GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• Some principals have frighteningly few thoughts about good instruction. (John Thompson)
• Klein complained the Times’ test score coverage was “outrageous.” (NYC Public School Parents)
• New Cleveland contract saves jobs, cuts training days, expands peer review. (Catalyst Ohio)
• Colorado seemed certain to pass common core standards. Not anymore. (Ed News Colorado)
• Having a working mother won’t harm children after all, study says. (Washington Post)
• Rick Hess liked Obama’s speech, but doesn’t want words to lead to “over-reach.” (Hess Straight Up)
• Randi Weingarten found something to like about Race to the Top, too. (Teacher Beat)
• A Bronx Prep educator took part in a Capitol Hill briefing urging cross-discipline work. (ACSD In Service)
• A new paper on teacher pensions finds that unions aren’t the only ones to blame. (Eduwonk)

The city is removing principals of some schools the city is overhauling with federal funds but keeping others in place, according to an email from a principal today.

In an email obtained by GothamSchools, the principal of William Grady CTE High School told his staff that the city had decided to replace him and several other unnamed principals next year. The announcement was not a complete surprise, as principals of the eleven schools set to begin a new turnaround strategy next year have known they could lose their jobs for over a month.

The new strategy, known as the transformation model, is part of a federal program to improve some of the state’s lowest-performing schools. Though it is the least invasive of the four models offered — it doesn’t require firing teachers — it does call for the removal of principals.

In his email, Grady High School principal Carlston Gray wrote that while new principals who have been in their schools for three years or fewer will keep their jobs, others will be replaced. He suggested that some may be able to remain involved in their current schools. (more…)

What does it mean for tests to get easier? And is that really what happened to New York’s tests?

The analysis that has spurred that idea in the last few weeks actually found something slightly different. The tests aren’t necessarily easier, in the way that a kindergarten spelling bee is easier than the SAT. Instead, between 2007 and 2009, students who hadn’t learned much came out looking like they had.

This is an important distinction because it points to a different culprit behind the dropping standards than simply the individual test items themselves. Instead, Harvard professor Daniel Koretz – the lead author of the analysis commissioned by the state education department — names two possible causes: a phenomenon called “score inflation” and a possible psychometric error tied to an obscure state law.

The actual questions on the test play a role in both, but just as important is the practice of prepping students extensively for tests. Another key is a state law that forces New York to release all test items publicly, making it easier for teachers to practice test prep and making it harder for officials to keep tests consistent over time. (more…)

• The gap between black and white students’ test scores is as wide as it was in 2002. (NY1)
• And because scores were inflated, there’s no way to know whether students are doing better. (Times)
• Tenure denials are on the rise, slightly. (GothamSchools, Times, Post, WSJ, NY1)
• The tenure and evaluation decisions were made with help from faulty test scores. (Daily News)
• Thousands of students were promoted or retained on the basis of the scores. (GothamSchools)
• Juan Gonzalez says misled students lose biggest in the test score recalibration. (Daily News)
• The Daily News says it stands by its praise for city students, despite the lowered scores.
• Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform says state Dems are better on ed policy. (Daily News)
• President Obama said his education policies are meant to help, not castigate. (Times, L.A. Times)
• PS 87 in Middle Village will get a new gym and classrooms to help with crowding. (Queens Chronicle)

• Obama would like Americans to pay more attention to great teachers, less to Snooki. (Quick and the Ed)
• Who wants to launch a TV reality show watching teachers struggle to improve? (Hot for Ed)
• Just because N.Y. had inflated test scores doesn’t mean city schools haven’t improved. (Mike Petrilli)
• Congress is considering big cuts to the Promise Neighborhood model. (City Limits)
• Russ Whitehurst says his issue with the Harlem Children’s Zone is its means, not its end. (Brookings)
• Many Race to the Top finalist states have competitive governor’s races this year. (Eduwonk)
• Miss Eyre wants her students’ test scores now, not next month. (Life at the Morton School)
• A listing of schools who are telling the “new story” about education. (Will Richardson)
• Lessons the UFT learned from the test results include a widening achievement gap. (Edwize)
• Tracking backlash to the new proficiency revelations. (WSJ)

More teachers than ever received unsatisfactory ratings last year, suggesting that the city’s push to rid the school system of more struggling teachers is working.

