GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

The Manhattan charter school the city wants to close for poor performance will remain open at least through the end of this school year.

Yesterday, the Board of Regents voted to extend the charter of Ross Global Academy until June 30.  The move — made on the recommendation of Deputy Commissioner John King, following the wishes of the city — was made to avoid a mid-year school closure after the school’s original five-year charter expired on Sunday.

The extension also gives the school more time to fight its closure. City officials recommended last month that the state not renew the school’s charter, citing problems such as low academic performance and high teacher turnover. In response, the school sued the city, arguing that the city’s recommendation violated state law and its own protocol.

The city and state have refused to renew schools’ charters in the past, but the fight over Ross Global has drawn particular attention because of the lawsuit, which marks the first time a charter has challenged its renewal decision in court.

Incoming Schools Chancellor Cathie Black visited overcrowded Francis Lewis High School a few weeks ago. She came with her entourage from Brooklyn, and was therefore an hour late. She stayed only 40 minutes, as she needed to run off somewhere else. Admittedly, I lack the organizational skills of a publishing executive (let alone someone about to run the largest school system in the country). Yet even I know how long it takes to get from Brooklyn to Queens.

Ms. Black got a good look at the principal’s office. It’s a great office. There’s a desk, a computer, a sitting area, and a full conference room. She didn’t see the trailer. (The trailer is not so great, but after considerable effort, I got it a desk.) She didn’t see our dual-national champion JROTC program, or meet our award-winning science students. She didn’t meet our parent representatives. She didn’t see our kids struggle to get to class at peak time, the half-classrooms we had to create to accommodate the overflow, or the kids who run around in the cold and the dark because we haven’t got sufficient gym space. She didn’t see kids eating lunch at 9 a.m., but she joked to some kids about it.

Cathie Black was there, in fact, because those kids are student activists who got themselves on NY1 and invited her. It was good public relations for her to show up (and PR seems to be the one thing Tweed is good at).

This was a good opportunity for Ms. Black to reach out, as relations between teachers and the DOE grew absolutely toxic under Joel Klein’s tenure. Nonetheless, she didn’t ask to meet me (I was out teaching in the trailer), and she didn’t ask to meet any other teachers either. She did say she opposed tenure for teachers, but it’s unlikely that was her opening salvo at mending fences.

Having missed Ms. Black, I spoke to the kids who met her. (more…)

• A Brooklyn school’s experiment with super-sized classes has so far yielded chaos. (Times)
• A judge said the city can release teachers’ value-added ratings. (GS, Times, Post, DN, NY1, WNYC, WSJ)
• The teachers union is planning to appeal the release, so it won’t happen yet. (GothamSchools)
• The Post says union president Michael Mulgrew is wrong to appeal the judge’s ruling.
• The city is planning to build a school on Staten Island that generates more energy than it uses. (Post)
• In a survey, parents said Cathie Black’s top priorities should be budget cuts and class size. (Daily News)
• Like nearby PS 36, Staten Island’s PS 54 has closed classrooms because of PCB concerns. (WSJ)
• The city said PS 36 was safe, but three-quarters of students stayed home yesterday. (WNYC)
• Education Secretary Arne Duncan said D.C. should keep its interim schools chief. (Washington Post)
• Michelle Rhee says districts’ tough budget situations offer opportunities for bold change. (WSJ)

• Michelle Rhee’s policy platform calls for vouchers, rating principals and ending teacher tenure. (WSJ)
• The UFT may take a cue from other protests and stage “flash mobs” against school closings. (Ed Notes)
• An uneven playing field among teachers can complicate teacher ratings. (Pissed Off Teacher)
• Little is yet known about Cathie Black’s views, but her fake Twitter account is going strong. (Gothamist)
• Kindergarten admissions season is starting amid renewed concerns about crowding. (InsideSchools)
• A new study calls for a better way to identify English language learners. (Inside School Research)
• Texas police officers have begun ticketing students as a disciplinary measure. (Yahoo)
• A non-profit is teaching beatboxing and breakdancing to Bronx public school students. (GOOD)
• A parent reflects on the importance of art on the walls of Brooklyn’s P.S. 11. (The Local)
• Part of its ongoing series of profiles, the UFT shines a spotlight on P.S. 107 in Queens. (EdWize)

Teachers needn’t check tomorrow’s newspapers for their names and ratings. Fresh off its loss in the State Supreme Court today, the teachers union announced plans to appeal a judge’s decision allowing the city to release the scores and names to reporters.

Earlier today, Justice Cynthia Kern ruled that the union had not made a convincing case that the city’s decision to release the ratings with names attached was “arbitrary and capricious.”

