GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

A meeting to determine the fate of schools marked for closure is being moved from Staten Island to Brooklyn after parents and teachers protested that some would have to travel over two hours to attend.

The Panel for Educational Policy meeting, where members will vote on the Department of Education’s proposals to close 20 schools, will be held at Brooklyn Technical High School at the same date and time. The majority of the panel’s members are appointed by the mayor, and have never voted down any of the department’s proposals.

“In response to concerns about the location of the January panel meeting, the DOE has decided to hold the meeting at Brooklyn Tech and we will reschedule a meeting in Staten Island at a later date,” said DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte. (more…)

• Gov. Paterson said student Metrocards are his top funding priority, if he gets more money. (Daily News)
• Some see the MTA’s student Metrocard cut as a tactic to get the city and state to pay their share. (Times)
• Parents say they’ll have to choose between food and school bus fare if the MTA’s cuts go through. (AP)
• Paterson pooh-poohed potential lawsuits from teachers and advocates over school aid delays. (Post)
• A Francis Lewis HS student is suing after breaking her ankle in a school softball game. (Daily News)
• Students at Alfred E. Smith HS in the Bronx protested against the school’s planned closure. (NY1)
• One LES school is relieved it’s off the hook for having to share space. (GothamSchools, Post)
• Gov. Paterson’s support for raising the charter school cap came after months of equivocation. (Post)
• Parents and advocates rallied outside Tweed for an extended school day. (GothamSchools, NY1)
• Some say Massachusetts’ school reform bill was gutted before it passed last month. (Boston Globe)
• Concerns about transparency surround the private funding of top positions in L.A.’s schools. (L.A. Times)

Writing in the Autumn, 2009 issue of the City Journal, Marcus Winters seeks to blame the “narrow political interests” of teachers’ unions for resisting the linkage of test scores to teachers, and thereby blocking New York access to the Race to the Top honeypot.  He’s seen the future, and it’s a data revolution resting on standardized tests.  This data revolution “promises to move education policy away from politics,” Winters writes.  “Numbers don’t have agendas or run for reelection.”

No, of course they don’t.  But the people who produce those numbers do.  We would all be wise to recognize that the veneer of scientific objectivity coating most standardized tests is paper-thin.  Politics infuses the form that standardized tests take;  their length;  how they are scored, and by whom;  the content standards that appear on the tests;  and the judgments about which levels of performance are to be labeled proficient.

Here’s what I saw at the data revolution: (more…)

• Paterson wants the cap lifted, asks: are we racing to the top, or to the middle?
• Here’s how Paterson’s 10 percent school aid reduction break down district-by-district.
• It could be “wishful thinking” to expect the state legislature to act on RttT proposals in time.
• Peter Murphy says the Regents’ unanimity on the RttT proposals is an important statement.
• Some rural states are holding off on Race to the Top, suspecting the competition is “an urban game.”
• Ravitch writes that the rise of hedge-funder-backed charter schools has historical ties.
• At its delegate assembly meeting tomorrow, the UFT will vote on a school closings resolution.
• Norm Scott says the UFT has a history of not putting up a real fight when the city closes schools.
• Ed in the Apple argues that the power to close schools should rest with the state ed department.
• Mathews: our fixation on closing the achievement gap forces us to hope white students don’t improve.
• Marcus Winters writes: using state data to evaluate teachers will take the politics out of education.
• It’s no surprise when it takes weeks for schools to fix basic equipment, but it’s still not fun.
• Florida’s RttT plan requires districts to include the plan’s provisions in their union contacts.
• The likelihood a charter school teacher will leave teaching is 132% greater than district school teachers.
• A Texan pre-schooler was told to cut his hair, while a Wisconsin teacher cut students’ hair herself.

Kimberly Morcate, principal of Girls Prep's middle school, rallied with students, teachers and parents on the steps of City Hall this evening.

The city is re-shuffling a set of contentious proposals that would ask Lower East Side district schools to give up classroom space to make room for an expanding charter school.

Last month, the city presented three proposals to accommodate the growth of Girls Prep Charter School to parents at a heated district parents’ council meeting. The options drew the ire of many parents at nearby district schools because each proposal would require schools to give up classrooms and resource space.

