Comments on: The Emperor’s New Close

By: Aaron Pallas

Aaron Pallas — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:21:00 +0000

There are a lot of pieces of data involved — are there particular grades or subjects you’re curious about?

By: Hey Mister!

Hey Mister! — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 22:24:00 +0000

Thanks, Aaron. Do you think you could give us the numbers you used for your calculations? Just curious.

By: Hey Mister!

Hey Mister! — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 22:21:00 +0000

I didn’t realize the mayor had power over state tests. We might want to warn the state about that.

By: Marie Mounteer

Marie Mounteer — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:41:00 +0000

Bloomberg lowered the number of correct answers needed to pass on the state tests from 2008 to 2010 so that if you guessed every answer you could still pass. He then used the rise in test scores as proof of his success. In 2010 when the NAEP was given it was shown that the test scores were exactly the same as they had been in 2008.

Let’s call it what it is: cheating. How dare he ask teachers to show growth on state tests when he himself has to change the actual rate of passing to show growth. We need to fight back against this unjust evaluation of teachers! http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-public-shaming-and-unjust-firing-of-teachers

By: Koozy14

Koozy14 — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:04:00 +0000

“It’s the emperor’s new close.” Thanks you! Thanks you!! Somebody finally said it and proved it empirically–Emperor Bloomberg is butt-naked!!! Not that it matters much, he’s got plenty of green kool-aid to spread around. Watch out, November 2013 might be another Jonestown….

By: Roma Giudetti

Roma Giudetti — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:27:00 +0000

Let’s see. . .he’s closed the achievement gap and charter schools are a huge success, he holds himself accountable for his failures. Let’s start a list of all of the mayor’s delusional statements.

By: bee

bee — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:19:00 +0000

Indeed! And the use of “misinformation,” as a tool to accomplish the privatization agenda.

By: Michael M. (parent still)

Michael M. (parent still) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:57:00 +0000

Because of the huge philosophical and financial investment toward privatization within the political and edupreneurial spheres?

By: Michael M. (parent still)

Michael M. (parent still) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:53:00 +0000

Then there’s the contradiction between the Mayor’s assertion of having made so much progress… and the rabid frothing to close (there’s that word again) schools.

Oops, I meant “turn around.” A full 360 degrees.

By: bee

bee — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:31:00 +0000

Because the issue of schools is more abstract.

By: KC Byrnes

KC Byrnes — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:01:00 +0000

Dear Mr. Pallas:

Thank you for crunching the numbers. Poverty, level of parental (maternal) education, neighborhood have been implicated with poor education outcomes for a long time. It’s easier to foist a business model on schools, castigate teachers, and wave around the long-discredited idea of incentives. These are all part of the vast esmokescreen that obscures the real issues; enormous concentrated wealth, de facto segregation in urban housing/schools, and the deep poverty and instability too many American children live within. It’s not getting better anytime soon.

Bloomberg lives in a self-created bubble that denies deeper, wider issues and enormous suffering.

Thank you.

KC Byrnes
English teacher
MAVAD High School
Soundview, Bronx

By: Michael M. (parent still)

Michael M. (parent still) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:40:00 +0000

And that, folks, is the naked truth.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:12:00 +0000

If the mayor held a press conference and made a factor-of-fifty error when discussing the crime rate, budget, snow removal, etc., would it go completely unchallenged? I seriously doubt it.

Why are schools different?