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Headlines
February 23, 2009
Rise & Shine: Speculation mounts that Klein could get the boot
FROM NEW YORK CITY:
- Some are convinced that Mayor Bloomberg is planning to fire Chancellor Klein. (New York Magazine)
- The DOE is moving lots of schools around this fall to make seats for every student. (Daily News)
- Class sizes in the city’s schools are up, but no one is quite sure how much that matters. (Times)
- The high school graduation rate is up for everyone except those learning English. (Daily News)
- NPR examines the Ghetto Film School, the lead partner for a new high school opening this fall.
- A dropout from Brooklyn’s James Madison High School got his diploma — at age 100. (Post)
AND BEYOND:
- Atlanta’s school chief is the national superintendent of the year. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Michelle Rhee says she’s no longer considering a federal takeover of the D.C. schools. (Washington Post)
- The education world is having a laugh over renaming No Child Left Behind. (Times)
- The New York Times tells Arne Duncan to “stay the course” on school reform.
- Jay Mathews says KIPP schools are an example of bottom-up school reform. (Washington Post)
- Diane Ravitch says the new USDOE administration is as bad as the one it replaced. (Politico)
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February 23rd, 2009 11:21 am
Re the Times article on class size: it matters. Yes, a first-rate teacher can do magical things with 30 8-year-olds, although it is difficult, and one wonders how many teachers the system loses as the good ones become burned out and figure out they can go elsewhere. But put an inexperienced teacher, or, worse, a poor one, or one who is just marking time, in that same classroom: the result will be actively damaging for most of the children in the class. In today’s test-ridden environment, that poor teacher will, of necessity, focus only on test-prep, to the detriment of, well, education. The teacher will focus on those children who are performing below grade level, to the active detriment of the high achievers as well as those who are already at grade level. What is lost? The children will perform adequately on the tests, but they will not be educated. They will forget what it means to exercise their minds, to be challenged to perform. In an elementary classroom of 20 children, an inexperienced teacher will muddle through, will teach the children and learn something as well, and a poor teacher will find time to focus on all the children, if not at the level one would wish. But in a classroom of 30–the children suffer badly.
It’s a tragedy that class size is rising, and that the DOE seems to feel this doesn’t matter.
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February 23rd, 2009 4:03 pm
Although the Daily News may be saying that graduation rates have risen for all other students but English Language Learners I would like to point to a real problem with their report: students with special needs have a graduation rate of 18%…….yes, 18%…after four years of school and 24%…yes, 24%….after seven years of schooling.
While I understand the consternation that the ELL graduation rate can engender, I am appalled at the graduation rates for students with disabilities. I wish that the NY Daily News had decided to delve a little deeper into the reports. -
February 24th, 2009 4:16 pm
[...] Rise and Shine is a daily link journalism post that sets the agenda each day for GothamSchools. GothamSchools is a new media operation that wants to be an online community for discussion about New York City Schools. That would be impossible if GothamSchools didn’t link out. Rather, GothamSchools offers a blend of original reporting and curation. [...]
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