Archives for category: New York
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Is New York Paying Too Much for Education?

By dianeravitch
August 31, 2013 //
17

Governor Cuomo likes to complain that New York spends too much for education. That was one of his reasons for wanting a “death penalty” for schools with low test scores.

Instead of doing anything to help them improve, like expanding Pre-K or reducing class sizes, he wants to “kill” those schools by eliminating democratic control of education–that is, by state takeover, mayoral control, or privatization. None of these three measures will help the kids. They just wipe out local control. Where is the logic?

Makes no sense, but that’s his story and he is sticking to it.

This reader has a different take on the Governor’s use of data:

 

Governor Cuomo complains that New York spends more per child than any other state.

He advocates data driven instruction.

Here are two pieces of data that our esteemed governor should consider before he “executes” failing schools and fires teachers based on unproven standardized tests.

Average cost per year to educate a child in New York State – $18,618.

Average cost per year to incarcerate a prisoner in New York State – $60,000.

http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/21/which-places-spent-most-per-student-on-education/

http://shnny.org/research/the-price-of-prisons-what-incarceration-costs-taxpayers/

 

Categories Class size, Cuomo, Andrew, New York

What in the World Were State Officials Thinking?

By dianeravitch
August 31, 2013 //
18

Howard Schwach taught for more than 25 years, developed
test items for the state, and worked on curriculum development for
special education students. He
recently reviewed sample items from New York’s Common Core tests
and professed astonishment.

 

He wrote:

 

From the
first moment that I looked at some practice tests for the English
Language Arts tests that were given recently, I knew that the kids
and their teachers were in trouble. In his long
experience as a teacher and test writer and curriculum developer,
he said, “there was one guiding principal: never test
students on skills or material that you have not taught and
practiced. To do so not only would have been
unfair to the students, but it would have made the tests unreliable
and downright useless at a measure of student ability and
knowledge. That is why, when I looked at the
practice test, my first thought was that the questions were in the
deep end of the pool when the kids were just learning how to
swim. One that stuck in my mind was a passage
from a 1920’s magazine about aspirin. Because
the source article was written nearly 100 years ago, it contained
some archaic language and syntax that would have been confusing to
today’s adults, nonetheless eleven-year-olds.
So the kids were at a disadvantage right away, trying to
figure out the words they had never seen before, working them out
through context. Then, the question called for skills that have
never been tested before, nor taught by the teacher who showed me
the sample questions. She admitted that she had been “teaching to
the old test” for the past several years, trying to keep her kid’s
all-important test scores up while trying to keep her
job. “Education has nothing to do with what we
have been doing for the past couple of years,” the teacher admitted
with a nervous laugh. “It has been all about the
numbers.”

 

He found questions that had two right answers.
He found questions that would send the kids into tears. And he
wondered, “What in the world was the state thinking?” Indeed, what
were state officials when they tested students on material they had
not been taught, using unfamiliar vocabulary, having ambiguous
answers, with the certainty that most students would fail? Was it
John King’s inexperience that led him to align the state cut scores
with NAEP’s proficiency levels? Did he not understand that NAEP
proficiency is not a “passing” mark but a measure that connotes
“solid academic performance”?

 

What were they thinking?

Categories Common Core, New York, Students, Testing

Cuomo Wants “Death Penalty” for “Failing Schools”

By dianeravitch
August 30, 2013 //
86

New York Governor Cuomo wants a “death penalty” for “failing schools,”

He was referring to the public schools of Buffalo, which is one of the state’s poorest districts. He threatened state takeover, mayoral control, or charters.

None of his remedies has ever succeeded. But they will extinguish democracy. Democracy is not the cause of low achievement. If Cuomo ignores poverty and segregation, he will be spinning wheels. Prediction: he will ignore both.

More districts than Buffalo face the death penalty:

” Robert M. Bennett, a member of the state Board of Regents representing Western New York, as well as chancellor emeritus, said he thinks it’s likely that the officials in Albany will discuss “a limited state takeover for certain districts” during the next session of the Legislature. He also cited the possibility of mayoral control for some districts as well as charter takeovers.

