lead to closures and non-renewals. Chins up, everybody!!!
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First, experience has shown us that it’s quite naive to think that charters get closed for poor quality of instruction. If that were the case, there would be few left.
Second – and more importantly – even if the schools were eventually closed, I personally have some concerns for the kids currently in them. It just seems to me that the charters are admitting they can’t do what public schools do, which should be an immediate game over for them.
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It’s really kind of funny in a macabre way.
The Deformer’s have tried very hard to drive teachers out of the public schools by making the working conditions unbearable, but they have managed to make conditions at the charters even MORE unbearable so almost nobody wants to teach there.
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Around 30 charter schools in New York State (currently 295 charters are open) have been closed for some combination of poor performance, low enrollment, or staffing issues. https://nyti.ms/1C77SVI
The authorizers and local districts work to find families placements in other schools, including charters.
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Thanks, Tim, you proved my point.
Private schools like Sidwell and Dalton can hire at will.
Public schools must hire certified professional teachers.
Charter schools are private schools.
Thank you!
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Charters are open to any child living in New York State, free of charge. The student population served by NYS charters is 96% black and Latino, 80% economically disadvantaged, 15% special ed, and 6% ELL. Charters hold monthly board meetings subject to NYS open meetings laws. They must undergo annual financial audits as well as complete IRS Forms 990, all of which are publicly available. Charters in NYS are approved and overseen by two agencies, the Board of Regents and SUNY, whose officials are directly appointed by state legislators and the governor, who are held to account via free and open elections.
It remains very interesting that “best and wisest” schools like Dalton, Sidwell, Lakeside, etc do not insist on unionization and certification for their teachers.
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Tim,
You may be unaware of this, but Dalton and Sidwell choose their students. They do not enroll children with cognitive disabilities. They do not enroll children who don’t speak English. The overwhelming majority of their students come from very rich homes. They are easy to teach compared to classes that include all the children who would never be accepted at Dalton or Sidwell. Their classes are small–from 10-15. They have every imaginable advantage that public schools can’t afford.
The teacher who is hired to teach children of every race, condition, disability, and language must be well-trained and professional.
Private school teachers never face classes of high-need children.
Keep digging the hole you are in, Tim. This is fun.
Charter schools choose their students too. They are private schools.
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I’ve read repeatedly on this blog and in the comments that our society is cruel and deficient because it does not supply a Dalton-style education for all. It is interesting, then, that a key aspect of a Dalton-style education–freedom from unionization and certification–is opposed when it comes to a publicly funded and publicly accountable alternative to traditional zoned public schools.
The fact that some aspects of a charter school’s governance and labor arrangements are private does not mean they are not a public resource. Look at the NY and Brooklyn library systems as an analogous example.
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Tim,
Dalton is successful because it picks the students whose families can afford to pay and does not pick the kids who have disabilities, the kids who don’t speak English, and the kids who are hungry and homeless.
Teachers in public schools need professional training and certification because they teach all kids, not just the children of elites.
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Given the political climate in the country, t is very possible that a state will soon no longer require teacher certification for teachers. Will that mean that public schools no longer exist in that state? It would seem so if your definition of “public school” revolves around teacher certification.
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No certification means no teaching profession. Why doesn’t your university hire TFA as professors, even without a masters degree or Ph.D.? Why not let the local farmers teach courses? Or enthusiastic real estate agents teach chemistry because they grew up with a chemistry set?
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My University is free to hire anyone they like to teach the courses. There is no legal requirement that a faculty member have an advanced degree. Several of the full professors in the philosophy department at my graduate school had only B Phils for example.
In any case, my concern was that making the requirement of only hiring certified teachers the defining characteristic of what is a “public school” would mean that dropping that requirement in a state would result in there being no “public schools” in the state. Perhaps there are better defining characteristics of a school that would make it a “public school”
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Do you have to have a college degree to teach at Kansas University? If not, why not? Why require a college degree? Can high school students teach courses at KU?
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Well, if that’s the case, I would certainly recommend that no students apply to Kansas.
There are some (few) areas that I would say do not necessarily require an advanced degree.
These would for the most part be in the areas of the visual and performing arts.
Any faculty member in more academic areas, if they don’t have a graduate degree, had d@mned well better have proven his/her bona fides by being published or widely recognized.
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There is no law requiring a college degree to teach at Harvard, NYU, or my university. It may be the case that competition for students has driven institutions to have faculty with terminal degrees, but that is not the same as a law.
And of course the faculty with B Phils were world famous philosophers with extensive publication records. It there had been a legal requirement that all faculty have at least a Masters, they would never had been able to obtain a faculty position, and contemporary philosophy would have been the poorer for that.
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TE,
I GET IT. You believe that no degree is necessary to teach in higher education.
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Dr. Ravitch,
I think you misunderstand my position. On the major point, I think that teacher qualifications are not a good way to distinguish between “public schools” and other schools. Access and who pays the bill seems to me to be a better distinction.
On the minor point, I do not think it is a good idea to legally require faculty at colleges and universities to have terminal degrees. That is not the same thing as saying terminal degrees are not generally a good idea. Perhaps you could go to the Dean of the Tish School and ask if he/she would like a high school drop out like Al Pacino, a high school graduate like Jack Nicholson, or an actual college graduates (BAs only) like Anthony Hopkins or Glenn Close on the faculty at Tish.