Principals gave unsatisfactory ratings to 1,813 teachers, 17 percent more than in 2009, according to data the city released today. They also denied tenure to 234 teachers this year, 80 percent more than last year. And principals nearly doubled the number of teachers given an extra year before their final tenure decision is made.

In total, 11 percent of the 6,386 teachers up for tenure this year were denied or delayed, compared to 6.6 percent last year. It’s an even more dramatic jump from 2006, when tenure was denied or delayed less than 1 percent of the time.

By far, the leading cause principals cited for giving a U-rating was quality of instruction and student care. Attendance problems were the second-leading cause of low ratings, followed closely by the nebulous “personal and professional qualities.”

Still, the vast majority of teachers were rated satisfactory and received tenure after three years in the classroom. (more…)

Thousands of city students who failed their math and reading exams and should have been held back can expect “extra attention” from their schools in the fall, but no formal city-mandated assistance.

That’s the message of a memo Schools Chancellor Joel Klein sent principals this afternoon.

“I expect each of your teacher teams to continue to identify your students’ areas of strength and areas that require extra attention,” Klein wrote. “This is particularly critical for those students who received low scores but did not participate in summer school, and I urge you to work with those families closely to provide the support they need.”

His message echoed what Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference yesterday.

“We’re going to tell the schools to keep an eye on these kids,” Bloomberg said, saying he did not know how much more remediation schools could provide. “Less money means fewer employees, and we’re just going to have to find ways to do more things with less,” he said.

Klein’s full email to principals and letter to parents is below: (more…)

Thousands of students are moving up to the next grade this fall even though they failed last year’s state reading and math tests.

Caught between two sets of conflicting test standards — one produced by the city, one by the state — over 10,000 students were wrongly labeled as passing or failing.

Some of them, about 1,807, will get to skip the last week of the summer session, which they had attended unnecessarily. The new state standards show that these students passed their exams.

But the vast majority of them, about 8,500, were initially told they passed and will shortly learn that they actually failed. City education officials have decided to promote these students to the next grade level, though in a typical year they might have been held back.

A teacher emailed to say that a few eighth graders at his school were told they passed the test, but the state’s cutoff scores now show that they failed. Still, they will begin high school in the fall. (more…)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, flanked by Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, defended the city's test scores at Tweed Courthouse yesterday.

Talking about the definition of academic proficiency yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg struck a relativist note.

“Everybody can have their definition of what it means,” he said. Later, he added: “The last time I checked, Lady Gaga is doing fine with just a year of college.”

He even asked reporters not to refer to students who score above a Level 3 out of 4 as “proficient.”

The request follows new revelations that the bar for “proficiency” on state tests seems to have dropped over time, so that even though more students statewide were meeting it each year, they were not actually learning more. In response, the state this year took steps to tug standards higher.

Yet even as he called the definition of “proficient” into question, Bloomberg vigorously defended the administration’s tough accountability system, which uses the Level 1 to 4 system to determine which students move on to the next grade and as one piece of schools’ report card grades.

Bloomberg has also used rising numbers of students scoring at Level 3 as a referendum on his education policies, arguing over and over again that because the rates are going up, the policies must work. Just last year, announcing that more students were “meeting or exceeding grade-level math standards,” a reference to more students scoring Level 3 or higher, Bloomberg called the results “proof” of New York City schools’ excellence. (more…)

• New standards cut state test pass rates. (GothamSchools, Times, Post, Daily News, NY1, WNYC, WSJ)
• The drop was disproportionately large at city charter schools. (Daily News)
• Nearly 2,000 students assigned to summer school scored high enough to stop attending. (Insideschools)
• Columbia professor Aaron Pallas says the scores show that city students need more help. (Daily News)
• The principal of Brooklyn’s McKinley JHS says the scores will make him work harder. (Post)
• The Post says the lower scores are only a first step toward strengthening education in New York.
• A new charter school opening in the Bronx’s District 10 takes a progressive approach. (Riverdale Press)
• The path to create new charter schools is likely to be crowded and bumpy this year. (The Capitol)
• Joel Klein and Michael Mulgrew will tout New York’s Race to the Top bid in D.C. (GothamSchools, NY1)
• As in NYC, the least jarring school change plan is the most popular nationally this fall. (Education Week)
• President Obama is responding to criticism that his reforms haven’t helped minority students. (AP)
• Major changes in the Philly schools include the end of the city’s region divisions. (Philadelphia Inquirer)