“He pointed to Buffalo, Rochester and three districts on Long Island as being in particular need of dramatic change.

“The frustration level is extremely high about what should be done with a school that is persistently failing. It’s a very serious thing when you have so many schools that are on the state’s watch list,” he said. “It’s the right thing to debate how to turn schools around.”

Categories Cuomo, Andrew, Education Industry, New York

A Sad Measure of Dr. King’s Dream

By dianeravitch
August 28, 2013 //
6

Fred Smith, a testing expert who worked for years at the
New York City Board of Education, now advises Change the Stakes, an
anti-testing group. In
this article, he analyzes the progress of nine schools in
New York state that bear the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The schools are located in different cities and communities but
they bear two common features: they are racially segregated, and
their test scores are abysmal. Taken together, 91% of the
children enrolled in these schools are black (67%) or Hispanic
(24%); 13% are considered to be limited in English proficiency.
About 90% receive free (85%) or reduced-price (5%)
lunches. At these schools, 2,883 students took
the statewide English Language Arts exams and 2,921 took the math
tests — providing 5,804 test scores. Most students were in grades 3
to 5….. What of the 8- to 10-year-old
children whose educations, hopes, formative development and chances
for future success are bound up in these wonderfully named schools
where circumstance has placed them? In 2009,
when the state exams were discredited for being ridiculously easy,
55% of the heirs to King’s legacy were found to be proficient in
reading, as were 71% in math. By last year, with the advent of
tougher “more rigorous” exams, the results had fallen to 24% and
31%. The April results released this month
fulfilled the prophecy: 7% and 6% proficiency in reading and math
at the nine schools. What a disgrace: 7% proficiency in
reading, and 6% proficiency in math. Perhaps Commissioner John King
can take over these schools and kick out the kids with low scores,
suspend those who don’t walk in a straight line, institute a
“no-excuses” culture of “high expectations.” Can we not do better
by the children in these schools and in all schools regardless of
what they are named? Must we treat them like little robots to
compel them to obey? Or can we not educate them with dignity and
purpose and prepare them to live fruitful lives?  
  Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/sad-measure-dr-king-dream-article-1.1438608#ixzz2dGw25m3P
 

Categories New York, Poverty, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration, Testing

Aaron Pallas on New York’s Common Core Test Fiasco

By dianeravitch
August 28, 2013 //
14

Aaron Pallas is one of the wisest education scholars in New York, and therefore (as we New Yorkers all believe) in the world.

He consistently brings a fresh perspective to the unfolding drama and spectacle that is now U.S. education.

And he is one of the few academics willing to enter the arena and engage with current events.

That is one of the clear benefits of tenure.

In this post, Pallas says that he predicted--with uncanny accuracy–how proficiency rates would change as a result of the Common Core tests.

He also notes the incomprehensible glee with which Joel Klein and Mayor Bloomberg reacted to the news that only one in five students of color are considered “proficient” after a full decade of their policies.

As he observes, Mayor Bloomberg sees everything on his watch as good news, whether scores go up, stay the same, or go down.

Pallas writes:

Here’s the dirty little secret: no one truly understands the numbers. We are behaving as though the sorting of students into four proficiency categories based on a couple of days of tests tells us something profound about our schools, our teachers and our children. There are many links in the chain of inference that can carry us from those few days in April to claims about the health of our school system or the effectiveness of our teachers. And many of those links have yet to be scrutinized.

Does Mayor Bloomberg understand the numbers? Perhaps he’d care to share with us the percentage of children in each grade who ran out of time and didn’t attempt all of the test items, and the consequences of that for students’ scores. Or how well the pattern of students’ answers fit the complex psychometric models used to estimate a student’s proficiency. Or how precisely a child’s scale score measures his or her performance. Or how many test items had to be discarded because they didn’t work the way they were intended. Or what fraction of the Common Core standards was included on this year’s English and math tests—and what was left out.

