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Headlines
August 26, 2009
Rise & Shine: Teachers aides to stay, plus a school on an island
Okay, so we’re posting lightly instead of not at all. Here’s this week’s news so far from New York City:
- A deal between the city and the UFT will allow parent-paid aides to return this year. (Times)
- Early screening for gifted programs means admission is essentially random, a columnist argues. (Times)
- A city high school with a maritime focus is moving to Governor’s Island for the fall. (AP)
- The New Yorker looks at the city’s “rubber rooms,” where teachers under investigation sit and wait.
- The first study of the Leadership Academy shows some promising results. (GothamSchools, Post, Times)
- City students’ SAT scores are dropping; more are taking the tests. (Post, GothamSchools, Daily News)
- A student helped her Staten Island teacher win a back-to-school wardrobe makeover. (Daily News)
- Juan Gonzalez criticizes the city’s protocol for dealing with H1N1 in schools. (Daily News)
- The city charter school that pays its teachers $125,000 is about to open. (Christian Science Monitor)
- The city’s six community colleges posted a 2-year graduation rate of 2.3 percent in 2008. (Post)
And beyond:
- Michelle Rhee’s latest initiative is a 200-page document of expectations for teachers. (Washington Post)
- Educators, including some from the city, weigh in on Obama’s education policy pushes. (Times)
- Most Americans say they support Obama’s education agenda, a new poll found. (Bloomberg News)
- Los Angeles’s school board voted to give control of up to 250 schools to outside operators. (L.A. Times)
- In some places, people are trying to get their school districts to stop selling student data. (USA Today)
- Most school districts are using federal stimulus money in mundane ways. (Christian Science Monitor)
- Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson wants to adopt NYC’s school grading system. (Sacramento Press)
- Jay Mathews describes how a blind bureaucracy almost cost a top teacher his job. (Washington Post)
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August 26th, 2009 1:40 pm
I gotta stay with and comment on the ‘harbor’ school opening at Governor’s Island and the 125k school about to open. What an exciting time to be commenting on GothamSchools. Whether these small schools do well or not, the creativity and excitement is definitely stepping up (at least a little) this fall.
I’m not sure if there’s a fishing or marine plant life Regent’s Exam though…
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August 26th, 2009 2:27 pm
The Harbor School is not moving to Governor’s Island until next year. According to the article and the school website, they’ll be moving in 2010.
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August 26th, 2009 2:29 pm
Thanks for the clearing up Jr. High, I’m sure it’ll be interesting to see it develop regardless, and I’m happy to see the city put the island to good use.
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August 26th, 2009 2:36 pm
Sure thing. I’ve visited Governor’s Island several times on weekends, and more than once, I’ve seen Harbor School students there, working on arts projects or weaving fishing nets. They seem enthusiastic about the school. I hope everything works out for them. I can imagine the biggest obstacle will be transportation. I’m guessing it will be tough to get all those students to commute from Brooklyn and the rest of NYC by ferry to Governor’s Island every morning, September through June. But (speaking of putting the island to good use) there are a lot of vacant army barracks on the island that could be converted to dormitories. Could the Harbor School become a public boarding school? That would be exciting.
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August 26th, 2009 3:05 pm
Also, don’t miss the New Yorker article. It’s heinously slanted to favor the Bloomberg/Klein administration. Writer Steven Brill almost totally dismisses the possibility that teachers are rated poorly or falsely accused for personal or political reasons. Here’s how he frames it: “Should a thousand bad teachers stay put so that one innocent teacher is protected?” Actually, that’s deputy chancellor Chris Cerf’s logic, which Brill just repeats to Randi Weingarten, apparently without any analysis of his own.
That said, it was surprising to find out just how long and costly the incompetence (3020a?) hearings are. It should not take a full year and hundreds of thousands of dollars to dismiss just one teacher. That is beyond “due process.” Ineffective teachers should be supported–and I mean truly supported with a mentor and with vocal affirmation from administrators–not just getting U’d and written up all the time. But if a year or more of support has happened and the teacher continues to show poor classroom management and poor instruction, it’s time to give that teacher an expedited hearing in front of an independent arbitrator and let that settle it.
I’ve seen a principal trump up charges against experienced teachers primarily because of their (totally appropriate!) outspokenness and union activism. But I don’t see why the hearings have to take so long and be so costly, just because of due process.
Anybody got more insight on this? Are there things I need to read about these hearings from people other than the obviously biased Steven Brill?
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August 27th, 2009 9:03 pm
Jr. High Teacher - I had the same reaction and the same questions. The piece was dreadful. Brill basically quoted DOT sources without rebuttal while cherry picking a couple of rubber room cases that illustrated his thesis. He blames the union for the drawn out process but was vague about the reasons. I guess he doesn’t want to trouble the reader with context.
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August 29th, 2009 8:07 am
ONE book should change the gifted programs in NYC? There are other books, Genius Denied for example, that state testing should begin before third grade.
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August 30th, 2009 8:02 am
In countering some of the results of this latest book, here’s someone’s take on it. http://giftedexchange.blogspot.com/2009/08/can-gifted-kids-become-not-gifted.html
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August 31st, 2009 3:31 am
Ineffective teachers should be supported–and I mean truly supported with a mentor and with vocal affirmation from administrators.
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