GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• UFT prez Michael Mulgrew challenged Albany to stave off budget cuts, not change seniority rules.
• While Dan Weisberg from The New Teacher Project argued against firing young teachers first.
• Kathleen Parker, who just won the Pulitzer for commentary, recalls her “light master” teacher.
• A TV ad from pro-charter group Education Reform Now blames unions for N.Y.’s Race to the Top loss.
• La. Senator Mary Landrieu gave Duncan an earful over what she thinks is flawed RttT scoring.
• Education Sector has a break-down of teacher salaries, by credential, in Washington, D.C.
• The odds of admission to a charter school declined from 36 percent in 2008 to 28 percent last year.
• Rick Hess argues the failure of a WI voucher program just shows we haven’t created healthy markets.
• UNICEF has opened tent schools for Haitian children left without a school after the quake.
• LaGuardia HS students are abuzz with the rumor that Madonna’s daughter may join their ranks.
• And can the TV show “Glee” save arts education? A HuffPo blogger says it’s a stealth advocate.

Chancellor Joel Klein is expanding a pilot program that takes the experiments city schools often conduct behind closed classroom doors and brings them to other schools.

Called Innovation Zone, or iZone, the program began this year in ten schools and will grow to include 81 schools next year. At its core is a heavy emphasis on expanding online learning, a major focus of Klein’s tenure at the Department of Education.

Of the iZone schools, more than half will adopt the “virtual school” model. This involves using online Advanced Placement classes and credit recovery courses or simply combining online work and face-to-face instruction. Six schools will alter their schedules to make the school day or year longer and 35 will begin using software that’s designed to change instruction based on how much a student struggles or excels.

One of the six schools that will change its schedule next year is P.S. 50, an elementary and junior high school in East Harlem. A spokeswoman for The After School Corporation said the organization is in talks with P.S. 50 to extend the school day to 6 p.m. (more…)

Mid-April marks the beginning of the charter school lottery season, and with it, news reports of staggering numbers of applications to schools with limited slots. Already, the Post reported that 3,800 students applied for 588 spots in the Achievement First charter schools. In order to review the results for past lotteries, I submitted a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the State Education department, who provided us with the Basic Education Data System (BEDS) data that all charters file with the state. I found that applications to charter schools have increased by 50% since 2007, with over 50,000 applications submitted last year. By comparison, enrollment in charters has only increased by 40% to just shy of 40,000 students last year. The chances of getting admitted to a charter school in New York City have declined from an average acceptance rate of 36% in 2008-2009 to a rate of 28% in 2009-2010. A full spreadsheet of the admissions data, with statistics for individual schools, is available here.

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Yesterday evening, in a tiny room on the second floor of a Harlem school building, staff of the Success Charter Network of charter schools admitted 1,100 students for next year — in just over an hour.

Charter school lotteries have a reputation for being emotional public spectacles. Last year, thousands of Harlem Success Academy hopefuls filled the Fort Washington Armory for what was part enrollment event and part political rally led by the network’s controversial director Eva Moskowitz.

But many charter school admissions decisions are actually computer-generated, made in private days or even weeks before names of admitted students are announced at public events in front of anxiety-ridden parents. And this year, Moskowitz’s network, which currently runs four schools and is set to open three more in Harlem and the Bronx this fall, has quietly scrapped its boisterous public event. Instead, parents will be notified of the lottery’s results by mail, online and through a phone hot-line next week.

Success Charter Network spokeswoman Jenny Sedlis said the public event was abandoned because the sheer number of applicants — nearly 7,000 for 7 schools this year — would overwhelm organizers and because of tighter school budgets this year. Leaders of the network may also be feeling camera-shy this year after a winter of intense public scrutiny of charter schools and accusations that Moskowitz’s schools benefit from favoritism from Chancellor Joel Klein.

Yesterday, Matt Zacks, a software programmer from the educational data software company InResonance, peered at a large computer monitor filled with tables and lists of names. A smattering of Harlem Success staff, parents and visitors munched pizza and watched over Zacks’ shoulder as he moused and clicked through the lists. (more…)

A quotation I distinctly remember from middle school history was Lord Acton’s “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I’ve been wondering lately if I’ve been power-tripping in my classroom.

