GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Today was the last day of work for more than a hundred school aides whose union says they were laid off because of mismanagement rather than budget cuts.

District Council 37, the city’s largest municipal union, attacked the education department this afternoon for what they called “a clear case of union-busting.”

In a statement, Veronica Montgomery-Costa, president of DC 37′s Local 372 chapter, accused Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein of diverting resources out of the school system into no-bid contracts.  The union also resurrected the summer’s fight over parent-funded school aides, saying that those privately-funded positions undercut union jobs, resulting in the loss of over 700 positions. (more…)

Melody Meyer

Here on the education beat, it’s impossible to avoid getting to know the folks in the Department of Education’s press office. And even though we’d rather skip the press office when we’re seeking information, we have to admit that the truth squad includes some pretty cool people. 

One of them is Melody Meyer, who is leaving the DOE today after two three! years as a deputy communications officer. Starting next week she’ll be heading communications for the Global Impact Investing Network, a socially responsible investment project that launched at last week’s Clinton Global Initiative meeting. Department officials say they’re looking to replace Meyer, but no one’s been lined up yet.

A few things you wouldn’t know about Meyer from her quotes about charter schools, new schools, and other topics: She was the longest holdout among press officers to join Facebook, but you can find her there now. (more…)

What makes a good teacher? It’s a question at the center of the debate of how to fix this country’s schools. Bill and Melinda Gates are investing millions in a study in cooperation with the UFT to answer this question. Meanwhile Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein have made rewarding good teachers and removing bad teachers a major plank of their platform for reform in NYC. President Obama and Secretary Gates seem inclined to follow a similar path. And yet, the question is more difficult to answer than you might think.

Of course there’s the textbook answer, one used by teaching colleges and alternative certification programs like NYCTF and TFA to guide newcomers to the profession. A good teacher according to these guidelines is someone who differentiates instruction to reach all learners, regularly assesses and collects data in order to inform instruction, regularly reflects on best practices in order refine instruction, collaborates with members of their learning community to create a network of support for all learners, and creates a safe and inviting environment for learning to take place in. I’m sure I’m forgetting something here… but all in all, I think we can say I’ve been taught well.

The question is, what does a good teacher actually look like? More to the point, how does a teacher decide that he or she is a good teacher. It is one thing to understand a set of criteria or a “continuum of teacher development,” but it’s another thing entirely to internalize those standards and decide, “Yes, I am succeeding,” or “No, I am failing.” I say this, because it’s a decision I’m struggling to make right now. (more…)

• Some schools with interesting art and architecture use them as teaching tools. (Times)
• Charter school backers say Mayor Bloomberg will have to put money where his plans are. (Daily News)
• In an interview, Joel Klein proposes a song to describe his relationship with the teachers union. (Fortune)
• Middle schools help students handle the high school application process. (NY1)
• The Post says Bloomberg’s charter school expansion plan is “not only wise policy but wise politics.”
• A new study has found a post-NCLB narrowing of the achievement gap. (Christian Science Monitor)
• Greenwich Village activists have renewed their call for a new school at 75 Morton Street. (The Villager)
• Some downtown parents say location should determine middle school admission. (Downtown Express)
• Despite stimulus money to states, school aid has not increased in most places. (AP)
• The nation’s largest teachers union, the NEA, wants good teachers to go to needy schools. (USA Today)
• Mayor Bloomberg continued his attacks against opponent William Thompson’s education record. (NY1)
• Chicago’s teachers union is seeking a separate school just for disruptive students. (Chicago Sun-Times)

• Queens Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley is accusing a CEC president of abusing his power.
• Weingarten and Rep. Hoyer call for more “full-service” community schools.
• St. Francis College named its academic center after former schools Chancellor Frank Macchiarola.
• Norm says Girls Prep gets public money, but it doesn’t function like a public school, so it is public?
• D.C. is beginning to vaccinate some students against swine flu this month.
• Louisiana’s teachers union wants a firm to return the fees Filipino teachers paid to get jobs.
• Cleveland may be forced to hire hundreds of special education teachers.
• Eduflack says NCLB’s critics want to postpone reauthorization because they’re fresh out of ideas.
• The US DOE’s Kevin Jennings is getting heat from conservatives for his advice to a gay student years ago.
• G.R. Kearney offers an update on the high school he wrote a book about.
• And everyone wants to be the cool teacher, but you don’t get there by using the word “cool.”

In a move that could shake up the debate over school space, a mix of charter and district parents is pushing to bring charter school parents into local school districts’ parents councils.

Such a change would mark a significant departure from charter schools’ separation from the traditional school district. It could also change the dynamics of the thorny debate over school space. Last year, a group of community education councils sued the Department of Education for trying to convert a district school into a charter school.

Members of District 1′s Community Education Council said at their meeting last night that they would welcome a charter parent representative onto the board, even though there is no formal mechanism for doing so.

“We consider ourselves representatives of all of the parents in the schools,” council president Lisa Donlan said in an interview today. “It’s really all about building bridges and finding common ground and finding ways to work together.” (more…)

When I was learning the ropes of teaching, the buzz word we were taught was differentiation. Education, incidentally is full of polysyllabic words, some of which actually show up in spell check. Anyway, the key to differentiation, I learned, was to think of the classroom as a one room school house. Back in the day, as we know, a teacher might be responsible for teaching all the kids in a community, from primary to high school age. The 21st century teacher must echo the ability to reach a classroom filled with a diversity of learning styles and multiple intelligences.

In theory, for most teachers the one room schoolhouse exists as an analogy and ends there. They learn to incorporate art, music, games, group work, peer work, and all sorts of tricks into an ordinary day to cater to their visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. For many teachers in communities like the Bronx however, the one room schoolhouse exists beyond a metaphor.

We have students of all ages, like my friend with several 13 year-olds in her fifth grade class. (more…)