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Your evaluation and exposure of Tweed’s corrupt war against Columbus H.S. was right on target, and indeed, opened another interesting question. Instead of closing the school, why doesn’t the DOE bring in one of their high-powered advisory teams to work directly with the 49% of the freshmen who did NOT acquire 10 credits. Instead of seeing those failing students merely as widgets who were poorly manufactured by their school “factory”, the Tweed team members could work directly with the students (and their parents) to solve their problems. These supposed educational “experts” could gather statistics on how often the students attend school, whether or not they have had the proper amount of rest and nutrition, whether they read, do homework, and study, and finally, list any family or personal conflicts which might be holding the child back. Then, the DOE could monitor each child’s improvement and progress. diagnose any serious problems, and provide that child with the with the assistance and resources he/she needs: tutoring, family counseling, pre-natal medical care, and perhaps financial assistance which will keep the child in school instead of out looking for jobs to help support his/her families. Would this be an expensensive and time-consuming process? I would think so. Would it raise the morale of both teachers and students? Absolutely! Would it aid the Bloomberg adminstration in its mission of closing down schools? No, I’m afraid not, but at least they will be actively working with with students and helpings to solve their problems, something that they are NOT doing now .

Karen,

Great suggestion on asking those at Tweed for an “advisory team”. However, no one at Tweed is a true educator and wouldn’t understand the complexities behind helping an at-risk child. Isn’t it easier for those at Tweed to close schools (the path of least resistance) than to roll up their sleeves and provide support to a school of dedicated teachers and staff who want the best for their students?

No one at the DoE, Tweed, and the SSO, absolutely no one, want to provide the necessary services, support, resources, and time to these closing schools or schools with grades of C’s, D’s, and F’s. If they did, they most likely would be fired and it would also foil BloomKlein’s plan of making every public school a charter school.

I feel that the unions, the parents, the CBOs, the politicians, and the CUNY professors must ban together and inundate the media with commercials/newspapers exposing the BloomKlein administration the sham, the scam and the shame. When the NAEP scores came out, it was the beginning of exposing the sham of the BloomKlein administration – teaching to the test. Now we must bring more media attention to their scam – closing schools based on arbitary progress reports. Remember this year’s A is next year’s C and this year’s B is next year’s D or F. We need to collectively demand to ban the progress reports, and the quality review and bring back accountability from Tweed first.

Here’s the greatest shame of all – Tweed is setting up the children to fail by forcing them to bounce from one closing school to another closing school to another closing school. No child should be treated as a transient.

The steep drop in at-grade-level freshmen in 98-99 reflects the capping of Roosevelt and Taft. As those schools were phased out their most vulnerable entrants were sent to neighboring schools, including Columbus.

Those kids were victimized by the DoE – already struggling, sent into a school not equipped to help them. Columbus, too, was a victim – flooded with students it was not prepared to properly assist.

Enrollment in the lowest level classes and repeater classes surged. Truancy issues went off the scale. The discipline system was flooded (as kids who were overwhelmed by the academics were far more likely to act out).

The school was forced to adapt. And what Christine describes is a history of almost a decade of adaptation and innovation, to make Columbus a successful school for the students it actually serves.

Should more kids graduate? Everyone else is required to say yes, but I’m not answering. I’d like to know what schools with similar populations do that is more successful. In fact I am certain that Columbus would love to know the same thing.

But no mistake here – Columbus is educating and serving and guiding a high school population that faces tremendous challenges – and Columbus is doing a good job, both in the day to day, and in planning, experimenting, looking to the future for these kids.

Too bad for the kids that the DoE wants half that building for something else.

The best turnaround program in the late 90′s was The Chancellor’s Districts. Time, innovative programs, resources, and PDs were used to help schools to give off the SURR list and to show success. I am always amazed how the DoE will not look into programs that truly work. They definitely have a clear, conspicuous agenda.

I will be fighting to keep all those schools listed for closure. Together we can do it. Columbus, Smith, Global Enterprise, Jamaica, Maxwell, etc High Schools do not deserve this treatment.

Where is the impact statement?

The teachers who have a brain should already be looking elsewhere to secure a job and not get left behind to battle for that one position two or three years from now.

Karen – you’re right on with the Last Huge Failing H.S.. This is what happened to Columbus as our neighboring large schools closed. We’ve always, as a community, opened our arms to all. But the net effect of taking in students as juniors and seniors who are severely under-credited and without exams is devastating to our accountability data – the only thing that appears to matter in education these days. Look out Lehman and Truman. The DOE is packing Columbus campus in September – but with able students from district 10 – the students who would normally have come here will come to you unless we are successful in fighting this.