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TE,
This comment suggests you don’t know what you are talking about. No one who teaches at NYU lacks a Ph.D.
Please go away. You are ignorant.
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Thank you Diane for bringing this egregious action to light. Much appreciated. Hope you enjoy this 3 minute capture of the need to take on these situations (specifically this one in NY) and professionalize teaching everywhere https://youtu.be/buuGRyHqlGw
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teachingeconomist and Tim unwittingly reveal what they REALLY believe charters are.
They compare them to private schools — which do NOT serve any student they don’t want to serve.
They compare them to colleges — which do NOT have any obligation to a student who fails to learn and drops out. (The comparison to Trump U. is so apt since he is the biggest fan of Tim’s favorite charter school Success Academy.)
It’s revealing that neither Tim nor teachingeconomist believe public education has anything to do with serving ALL students. Or, to be correct, CHARTERS should not be obligated to serve all students, says Tim and teaching economist. After all, private schools and colleges don’t serve all students so why should charters have to?
So much for the original claim that charters are going to solve the problems of failing public schools. Public schools must educate ALL students. And that means that if a child cannot be accommodated in a magnet school for gifted children, there is another school there where there is just as much effort made to teach the child.
Compare that to Tim’s beloved Success Academy where his beloved Eva Moskowitz- trained administrators know that once a child from the got to go lists is out of their schools, their obligation to that child is over. Kaput. Done. That child is someone else’s responsibility and the faster they can show him the door the better. Just like private schools that Tim says charters should be just like! Because their untrained teachers are very adept at teaching the kids who can be taught by their untrained teachers! And the ones that can’t are not their responsibility at all.
No wonder the NAACP wants a moratorium. Public schools don’t say “you are not my responsibility anymore”. Charters do. And their cheerleaders like Tim say that’s the best way of all because then they can use uncertified teachers just like privates!
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This situation is similar to the hiring of Chiefs for Change candidates for state superintendent jobs.
Louisiana’s BESE waived requirements in the hiring process for John White.
Citizens and media should demand politicians and their appointees stop oligarchy.
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What also should demand that members of the SUNY board of trustees have at least the thinking ability of a first grader.
But i know that may be asking too much.
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SUNY’s Board of Trustees should be embarrassed to be involved in this at all. It’s a fricking university! I wonder how the Trustees would feel if SUNY started hiring “professors” who had only bachelors degrees or associates degrees, and without a major in what they’re supposed to be teaching. (Bad enough that so many colleges are hiring so many adjunct faculty, rather than tenured facility, but at least the adjuncts have degrees, usually advanced degrees, in their subjects.)
I’m moving to New York to open a medical clinic. No, I have no degree in or experience in medicine, but I’m very interested in it, and have lots of ideas about it. And I expect that New York would allow me to hire clinic staff that have no degrees or credentials in medicine or nursing. How about it, Cuomo?
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Embarrassment presumes a minimal level of knowledge which it appears the SUNY board members lack.
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I just discovered that 15 of the 18 SUNY board of trustees are appointed by the governor.
No further explanation required.
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And look at the charter committee. All appointed by Cuomo.
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It’s hard to demand anything when you’re wiling to vote for the “lesser evil”.
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Louisiana voted for the greater evil.
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It’s hard to change anything when you are convinced that someone who is very likely to be progressive is just a “lesser evil” because you’ve fallen for propaganda.
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Dear Diane,
The battle by the NJ charter school lobby to reduce the qualifications for charter teachers and school leaders is covered here: http://www.nj.com/education/2017/02/christie_lower_charter_school_teacher_standards_re.html
Christie punished two of the State Board of Ed members whom he had appointed and who voted against the regulations to reduce charter school teacher and leader quality by replacing them on the state board: http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/05/26/some-unexpected-drama-for-staid-state-board-of-education/
Please let me know if you need additional information about this!
Thank you and hugs,
Julia
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It is amazing how they speak out of both sides of their mouths. They bash veteran teachers, and they and the Federal Government make it HARDER for traditional teachers to get licensed/certified, but they charge ahead for uncertified “teachers.” Makes no sense. Why have no government officials called them on the BS?
Do parents who choose, or have no choice but to choose when their neighborhood schools close, actually know that the teachers have no qualifications to teach? Certainly, the wealthy reformers would NOT choose this for their own kids, grandkids. Hey, why not hire high school graduates and give them a script? No college required. Is it going to come to that soon enough?
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Well, they’re already trying to shove (and have shoved) computer-driven instruction into the schools, including (and mainly) public schools. All you need then is one proctor per “classroom” of kids staring at computer screens. The proctors certainly don’t need to be certified or trained much in anything. They don’t even have to read a script.
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Just like the head of the department of education in WDC, no qualifications to hold that position.
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No qualifications needed to be governor of NY either.
As long as you have the same last name as a former popular governor, you’re a shoe in.
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I had to laugh at some of these comments (we still must have a sense of humor).
At the risk of having yet another comment from TE, I need to point out, TE, that you repeatedly misspelled the name of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. It’s TiSch, not Tish. You know…as in Meryl TiSch.
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