Today, Debra Kurshan, the head of the DOE’s Office of Portfolio Planning, announced that the city has removed one of the three options from consideration entirely.

The discarded proposal would have moved P.S. 94, a school for students with autism, out of the building they currently share with Girls Prep and P.S. 188, a district school. A new program for disabled students would then have been opened in the building currently occupied solely by P.S. 184, the well-regarded dual-language Shuang Wen school. (more…)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is aggressively pushing for the city to link test scores to tenure decisions this year, but state education officials are less confident that the tests are a reliable measure of progress and are proceeding with caution.

Using test scores as a factor in teacher evaluations is one of the most controversial elements of the Race to the Top guidelines, which states are striving to meet in order to win the federal grants. On Monday, the State Board of Regents endorsed linking test scores to tenure decisions. But state officials are wary of using the tests before they’re improved upon, an approach that contrasts with the city’s decision to use the data immediately.

Speaking at a press conference about the state’s Race to the Top application yesterday, State Education Commissioner David Steiner warned against giving too much weight to the state tests or making them the sole indicator of a teacher’s success or failure.

“It would not be sound policy to ground the assessment of teachers in assessments we don’t have complete confidence in,” Steiner said. (more…)

From left to right: Councilman-elect Jumaane Williams, UFT president Michael Mulgrew, and Councilwoman Letitia James, attended a rally in support of lengthening the school day.

New York State is months from knowing whether it will win coveted Race to the Top funds, but already community groups are offering ideas for how to spend the money.

The Coalition for Educational Justice held a rally on the steps of Tweed Courthouse today calling for the federal stimulus funds to be spent on lengthening the school year and increasing the school day by 30 percent for low-performing schools. The proposal also calls for schools to place less emphasis on standardized tests and to offer more arts education and Advanced Placement courses. (more…)

• The Regents unveiled a policy agenda aimed at winning Race to the Top funds. (GothamSchools, NY1)
• Much of the plan is unlikely to be made law by Race to the Top’s Jan. 19 deadline. (Daily News)
• Thomas Carroll writes that the Regents’ proposal is bold and deserves support. (Post)
• The state’s potential RttT yield is about the same as Gov. Paterson is now withholding. (Buffalo News)
• Public school advocates could sue over Paterson’s decision to withhold state school aid. (Bloomberg)
• School districts statewide are cutting purchases; Mayor Bloomberg backs Paterson’s move. (Times)
• NYSUT said it’s okay with the teacher evaluation-test score firewall law expiring. (Albany Times Union)
• Students and alumni from Queens’ Jamaica High School are lobbying to keep it open. (Daily News)
• Girls Prep Charter School wants to show it isn’t trying to cause a Lower East Side space fight. (Post)
• The bus company that allowed bribes is getting extra monitoring along with its new contract. (Times)
• Students who graduate from a city high school could get extra credit on the FDNY exam. (NY1)
• A quarter of students at PS 3 on Staten Island have a stomach virus. (NY1)

• Chris Smith worries that, years into data-driven policies, the city doesn’t see students as people.
• Looks like New York State is going to apply for RttT in round one with a lot of competition.
• Congress approved the ’10 education spending bill with a spike in funds for the Teacher Incentive Fund.
• Accountable Talk wonders why so many new teachers are being marked “unsatisfactory.”
• A blogger approves of Mulgrew’s tough talk, but wants to see some action.
• Norm Scott is protesting the DOE’s decision to hold an important public meeting in Staten Island.
• Columbus HS teachers and students are planning to protest their school’s likely closure.
• Anything more than an apple for the teacher may not be kosher during the holidays.
• Flypaper has a roundup of writing about Fordham’s new report on tracking in middle school.
• Liz Willen writes about the trials of high school choice once the choosing is done.
• Corey Bunje Bower pokes some holes in a Mathews’ column on closing bad charter schools.
• Miss Brave offers her own edition of Kids Say the Darndest Things.
• And cafeteria service for teachers at one school could end because most teachers won’t touch the food.