All those suggesting that resources should have been put into helping the high-needs students at existing high schools such as Columbus must know in their hearts that this misses the intention of the DOE. There has been a relentless march to close large high schools for several years. They have been replaced with small schools providing varying quality of education, some of which are also on the failing list. While DOE officials such as Shael Suransky create charts showing that the number of ELL and Spec. Ed students in small schools is equivalent to that in schools of 1000+ students, the data is not disaggregated. The large schools’ ELL population is disproportionately non-English speaking and have several times the number of ELL students who are also classified as Special Education. Schools like Columbus work hard to serve the needs of students in these categories. Many of the new schools opened by Klein and Bloomberg do not provide mandated ELL or Special Education services and often refuse to admit students in these categories, being “screened” schools. A review of the DOE High School Directory that I did two years ago for the Bilingual Education Task Force of the UFT showed only 56 out of 391 city high schools offered mandated bilingual programs. Of these, only 18 were not traditional large high schools. A review of the “Master Schedule Final” of a large number of high schools offering ESL services show that ELL students are often grouped into single classes regardless of their level of English acquisition. Some offer no classes dedicated to the beginning English students or transitional classes. This is a violation of Part 154 of NYS Ed law. Self-contained special education classes mandated on IEP’s are often changed to place students in CTT classes in small schools that do not have the critical mass of these special-needs population to make proper services feasible. Two years ago, I received a call from John Berman of the NYC Comptroller’s office asking me if I could account for the fact that there were about 200 ELL students in the Roosevelt Campus whereas there were 900 in the old Roosevelt HS. Where did the other 700 go? Where did the special education students from New School for Arts and Sciences go after that school was closed? They were the model of the Wilson Reading Program for the Bronx, located in the high-need Longwood section. They received almost 90% of their incoming students reading at Level 1 or 2 and graduated the majority of them reading at Levels 3 & 4. Will the schools that replace Columbus show success working with such populations? If graduation rates and credit accumulation are the metrics used to determine the statistical success of a school, would someone please look into the “credit recovery” schemes used at many schools to allow students who failed classes to make them up in as few as three days? Or the Regents grade changes that are reported to the state which then refers them to the DOE’s own Office of Special Investigations who in turn does a cursory investigation rarely resulting in any charges. Chancellor Klein has said that a dropout will be destined to a life of failure. Schools like Columbus are trying to educate all of our students. The schools that replace them, while possibly graduating a high number of students, too often have not educated them but simply granted them diplomas based on credit recovery, teaching to the test, and dubious statistical acts. There is a political will to show failure of certain schools in NYC and the students who now attend these schools and want to remain there will be the losers.

INT…

“But they have one thing you haven’t got: a diploma.”

We just need a little more help pulling back the curtain around here.

My daughter is a freshman at the school. We have other family members there as well but everyone is leaving in June. Even though we are happy with the school and what is offered we cannot afford to have our children be around a morally depressed environment. My daughter and nieces/nephews will not watch another school come in as they are pusehed aside with whatever teachers are left behind because nobody else would hire them. No way!!! This is a mess and a disgrace!!

If we are to demonstrate care for all students equally we need visionary educational leadership. The UFT cannot fix this since it does not control the decisions and measures that support, impact on and evaluate schools. Leadership must come from the Department of Education. The UFT has a loud voice but no decision-making power – the DoE is accountable. The public must hold the DOE accountable through the channels available – political avenues and the media.

The only thing we (and after all we the teachers are the UFT) can do is point out the issues to the public so that they are clear, and ask for their assistance to fight the injustices being done to our schools and students.

Just look at what the DoE is proposing for Columbus. As we face a time when families will have to pay to send their children to school, they are bringing in an existing charter school from another district (whose students will have to pay to travel) while the many local children who would have come to Columbus will need to travel to the nearest large high school. It is not hard to imagine that the financial hardship (which will amount to $700+ per child per year) will be too much to bear for many. Attendance and achievement will drop if we cannot educate students in their own communities.

I seem to remember not too long ago reading a Times article about Columbus’ being a well-regarded school with sought after gifted programs (of course, being the Times, they had to refer to it as a “South Bronx” school). I’m pretty sure it was during the Klein years when I read this. Are we to believe the quality of instruction dropped dramatically during this period or is this a case of mismanagement?

How about New Visions? Snakes in the grass huhh? One hand pushing us out and frowning while the other hand shakes and welcomes the new school which they are linked to or would love to be linked to. They are a joke! Who the hell picked them?

