GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• NYSUT gave money to Andrew Cuomo days after suing Paterson for delaying aid to school districts.
• Teachers College’s new school is working with the union to adopt charter school features.
• David Marshak writes that small schools work, but Gates created (most) of them the wrong way.
• A teacher outlines how he would go about solving the rubber room dilemma.
• Defending the “last in, first out” rule, a teacher makes the case for seniority.
• Ms. Mimi complicates the claim that all teachers, good and bad, are basically treated the same.
• Norm highlights a back-and-forth in our comment thread about the role of unions.
• Sara Mead says she’s skeptical, though maybe not paranoid, about common safety standards.
• Looking at some “parent trigger” scenarios, Jay Mathews says it’s a bad idea.
• Cleveland’s teachers union is launching a new effort to win the hearts of its charter schools.
• The common standards movement wants to make sure you know it’s not the federal government.
• And Philly is experimenting with a new school funding formula.

One element of the New York Times’ long-awaited appraisal of Governor David Paterson’s governing style stuck out to us today.

In its lead, the story blames the governor for New York’s failure to pass reform legislation to sharpen the state’s application for federal Race to the Top funds:

[L]ast month, with the state facing a deadline to apply for $700 million in federal education aid, the governor waited until the last minute to try to bring lawmakers together to agree on a plan. His efforts failed, leaving the application in doubt.

This “blame-Paterson” narrative rests on the idea that a stronger governor could have successfully corralled all of the competing interests in the battle over state education reform, brought them to a compromise and forced the legislature to pass a bill.

But it’s also an overly simplistic explanation for the state’s failure to act, sources told GothamSchools today.

A more nuanced telling of the downfall of the state’s Race to the Top legislation involves decisions made by Paterson, to be sure. But it would also bring in a number of other, interlocking factors, all of which may become relevant again this spring or summer if the legislature re-visits the charter cap issue in advance of the grant competition’s second round deadline in June.

Here are several alternate theories for why the legislature failed to act: (more…)

Charter school advocates were some of the loudest supporters of New York State’s Race to the Top application, but a handful of charter schools mysteriously chose to sit out the competition.

Though the vast majority of New York charter schools have signed onto the state’s bid for a $700 million grant, more than a dozen opted out, making them ineligible for a share of the funds. As of last month when the state was shopping its application around, there were 164 charter schools across the state. Of those, 146 signed the state’s bid.

Unlike charter schools, district schools couldn’t individually sign onto the state’s plan. Instead, school district officials made the call, 656 of the total 700 choosing to participate. New York City was among them. (more…)

I will try to describe myself in one paragraph: I am 23 years old, and I teach 23 second-graders. I teach everything, from math, science, and reading to shoe-tying, apologizing, and keeping the milk in the cereal bowl. This is my second year teaching second grade. I am a New York City Teaching Fellow, which means that my first month of teaching was also my second month of training. I am now beginning my 16th month of teaching, which means that I am also in my 17th month of training to become a teacher. I teach in Brooklyn and I grew up in Brooklyn. I attended a strange private school, where students did not receive grades, from kindergarten all the way through my senior year. I am learning the particularities of public school as I go.

I decided in my senior year of college that I wanted to be a teacher. I took the path that was advertised on the subway and joined the Teaching Fellows. It would have been wiser, I think, to go the traditional route into teaching, but here I am. Before deciding to become a teacher, I wanted to become an actor (from ages 5-11), a comic book artist (11-12), a politician (12-13), a wealthy person (13-14) and finally a journalist (14-21). My favorite subject to teach is writing.

My school can be classified, if you wish, as a low-functioning school. (more…)

• Students arriving from Haiti say they’re having a hard time getting placed in city schools. (NY1)
• Nationally, school budget cuts are forcing a hard look at teacher seniority rules. (Wall Street Journal)
• Middle-school students who have failed multiple grades face unique challenges. (Queens Chronicle)
• Students and politicians decried the MTA’s plan to cut student Metrocards. (Daily News, Post)
• Brooklyn Tech students are helping lead opposition to the MTA’s plan. (Brooklyn Courier-Life)
• New City Councilman Mark Weprin says he won’t avoid opposing DOE policies. (Queens TimesLedger)
• A Queens school designated as failing hosted a citywide science competition. (Queens Courier)
• Melinda Gates says she’s optimistic about education policy’s new focus on teaching. (Washington Post)
• The groups picked to take over Los Angeles schools include only a few charter operators. (L.A. Times)

• EdExcellence published a list of schools in the 25 largest metro areas that serve virtually no poor students.
• A lawsuit alleges officials in a suburban Philly school district used webcams to spy on students at home.
• Rick Hess takes Randi Weingarten to task for abusing the “it’s for the kids” line on MSNBC…
• …While Hess’ call to swear off that phrase is prompting other bloggers to take the pledge.
• Walt Gardner argues that it’s dangerous to push teachers to the margins of the ed reform debate….
• …While Stephen Sawchuk wonders how we could most fruitfully bring teachers’ voices to the table.
• Deborah Meier explores how young children are brought into the teach-to-the-test mold.
• Jay Mathews lists eight essential life skills he thinks schools should teach.
• Linda Perlstein talks to Education Next about the problems facing education reporting.
• Hearings on NCLB re-authorization will start next week, beginning with charter schools.
• If the USDOE wants NCLB renewed, they should get on it before Congress does, writes Andy Smarick.
• …and here’s more pessimism about the renewal chances, from Eduflack.
• GothamGazette summarizes all of the ruckus surrounding the city’s charter schools.
• And Arthur Goldstein finds that an influx of new students is challenging his relationship with his old ones.

As after-school programs have fallen victim to budget cuts at many schools, one program to build science and math skills has found an unusual home — the New York City Housing Authority.

Once a week after school, groups of 8 through 12-year-old residents in ten public housing complexes around the city gather to learn about bridges, skyscrapers and environmentally sustainable building.

Watch an audio slideshow of students, all residents of the Bronx’s Gun Hill Houses, at work in the BRIDGES program (the punny acronym stands for “Build, Research, Invent, Design, Grow and Explore through Science”), run in a partnership between the non-profit Salvadori Center and NYCHA community centers:

That’s a popular saying. Basically, it means you’ve got to get tough with the kids when they first see you, and stay that way for a good long time. After all, every parent knows it’s the sacred duty of every kid to test every adult every minute to find out precisely what can be gotten away with.

I’m up to the challenge. On the first day of class, I might phone the homes of every kid who looked at me the wrong way. Doubtless that will be the talk of the classroom. “This teacher is crazy!” That’s music to my ears. They prevailing platitude states a good lesson plan is the single best factor in classroom control, but I’d say a bad reputation trumps the good lesson plan every time. After all, if the kids are tying you to a post and setting fire to it, your excellent lesson plan is likely to go up in flames with you, no matter how good the instructional objective may be, or how much praise it’s garnered from your supervisor.

Actually, I like kids a lot — working with them is by far the single best part of being a teacher. As an ESL teacher, drawing them out and making them comfortable enough to speak freely is a major part of what my job entails. So, much as we all treasure peace and quiet, I don’t have the luxury of simply telling them to sit down and shut up the entire year. Nor would I want it — I don’t think I’d like that any more than the kids would. (more…)