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So… a philosophy that worsens the plight of those “vast majority” of students in large high schools should be a) celebrated, or b) denounced?

The smaller schools practice “creaming,” but it is the students at the larger schools getting creamed.

Re Klein’s: ““This is about improving the system, not necessarily about improving every single school”: That there’s lawyer talk — not educator talk. We’re not talking about “single” schools being adversely affected by a flawed philosphy; we’re talking about an entire category comprising “the vast majority” of the students in the grades under discussion. Maximizing pain is the exact OPPOSITE of good public policy, let alone fair to those kids.

Mayoral control might be here to stay, but Chancellor Klein need not. To the degree those schools may have been “warehouses” before, Klein has made them moreso.

I will add John F Kennedy HS to the list. No one who walks through that building could reasonably conclude it was constructed with the intent of educating kids.

I replied in another thread to this…..the incompetent, unqualified and uncertified Joel Klein doesn’t have a clue to be in a position for which he does not have the slightest degree of understanding. I went to a large high school; there were a variety of activities such as sing, the school band where I learned to play an instrument, extra curricular activites. The large schools were also able to offer a large variety of courses….if 5% of the students in a school are qualified for advanced placement chemistry, it is much more likely a large school will be able to offer it rather than one of Klein’s smaller schools. Of course what makes good schools are good students; get rid of the few troublemakers and all schools can do well and offer a variety of educational experiences. Also there is the problem of the inability of the small schools to provide proper supervision of subject area teachers. How can a Principal, trained say in Social Studeis, properly evaluate a math lesson and know whether the math being taught is correct?
Another example of the damage Klein, a non educator in a positon that should be held by an educator, has done. It will take decades to undo this damage.

What is going on in the supervision of high school subject area teachers is very sad and also part of the new budgeting process. Schools were told they could have math coaches. In many schools Ihave visited, math coaches are illegally performing activities that should only be done by certified Assistant Principals. But that doesn’t sto some of the Principals from using them illegally. And in that way, they, instead of having an Assistant Principal in charge of Mathematics, they have a supervisor of record from another discipline, say Physical Education. What helped me as a beginning high school teacher of mathematics was that I had a real mathematics supervisor who worked with me and taught me the ropes. When you break the large high schools into smaller schools, rarely do you have the proper subject area supervision. Of course the Principal will have a certain subject area in which he was originally trained and may have an Assistant Principal trained in another subject area. But how can a Principal trained say in social studies be able to properly evaluate a lesson in chemistry and know whether the chemistry being taught is correct; perhaps the most important thing you need n a secondary teacher that is the proper knowledge of the subject. A teacher can follow whatever the protocol of teaching of the day is, can have the kids sitting around in groups facing each other (there are Principals who think that is the way kids hould be arranged in a senior high school believe it or not) yet not know the first thing about the algebra he or she is supposedly teaching. The harm this can di is incalculable. But that doesn’t seem to annoy Mr. Klein on his push for smaller schools. After all, it is not important to have subject area teachers well versed in the disciplines they are teaching in the high schools, now is it?