These are just some of the factors in the production of the proficiency rates that have been the subject of so much attention. And the properties of the test are just one link in the chain.

Hmmm. When no one understands the numbers, not the Mayor who is in charge of the schools, not the scholars who study the schools, not the State Education Department, no one: What does that mean?

 

Categories Accountability, Bloomberg, Michael, Common Core, Klein, Joel, New York, New York City, Testing

Can You Run a 4-Minute Mile? Why Not?

By dianeravitch
August 27, 2013 //
12

David Gamberg is superintendent of the Sourhold district in
Long Island, Néw York. He
understands something that state commissioner John King
does not. Children are different. They develop in different ways
and at different rates. They have different strengths and
weaknesses. Experienced educators know this. The standard for high
achievement in mile-long races is 4 minutes. Runners tried for
years until 1954, when Roger Bannister
broke the barrier. Now many runners have, and it is the
standard. Does that mean you are a failure if it takes you 9 or 15
minutes to run a mile? No. Should all children score “proficient”
on a test that was deliberately made so hard that only 30/35% would
“pass”? What about the kids who are gifted artists and musicians?
What about those who can fix things and are great at solving
practical problems? What about those who are English language
learners? Should they “fail”? Should they be denied a high school
diploma? Sure, it is necessary to test kids periodically to see how
they are doing, but tests should be used to help kids and teachers,
not to punish them.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Common Core, New York, Students, Testing

Liz Hallmark for School Board in Rochester

By dianeravitch
August 25, 2013 //
7

Wouldn’t it be great if more teachers ran for school board
and for the legislature? Then when policies are written and
implemented, there would be an experienced voice at the table,
explaining the consequences of decisions made far from the
classroom. I don’t know Liz Hallmark, but I am very impressed that
she knows teaching and learning, she cares passionately about the
arts, and she would be a great school board member. This is the
letter she sent to potential supporters:  
August 15, 2013
Dear Colleagues,
My name is Liz Hallmark and I am running for School Board
this fall. I’m writing to tell you why I’d like to serve on the
board. First of
all, I am a teacher with a background in the performing arts. I
began my work in schools as a dance-teaching artist who planned and
co-taught integrated lessons with classroom teachers, working
through organizations such as Wolf Trap Early Learning in the Arts,
Aesthetic Education Institute, Young Audiences, and Empire State
Partnerships. I have also run professional development on
curriculum design for teachers through BOCES and cultural
organizations within the City of Rochester. I earned my doctorate
in Education at the University of Rochester, teaching writing
classes to freshman while I was a graduate student. I now manage an
educational project through RIT and teach teacher-candidates at
Nazareth College and Warner School of Education as an Adjunct
Professor. My children both attended and graduated from City
schools. Because
of my teaching experiences in primary, secondary, college and
beyond, I have had classroom, staff, and building experiences that
captured a sense of the district as a whole. I know the challenges
of teaching within changing assessment metrics, in the face of
scarce resources, and despite demonizing messages about teachers. I
am wary of reform initiatives that exclude the voice of teachers,
the very people who know what students’ learning needs are. I want
to help improve schools – and believe this cannot be really be done
without having at least one Commissioner on the board who
understands instruction and learning from the inside
out. If elected to
the board, I would call for more teacher leadership in improving
instructional practice in schools because this is where it must
start. I would better link classroom practice and district policies
by advocating for flexibility in programmatic implementation at the
building level. Please take a moment to visit
http://lizhallmark.com for more of my platform, and consider
supporting my candidacy by talking to friends, coming to house
parties, placing signs, or contributing financially. I ask for your
vote on September 10th and hope to hear from you by email or phone
call. Both are below.
Sincerely,
Liz Hallmark
358 Mulberry St Rochester, NY
14620 http://lizhallmark.com
efhallmark@gmail.com
585-414-7285  

Categories New York

Chancellor Tisch Promises Higher Test Scores Next Year

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2013 //
40

The head of Néw York state’s Board of Regents Merryl Tisch says everyone should calm down about the collapse of test scores across the state. Next year, she promised, the scores will go up.