Sincerely,

One of many

This raises some current issues. Firstly, the incredible pressure on schools to try to manipulate the results of the Progress Report. The possibility and temptation must lie most obviously with the Learning Environment Survey, where the message would now seem to be that if you don’t say that all is rosey then you may lose your school. There are also challenges when deciding on whether or not to encourage a given student to sit for an examination. The State and Federal accountability criteria look at participation rate and highest grade achieved across a four year period. This means that students have many opportunities to take an exam. In order to obtain a local diploma they are also allowed to have some exams (the precise number depending on their cohort) count between 55 and 64. What happens with the Progress Report is that any score obtained by a student below a grade of 65 counts as a 0 on the progress report. If a school with a very vulnerable population tries to game the system by having students with poorer chances of passing not sit at their first opportunity they will, in the case of ELA and math, increase their risk of failing to make participation rate on the other accountability systems and also remove that possibility that a student may actually have passed that examination and removed a hurdle to graduation, allowing them to take a different course.

Also, it is not really a fair comparison to look at Columbus against Lehman. Lehman takes a far smaller percentage of ELLs and recent immigrants, and significantly fewer special education students, particularly those in more restrictive environments. These are the populations that struggle most with the 4-year graduation benchmark for obvious reasons. They also increase achievement challenges in terms of examinations.

On a personal note I’d like to question whether, as a nation, we are doing the right thing by putting such intense pressure on all students for a four year graduation. Many of my ELLs (particularly recent immigrants) could really use more time to develop their skills further before moving into a college environment. Additionally, I have noticed that students who don’t make the 4-year mark often experience a real sense of failure and discouragement that takes a lot of support and effort to counter.

Lehman received a B on their progress report for the school year 2007-08. I think Ronaldo did not realize the school year in which Lehman received a B. That progress report has not been released pending the investigation.

I actually overlooked the year in which Lehman received the B. You are correct. I am looking forward to seeing their 08-09 grade. It still does not change the fact of what other schools do (including Lehman). It is so clear that this whole grading system has become a game and the winners of the game are the ones who know how to manipulate the grade. Which kids equal the most points? How many parents fill out the survey correctly? How many teachers check the “Strongly Agree” box so it equals points and looks good for the school? Which students are allowed to sit for the regents exams? How many lunch forms were collected?There are so many ways to manipulate the grade and these are just a few. It’s not about educating the students anymore. It’s about a point system. The schools should just hire a person to make sure all these components are being filled properly. Then you will see a rise in grades. If the DOE wants a criteria met to equal points then it’s very, very easy to give it to them. It is a SIMPLE process to go from a D grade to a B. It can be done by directing the teachers which boxes to check and which kids to pass and get out from the bottom third percentile. Then take the parent coordinator and set a fire under his/her ass to get a positive survey from every parent. Do not let any student “at risk” sit for the regents. Any leadership starting with these three steps is a leadership that will score points. Give them what they want, give them the points.

The previos article was the worst piece of garbage I read so far. The teachers have to adapt to the kids? Pathetic! This is what’s wrong with society and people who believe this crap that is written. Society has changed and that’s it. There are NO consequences and NO actions in our city schools. The teachers have to learn how to deal with “bad kids” when they say “F___ You!”? I don’t think so! Again, the schools receiving A’s and B’s are the ones with “good kids” for the most part which are level 3′s and 4′s. The idea that it’s not the kids fault is absurd!
It’s no surprise that the individuals who write bogus articles about how “We need to change the way we deal with the kids” are mostly never even in the classroom. What a bunch of ignorant morons with the audacity to write statements of how a teacher should feel or deal with students. Hey, WAKE UP! Get off your ass and get in a classroom of 34 students with no respect and no ambition with 3rd grade reading levels and 2nd grade writing levels. Then you can write an article!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is happening to Columbus is coming to a school near you. As a teacher at Jamaica High School the writing was on the wall year’s ago. It’s because school’s like Columbue, and Jamaica were channeled all the student’s that would not be allowed into the new up and coming charter school’s in Kleins(Bloomberg’s) vision. The BOE needs building’s to house these charter/specialized school’s, so look out.

And yet the City says it is the school’s problem. If students come to us unable to read and write, pregnant, homeless, having missed years of eduation, unable communicate in English or formerly incarcerated, in the foster care system, or facing any challenge whatsoever in life – we are held responsible if we do not graduate those students “on time” (meaning 4 years from the time they should have entered 9th grade). This means that even if they arrive at 18 having never done high school work, and with no credits and no exams, the City and State will consider our school as having failed these children if they do not graduate high school in that same year.

Throwing them out is not an option. Even if they never came in the first place, if the regional office ever assigned them to our school and input their information in the the DoE system with an assignment for the school – we are responsible. We will be held ‘accountable’ for their failure to succeed in school.