Chalkbeat reports that Eva Moskowitz wrote a letter to parents of students in her high school, explaining why 70% of the teachers left in one year.
High expectations are hard on everyone, she says. Draconian punishment is not easy.
But in the end, her methods pay off, she says. Only 33% of KIPP graduates persist to finish college. Of course, we have no idea how many of Eva’s 16 high school graduates will finish college because they graduated only a month ago.
Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy High School for the Liberal Arts may have set a record: 70% of its Faculty left in one year.
Mercedes Schneider cites a story in the Wall Street Journal that says only 20 of 67 staff members will return in the fall. Of course, it’s not yet August, so that number could get worse when school opens.
Some of those who left complained about the “punitive culture.” Or the “rigid discipline” or “harsh policies.” Some first-year teachers quit teaching altogether.
Schneider notes:
“In June 2018, Moskowitz’s high school graduated 16 students, or 22% of the original 73 first graders from 2007.
“Maybe some of the remaining 2007 first graders were moved back a grade midyear (can you imagine??), so maybe, like some of those exiting SA high school teachers, they are technically still tethered to Eva’s World.
“Bright spot, though: At least the percentage of returning SA high school teachers is higher than the percentage of students who made it all the way through from first grade to high school graduation in 2018.”
When you read this, you can see why Eva needs to train her own teachers. Her methods are different from that of other schools. And with this kind of turnover, she must face a perennial teacher shortage.
NYC Educator, aka high school teacher Arthur Goldstein, opines on the plight of Eva Moskowitz, the charter chain CEO who is paid $782,000 a year to get high test scores and show that it is easy if you are willing to weed out the slackers.
Back in the good old days (for her) of the Bloomberg-Klein years, she called the tune. Klein gave her anything she wanted. He would kick kids out of their public school and give Eva the space; he would kick kids with disabilities out of their home school and give the space to Eva.
It is harder now. The schools are overcrowded. De Blasio is afraid to get into a fight with her, because she and her billionaire buddies kicked him senseless when he tried that.
Space is tight, so tight that in 2016, Eva spent $68 million to buy a condo for 2 new schools in prime Manhattan real estate.
The next time Ivanka Trump or Campbell Brown comes to visit her model schools, she needs a beautiful space in which to show her achievements. Who knows when Betsy DeVos herself might show up?
But NYC Educator sheds no tears for her.
No compassion for the privileged, Arthur?
Teacher educator Alan Singer is one of the most persistent critics of the draconian disciplinary policies of Eva Moskowitz’s charter chain, which is celebrated for its sky-high test scores. In this post, he reviews her “great” literacy curriculum and finds it not so great.
He bristles at her repeated use of the word “great,” which keeps reminding him of Donald Trump. Great, great, great! The best! None better!
He reminds us that what is not so great about the Success Academy charter chain is its treatment of children, its high teacher turnover, and its incessant boasting.
He reviews her curriculum and notes:
According to Eva’s “great” curriculum, (1) Great writers always have a strong, key idea; (2) Great writers always include evidence that develops, supports, or proves their idea; (3) Great writers always organize their writing so that it’s simple and clear and avoids redundancy; (4) Great writers always reread their writing and make it better by revising; (5) Great writers always check that their grammar, punctuation, and spelling are correct.
I think Eva should have included a sixth component in her guidelines for “great writers.” Great writers do not plagiarize. These “tactics” appear to come come straight from the New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards without any citation.
Gary Rubinstein learned something new from a Success Academy press release. It was supposed to demonstrate the chain’s “low” attrition rate, to explain why the 73 first grade students in the original class dwindled to only 16 high school graduates. But Gary noticed something unintended: how many students were left back.
State Supreme Court Judge Debra J. Young ruled that Success Academy can’t certify its own teachers. The chain, New York City’s largest, has very high teacher turnover and wanted to bypass the normal standards and certification process to ease its teacher shortage. It gained the approval of the State University of New York charter committee, which consists of four businessmen appointed by pro-charter Governor Andrew Cuomo. The New York State Department of Education and the New York State United Teachers sued to block the lowered standards.
Judge Young rejected Success Academy and the SUNY charter committee.
“The judge’s ruling upends the plans of the city’s largest charter school network, Success Academy, and wipes out a legislative victory that New York’s charter sector thought it had won — though the decision will likely not be the end of the legal battle.