You can count on that, because the state commissioner can lower the cut score if he wants to avoid another embarrassment like this year.

What you can also count on, sadly, is the humiliation that 70% of the children in grades 3-8 will feel when they learn from their teacher that they failed the state tests. The numbers who failed are even higher among children who are black, English language learners, and students with disabilities.

This year, the state decided to align its categories with NAEP, not understanding that NAEP proficient is set at a very high level–not a “passing” mark at all– and that the only state where as much as 50% of students reached proficient on NAEP is Massachusetts,  after 20 years of NAEP testing. Apparently New York is content to tell the majority of its students that they don’t deserve high school diplomas or the chance to go to college.

Consider this: the proportion of students who “passed” under the new Common Core baseline was only 31.1% in total. (Last year it was 77.4%).

Among English language learners, only 3.2% “passed.” (Last year it was 11.7%.)

Among children with disabilities, only 5% “passed.” (Last year it was 15.5%.)

Among black students, only 16.7% “passed.” (Last year it was 37.2%.)

Among Hispanic students, only 17.7% “passed.” (Last year it was 40.0%).

Among white students, only 39.9% passed. (Last year it was 85.9%.)

But not to worry, litttle children. New York and the Common Core will make you global competitors.

How do we know? We don’t. Forget about critical thinking. Don’t ask for evidence. Take it on faith. This is, after all, faith-based policy.

Categories Common Core, New York, Testing

Petition: It Is Time for Commissioner John King to Go!

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2013 //
6

This petition was written by supporters of public education in New York State called the Coalition for Justice in Education.

They object to King’s insistence on high-stakes standardized testing, especially the Common Core testing that recently led to a collapse of student scores across the state.

They seek a commissioner who cares about public education, cares about the quality of education–not just test scores, and cares about children.

I agree, which is why I wrote a post calling on John King to resign.

He may have the confidence of the Board of Regents, but he has lost the confidence of the parents and educators of New York State.

If you agree with their petition, sign it.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Common Core, New York, Support for public schools, Testing

A Hero Superintendent in Long Island Says: “To Hell with These Scores. They Do Not Matter”

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2013 //
48

William Johnson is the superintendent of public schools in Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York.

He is an experienced educator.

He can tell the difference between education and miseducation.

For his willingness to speak truth to power, to defend the children and staff in his care, he is a hero of American public education.

When he saw the scores generated by New York’s Common Core tests, he blew his stack.

He said to a reporter:

“Never at the end of the day could you, as a result of what you saw with a child’s actual performance on these tests, know what they know and what they don’t know,” Johnson said in April.

The data that the tests provided the district, Johnson said, is “uninterpretable and unusable.” He gave an example: in eighth grade, Rockville Centre students take the algebra Regents exam, which is usually administered in ninth grade. This year, about 95 percent of students passed it. The eighth-grade state math exam is supposed to determine how prepared students are to take algebra, yet only 39.5 percent of them passed that exam.

“To hell with these scores,” Johnson said. “They do not matter. They’re not informing us in any way; they’re not giving us any new information. In fact, what they’re doing is serious damage. Kids who had a [Level] 3 last year and ended up with a [Level] 1 this year, how do I tell them they can’t read, when in fact we know they can?”

The story says, “Last year, an average of about 81 percent of Rockville Centre students passed the state exams, which are given in grades 3 through 8 in English Language Arts and math. This year, with the new tests the state gave, the passing rate in Rockville Centre plummeted to 48 percent. The state average was slightly over 30 percent.”

In response to the sharp drop in the district’s scores, Johnson said:

“Our conclusion, after reviewing this with my staff in the central office and talking to a number of colleagues, is that we’re just going to put it on a shelf someplace and just leave it there,” said Dr. William Johnson, the district superintendent. “We’re not going to use this information to make any kind of determination about what kind of services we need for children, and we’re not going to use it in any capacity whatsoever to make informed decisions about our staff.”

 

 

Categories Common Core, Honor Roll, New York, Testing
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