In a nine-page decision, Kern wrote that the Department of Education’s decision to release the data was reasonable because it the Teacher Data Reports (TDRs) are statistical, not subjective. She wrote:

“The UFT’s argument that the data reflected in the TDRs should not be released because the TDRs are so flawed and unreliable as to be subjective is without merit. The Court of Appeals has clearly held that there is no requirement that data be reliable for it to be disclosed. “

(more…)

New York City’s teachers union lost its suit to block the city from releasing 12,000 teachers’ ratings and names that, for years, have been kept confidential.

State Supreme Court Justice Cynthia Kern ruled today to deny the United Federation of Teachers’ request that the city redact teachers’ names from the Teacher Data Reports. The reports measure a teacher’s effectiveness based on how good she is at improving her students’ test scores from the beginning of the year to the end.

Underpinning the union’s lawsuit was the claim that releasing teachers’ ratings with their names included constituted an unlawful invasion of privacy.

A spokesman for the union said that the union’s lawyers are reviewing the decision.

Kern’s ruling:

Is the current mania around trying to turn around struggling schools and open high-quality new ones the best way to improve school systems? Marc Waxman isn’t sure.

In his latest missive in the “Deepening the Dialogue” exchange in the GothamSchools Community Section, Waxman argues that current policies give rise to an unsettling tension between what’s good for individual schools and what’s good for schools in general. He writes:

I believe our current dialogue about education is narrow in many ways. One way it is narrow is its focus on individual school improvement at the expense of, or with no thought of, systemic improvement.

For example, Waxman writes, limiting when and how many students enroll might enable an individual school to work effectively, but that kind of autonomy would have potentially damaging implications for other schools. He points out that the tension between specific and systemic success is present at many charter schools, like the one he’s planning to open, but is even more acute at many specialized schools, such as schools that serve only gifted students.

Marc Waxman, who is opening a charter school in Denver, and Stacey Gauthier, a co-principal of Renaissance Charter High School, are corresponding about school policy. Read their entire exchange.

Dear Stacey,

In your last letter you listed nine “attributes of an effective school.” All the attributes are indeed important. The ones that caught my attention, however, were numbers 3, 4, and 5. These specifically inspired me to reflect on the inherent conflict between school and system.

For attribute number 3 you wrote that effective schools must possess “school-level autonomy on matters such as programming, curriculum, budgeting and staffing and other policy decisions of importance.”

As individual schools have increased autonomy, how can we maintain continuity of education across the system of schools serving a community? For example, schools may use their autonomy to serve specific grade levels. In Community X, School A serves K-5, School B serves 5-8, and school C serves 6-12.  All three configurations might make sense at the individual school level, but as a system of schools within a community they may not meet the needs of students and families. (more…)

News from New York City:

• Some are saying that contract negotiations are stalled because the UFT wants 8 percent raises. (Post)
• The UFT is the largest group among 222 nationwide to receive a health care costs waiver. (Post)
• Harlem Day Charter School’s existence depends on being taken over by Democracy Prep. (WSJ)
• The number of kindergartners in oversized classes is up 40 percent over last year. (Daily News)
• Some want Staten Island’s PS 36 closed after it was found to have high PCB levels. (Daily News, NY1)
• The city says it will close two classrooms with leaking light fixtures but parents remain worried. (NY1)
• A DOE-employed occupational therapist was fired for directing families to her own companies. (Post)
• Grover Cleveland HS’s Alexandra Morman takes AP classes and sits on a citywide student council. (NY1)

And beyond:

• Arizona officials are seeking an end to Latino classes but not other ethnic studies classes. (Times)
• New Gov. Jerry Brown removed charter school advocates from California’s school board. (L.A. Times)
• Michelle Rhee will announce the policy agenda for her new organization, Students First, today. (AP)
• A journal that showcases research papers by high school students faces an uncertain future. (Times)
• The College Board is changing Advanced Placement courses to focus more on big concepts. (Times)
• Joel Klein argues that teacher pensions discourage some teachers by delaying payoff. (WSJ)
• A mother says “Chinese parents” are better because they don’t worry about children’s self-esteem. (WSJ)

• Gov. Cuomo named his team to review unfunded mandates imposed on school districts. (State of Politics)
• Cuomo will also begin weekly, interactive webcasts for New York high school students. (Daily News)
• A history teacher’s advice to Cathie Black: visit every school, unannounced. (Mr. D’s Neighborhood)
• Kindergarten admissions season started yesterday. Here’s a quick how-to for parents. (City Room)
• Hard-to-read fonts may actually help students learn more. (Wired via Quick and the Ed)
• Jay Greene revises Rick Hess’ and Daniel Lautzenheiser’s rankings of ed academics. (Education Next)
• Teachers can log on tomorrow to a virtual conference geared toward sharing best practices. (GOOD)
• The National Science Foundation wants to join the quest for college readiness. (EdWeek)
• DC Mayor Vincent Gray will launch a national search for a new superintendent. (NBC via Russo)
• House Speaker John Boehner is a spokesman for National School Choice Week. (Big Government)
• And a group of history teachers have turned all your favorite pop songs into lessons. (New Yorker)