“The regulations, approved by the State University of New York in October 2017, were designed to give charter schools more discretion over how they hired teachers. They eliminated the requirement that teachers earn master’s degrees and allowed charter schools authorized by SUNY to certify their teachers with as little as a month of classroom instruction and 40 hours of practice teaching.
“Some charter networks argued their existing in-house training programs are more useful to new teachers than the training required for certification under state law.
“But the rule was quickly challenged by the State Education Department and the state teachers union, which filed separate lawsuits that were joined in April. They argued that SUNY overstepped its authority and charged that the rule change would lead to children being taught by inexperienced and unqualified teachers…
The ruling was issued Tuesday by State Supreme Court Judge Debra J. Young, who wrote that the new certification programs were illegal because they fell below the minimum requirements issued by the state….
“The state’s top education officials — Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa — have long seemed offended by the new regulations. On a panel last year, Elia said, “I could go into a fast food restaurant and get more training than that.””
SUNY plans to appeal.
The privatized charter sector has spawned a mutual protection society.
Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy needs teachers. Despite the charter chain’s glorious test scores, the work environment is not good. Teachers drop like flies under the pressure of imposing rigid discipline on children of color.
So SA teamed up with The New Teachers Project, now known as TNTP, which was originally created by Michelle Rhee (although some say Wendy Kopp was the real brains behind the startup).
The two organizations need one another. SA needs teachers, TNTP has a desperate need for revenue.
A happy marriage.
In a provocative and insightful article, Alan Singer wonders why Chalkbeat did not cover the student unrest at Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy?
He follows the money and sees who is funding Chalkbeat. How can Chalkbeat be independent when it is funded by reformers and its editor-in-chief thinks that SA is the best education she has ever seen?
And then there is this: SA is flooded with more money than any school in America:
Since January 2018, Chalkbeat New York has posted eight articles on New York’s Success Academy Charter School Network. The most recent article covered the graduation ceremony held for the network high schools SIXTEEN graduating seniors at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. An April article featured the Success Academy’s “Slam the Exam” test rally at the 19,000 seat Barclay’s Arena in Brooklyn. The bill for a 2013 high school graduation held at Barclay Center was $60,000.
According to its webpage, “Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization committed to covering one of America’s most important stories: the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education. We are mission-driven, in that we believe that every child deserves an excellent education, and that a strong press is vital to making that happen. Yet we are also fiercely independent, in that we do not take a position on the best path for achieving equity.” The webpage also stresses Chalkbeat’s commitment to local news coverage.
I do not understand why Chalkbeat did not cover student protests at the Success Academy Charter School Network’s high schools during the 2017-2018 academic year, especially since the protests were covered in New York’s regular press and in other web news magazines. Complaints about the cost of a new dress code and January 2018 protests against an oppressive disciplinary code were covered by the political website Politico. The Wall Street Journal had a feature on “growing pains” at the Network’s two high schools in March 2018. Student protests about unfair summer homework assignments were reported on in the Daily News. None of these issues were covered by Chalkbeat.
How many public schools can rent a stadium for $60,000 for a test-prep rally? 0.
Last year, SA rented Radio City Music Hall. No word on the cost of that very expensive venue.
Next year, maybe Madison Square Garden or Yankee Stadium.
How many schools can hold a graduation ceremony for 16 students in one of NYC’s most significant concert halls? Singer should find out how much that ceremony cost. It may have been almost as much as the Barclay’s Center and so much more prestigious.
P.S. We still don’t know what happened to the “lone scholar” who was on the senior class rolls until just a few weeks before graduation. Did his shirt tail hang out? Did she forget to walk in a straight line? Did she fail to “track” the teacher?
Gary Rubinstein has been watching the progress of the 83 students who were in Success Academy’s first class.
By the time they reached fourth grade, their number had shrunk to 59.
By ninth grade, there were 26.
A few months ago, it appeared there would be 17 graduates.
But, wait, Eva handed out only 16 diplomas!
Where is the missing scholar?
If you have any clues, please let Gary know or post them here.
For years, Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Chain in New York City has boasted about its test scores. Gary Rubinstein wondered how her students performed on the Regents Algebra 2 exam. He has been watching and waiting for two years. At last they were posted, and the results were unimpressive, especially for a school that boats so much about its math scores.
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