Leonie Haimson, one of New York City’s leading people-public education advocates, has written a comprehensive appraisal of Mike Bloomberg’s education record as mayor. You will not read a more deeply knowledgeable article anywhere.
In his multimillion dollar ad campaign, Bloomberg presents himself as a champion of children. If you read Haimson’s article, you will see that he was a champion of charter schools. You will also see that he was autocratic, condescending towards parents, and disrespected educators.
Please read it.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If your site had a like button, I would press it. Excellent work Leonie Haimson again! Also, I recommend following the link to the related article about a public school in Red Hook. I will be sharing both!
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
It should be illegal for schools to be under the control of the mayor’s office, like Chicago and NY. Schools should controlled by a local board of local people.
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Chalkbeat’s overview is also worth reviewing:
https://chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2020/02/25/michael-bloomberg-new-york-city-education-research/
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Leonie Haimson’s appraisal is far more accurate in capturing an era where propaganda outweighed everything else. Programs were announced, declared a success on Day 1, then quietly disappeared. many of the city’s best principals quit,replaced by whiz kids who had taught for a few years. Ask most educators who served during Bloomberg’s 12 years, and the answer is negative. Graduation rates, as Chalkbeat points out, were inflated by fraudulent credit recovery. The A-F report cards were a joke. The school in my neighborhood won an A one year, was celebrated by Bloomberg and Klein, then fell to an F the next year. No one knows why. The test scores were never credible. In 2009, Bloomberg praised a principal where scores went through the roof. She collected a $15,000 bonus and retired. The next year the scores in her”miracle” school collapsed. If you like “the old razzle-dazzle,” you would have loved that era of free spending and chaotic experimentation.
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I teach at a school that went from a 5 to a 1 in one year in Tennessee’s rating system. The difference in one year or another in the school is imperceptible. These rating systems are hogwash.
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rating systems are useful ONLY to the reform game players: they should be a number one removal issue for all districts wishing to get back to pre-testing normalcy
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Joel Klein funded the NYU Ed Research Alliance and chaired its board. I was banned and never invited even to open meetings.
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Tremendous work by Leonie. Bloomberg congratulates himself for his managerial genius in all things. On the debate stage yesterday he cited the great work he did on behalf of NYC teachers, students and parents.
This article, which is worthy of feature story treatment in the NY Times Magazine, debunks every false claim Michael Bloomberg makes (takes credit for) in exercising mayoral control over NYC public education.
I would underscore, as instructive, the way Bloomberg misused testing and the exaggerated reporting of test results in 2005 and 2009–to serve his interests in both re-election years. His lack of conscience and condescension continue to be his MO as he tries to buy the presidency in the mistaken belief that wealth equals superiority and demonstrated leadership ability. Wrong!
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Bloomberg relied on credit recovery and Campbell’s Law to get those grad rates up. How many went to college and earned a degree?
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If the article had appeared before the S.C. debate, Bloomberg would have been challenged on his rosy picture of the schools.
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Yes. But it was good to see him get smacked around for his unqualified support of corporate charter schools. Part of the notion that private sector is always better than public.
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Diane: “Bloomberg relies heavily on credit recovery and Campbell’s Law to get those grad rates up. How many went to college and earned a degree?”
https://research.steinhardt.nyu.edu/site/research_alliance/2019/06/28/how-have-nycs-high-school-graduation-and-college-enrollment-rates-changed-over-time/
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So many lies during the Bloomberg era that it’s hard to tell the truth from spin. Those of us who live here assume every data he produced was spin.
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