Walking up to my school this morning I reflected on what seems a recent trend of mine to feel agitated and frustrated, and to pass these feelings onto the kids. It has manifested in different ways, some fairly benign and others, specifically sarcasm, I consider unacceptable. I resolved to be, in the strange words of my inner monologue, a well of endless patience. We hadn’t even made it to lunch when it seemed the well had run dry.

Searching for the cause of my attitude problem yields several culprits. It is April, so spring is of course a suspect as my students (and their teacher) begin to feel the restlessness brought on my warm, sunny days. The test is another obvious cause. We are all exhausted and stressed by the impending state reading and math exams. It makes the kids restive and in turn I get short-tempered when they’re inattentive during such a crucial time.

The third possibility is one that makes me most uncomfortable, but one which offers me the most control to effect a change in my classroom. On my way home today I began to think that maybe I’ve just become a control freak. (more…)

• Parents submitted 3,800 applications for 538 seats in yesterday’s Achievement First lottery. (Post)
• A family who was shut out of Achievement First’s schools has its hopes pinned on other charters. (Post)
• Parents whose son did get into an Achievement First school say he’s destined for greatness. (Post)
• A conservative think tank says the city’s teacher pension fund is in worse shape than the city says. (NY1)
• Nationwide, teacher pension funds are more than $900 billion in the red, the group found. (USA Today)
• An NYC superintendent’s son is among tens of thousands of students waitlisted at elite colleges. (Times)
• Teachers at Williamsburg Charter High School produce YouTube videos to help their students. (NY1)
• The Daily News says legislation to end “last in, first out” layoffs would protect good teachers.
• Some school districts in the region are holding weekday proms to cut down on after parties. (Times)
• SUNY’s new strategic plan includes a pipeline stretching from pre-K to college. (NY1, GothamSchools)
• A 2-year-old was left alone on a daycare school bus for hours. (Post, Times, Daily News)

• Bloomberg is fundraising for Assem. Sam Hoyt, who supported raising the charter school cap.
• After laying off teachers because of a budget gap, D.C. Chancellor Rhee says there’s a surplus.
• Andy Rotherham says Rhee got what she wanted and Randi Weingarten deserves more credit.
• D.C. is seeing tenure changes as a result of a charter school boom, writes Mike Petrilli.
• Some students are without high school placements, but Madonna’s daughter has one.
• InsideSchools tells families what to do if their 8th graders didn’t get a high school match.
• Manhattan Institute report says at least 75% of NY’s teacher pensions are unfunded.
• Rick Hess wants Florida Gov. Christ to abolish tenure, but has some qualms with the bill.
• Colorado is dealing with a proposed bill that would dilute tenure protections.
• Klein testified about the NCLB law’s flaws to the Senate education committee.
• In part two of his series on education “fixes,” Arthur Goldstein looks at school closures.
• Norm Scott says the teachers union’s response to the layoffs-without-seniority bill was weak.
• The American Sign Language school’s alumni group is fighting a proposed co-location.
• Philadelphia’s comptroller is interviewed about financial scandals at 13 city charter schools.
• Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin will release a bill to give schools $23 billion in aid to prevent layoffs.
• And Maryland, which stayed out of Race to the Top 1, released its round 2 plans.

A teacher training program is warning its recruits to stay away from certain New York City schools, according to a list obtained by GothamSchools.

The list, compiled by Math for America and sent to its fellows, includes a mix of new schools created under Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and schools that have been troubled for years. Math for America is a program that recruits and trains people who are talented at math to teach in inner-city schools.

Many of the schools are brand new and some, such as the three small schools in the Lafayette High School complex, opened to replace schools the Department of Education decided to close. Others, such as International Leadership Charter School and Acorn High School for Social Justice, have undergone jarring leadership changes. None of them are among the 19 schools the city wants to begin phasing out this year.

Called the “School Awareness List,” the list of nearly 20 schools is part of Math for America’s effort to retain the teachers it trains by ensuring they end up in schools with supportive administrations. Though the name easily could be a euphemism for a black list, fellows are not prohibited from taking jobs at the schools. (more…)