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Chaz’ post about including student surveys is right on point. If the Gov is such a ‘student lobbyist’, then why wouldn’t he want the students’ experiences with their teacher surveyed and have that as part of the teachers’ evaluation?  

Student surveys, which are objective measures just like a test, should be -and are not- part of the APPR. Crazy tests, however, that count for 40%, are. What’s with that? It’s nuts (no pun intended)

Hizzoner questions the $30 M increment for the 3,000 children (less than 5% of the cohort) affected by “universal kindergarten.”  Kids First?  Sheesh.

I just conducted a highly scientific survey of… my own two kids (4th and 6th grade, both of whom attended traditional public school K’s).  

Amongst their responses, which are taking me more time to type than for them to rattle off:
* Kindergarten is where specific needs can be identified early: i.e. learning disabilities, poor hand strength (for holding pencils)
* Learning basic arithmetic and letter identification
* Learning to socialize and work with, and respect, other kids
* Provides needy children with hot breakfast and lunch
* Introduces kids to school rules and organizational structure
* Helps build lasting friendships that span the balance of elementary school years

Ergo, my conclusion?  Universal kindergarten deserves support, and my kids would make great mayors (starting Monday).

Re new middle school reading program, advised by “Aussies,” implemented  under Dep. Ch. for Instr. Josh Thomases — is this  ”Ramp-Up” all over again?

Speaking further of Mr. Thomases, whose resume makes him sound a bit spread thin – http://www.all4ed.org/files/NYCBios012510.pdf and http://www.nycleadershipacademy.org/who_we_are/leadership/josh_thomases, -

– there’s also this –  ”Needless to say, BCDNHS Intergenerational Center did not win
either. The Office of New Schools, headed by Josh Thomases, “lost”
the application. Guess who is taking the space in the building we are using.
The Brooklyn Bridge Academy, in partnership with New Visions, who work closely
with — guess who — Josh Thomases’ MOTHER. No wonder their application did not
get “lost” like ours did, despite our 17 years of experience and our
need only for expansion funds, not start-from-scratch funds.” 

 
from  http://www.whokilledbcnhs.blogspot.com/

I believe the transfer schools such as BCDNHS were all being shut down so Cami Anderson could charterize them.  Was that task completed before she bolted for Newark?  If not,  where do those kids go to school now?

Hey GS, any word on the city’s applications for turnaround? I heard that the plan was to submit them yesterday now that they have finished with the first round of closures.

I’m just guessing, but I suspect that a big chunk and probably even the majority of the 3,000 eligible students who aren’t utilizing public K seats are kids who are waiting on private schools or who are being ‘redshirted’ by their parents. Such kids make up at least 15-20% of the enrollment at my youngest’s non-DOE preschool.

Your kids are right on the money, of course, but here comes Janus again: a child who has had a culturally rich early childhood, who gets good sleep and nutrition, who has been read to and exposed to people and words, and who has gone to a good play-based preschool or homeschooling group? She doesn’t need a kindergarten setting that is as academic as what’s commonplace in New York City publics, and in fact for her, that type of K might be suboptimal. The elite privates, Finland, etc., delay ‘real’ schoolwork for as long as possible, whereas in our schools, kindergarten is the new first grade.

I’d like to see Quinn bring some real analysis rather than emotionally implying there are poor vulnerable kids sitting on the sidelines, because it definitely doesn’t jibe with what I’ve seen in the real world. 

“I have no problem with Kindergarten being the “new first grade,” as opposed to another year of pre-school.  Kids can handle it.”

I disagree intensely with this.  Different kids have different needs, but as a general matter I think children learn much more from play than anything else.  The increasing “academicization” (all apologies for that disgusting neologism) of kindergarten is depressing to me.  Children come online at different points and rates, and I think trying to teach reading, writing, and math to children who aren’t ready for it is a horrible idea.

I notice that that most prek kids and kg kids of low income are severely lacking in receptive , expressive language, vocabulary and critical thinking that utilizes language. Therefore, letters can wait, while more conversation, discussion and enrichment are what is needed in kindergarten, along with play , socialization and introduction to rules and routines.

When I was 14, a freshman in high school, I had a honors history teacher who worked me up and down with the most “extreme” amount of work I have had to endure up to that point. He was nowhere near forgiving, he seemed not to care about our struggles, and he was teaching a core subject I found absolutely horrendous and boring (World History). By the end of the year, I was exhausted, frustrated, angry, upset, and frankly, at that point, I felt like I didn’t learn a damn thing. If I had to evaluate him, it would have been a ridiculous poor rating. Talking to my classmates then, I know I wasn’t alone.

Two years later, as a requirement to take the AP US History exam, I had the SAME teacher… but the experience was completely different! It was still a LOT of work, but I loved learning about US History and doing the work to do my very best. He worked us and prepared us for everything that test required. He challenged us, but never screamed at us or made us feel inferior. Lastly, his passion for the subject shone throughout his teaching every day. Frankly, he was one of the two best teachers I’ve ever had in high school and because of him, I was inspired to take on history at an undergrad level.

I don’t feel he changed so much as I changed from the ages of 14 to 16 in a time period where maturity levels and perspectives change in a heartbeat.

I agree that student input should be looked at, but with the various viewpoints of what is learning (and if I’ve learned something), the maturity level of the students evaluating, and the interest level (or lack thereof) of core and elective classes among other issues, there is a lot that rides with the multiple variables each students provides in the classroom and, in turn, the evaluations. I make my third graders work, I push them to persevere through their work, and yes, sometimes, they don’t like me for it. They may even find the work “stupid”, “boring”, or that it makes “no sense”, despite the work being essential according to the Common Core standards for them to learn. Does that make me a “bad teacher” or a teacher that pushed my students to as far as they can go, like my history teacher?

Every level of evaluations (be it, administrators, parents, students, etc) comes with it some risk. It doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be explored, but I feel it should be looked at with a very critical eye, multiple questions, reasonable expectations, a reasonable rubric, and not twisted or manipulated, as the Danielson Framework was. Considering what happened to the Danielson Framework, I have little faith that the DOE would use student feedback appropriately and reasonably.

Re Flerplunk below:
1) I accidentally hit the “like” button.  Subtract 1. 
2) Not sure the “inmates” (or their parents) should be any more suspect than the abusive “warden” – to run with your analogy – and his yes-men.
3) Please recall that the authors of the value added method have written to the NYCDOE that the method which uses student test scores to evaluate other-than-the-individual-students should NOT be tied to individual teachers.  This was the subject of a FOIL request (google Juan Gonzalez essay on topic) that DOE stalled for about a year… while they were building the case for using exactly what the method’s authors cautioned against.

I would not want my students evaluating me especially since I do call parents when my students are absent or late.  They get very upset when I make contact with parents.  Of course, those students that are on target, rarely absent and never late get praises from me but at the time they get alots of work from me, too.  Will they give me high marks?  I wonder since my standards are high and I demand quality work from them.  Will those students have some resentment towards me because I made them work for their grade?  One thing they always get from me is total respect and I expect it back.  But, that doesn’t mean that I will get a fair evaluation either.  It would seem to me that students evaluating teachers would be the same as principals pressuring teachers to have high passing rates.  If you pass all your students, your evaluation will be great.  Otherwise, it will not.