Comments on: Bloomberg praises 2011 grad data growth, but hedges on future

By: Alieth

Alieth — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 15:12:00 +0000

What happened to the reference that Bloomberg uses that NYC is doing better than Buffalo? I think that Buffalo should say what happened NYC????????????

By: Concerned Teacher

Concerned Teacher — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:13:00 +0000

Someone needs to look how many “portfolio” schools have opened in recent years. These schools are exempt from taking the Regents except for the English exam. They are replaced with what are being called “panels”. I have observed a panel to be nothing more than a 2 week type project I would give in a social studies class. There is little to no oversight on what is a panel and whether enough rigor is really included. This could of added a few statistical points to Bloomberg’s graduation rate, which of course he will claim as a huge success. The corporate school reform model includes manipulating statistics, lowering standards, and then claiming you are a miracle worker.

By: Ellen Mc Hugh

Ellen Mc Hugh — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 03:16:00 +0000

Let him chortle and chuckle: there are lies, there damned lies and then there are statistics. It’s over, people know he’s in la la land…..sipping large sodas and sucking on seegars

By: Joseph Moses

Joseph Moses — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 02:17:00 +0000

Chancellor Walcott should not be identified as “the man on [Bloomberg's] left”; rather, he is the puppet in Bloomberg’s left hip pocket.

By: Save our schools

Save our schools — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 01:55:00 +0000

The are just demoralizing teachers, intimidating amd creating a bad atmosphere with closing and opening schools. We need principals that are leaders, not principals that intimidate and chase out teachers like Ms. Dwarka in Bryant High School. Some veteran teachers deserve better and do not deserve this constant abuse and discrimination.

By: guest

guest — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 01:09:00 +0000

“And better rates of improvement in other cities weren’t an indication of New York City’s failures, but a credit to what those school districts were doing right.” Substitute the word schools for cities, PLA Schools’ failures for NYC’s failures, and high schools for school districts and the same argument could be made for keeping the PLA schools open that the Mayor just had to close. Only if it’s the PLA schools, the Mayor calls it making excuses, because then his buddies couldn’t make a bundle off tax levy funds and privatization. The hypocrisy is staggering.

By: Philip Nobile

Philip Nobile — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:50:00 +0000

Twisting teachers’ arms to inflate course grades is not new in city high schools. But you can bet your CAR that this form of cheating is spreading. And worse, it is semi-official DOE policy—just like scrubbing Regents exams which both the DOE and the UFT encouraged for years by looking the other way. If not for the Wall Street Journal’s February 10, 2011 exposé of Regents tampering (“Students’ Regents Test Scores Bulge at 65,” February 2, 2011),
principals and teachers would still be committing Regents crimes without fear of detection. Surely, the drop in 2011’s grad rates can be traced to greater test security which will be even tighter when extramural grading kicks in.

The following emails were sent to me ten years ago by Cobble Hill Assistant Principal Theresa Capra. She resigned from the DOE in disgrace in the wake of my Regents tampering allegations that were substantiated by OSI. But Chancellor Klein corruptly restored her to the eligibility list after Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon fraudulently reported that there was not enough evidence. (BTW, SCI never audited the disputed exams.) Capra’s emails pull back the curtain on the sad reality of mayoral control:

4/29/02
I understand that our students are not working enough and their grades are a reflection of this, however, you cannot fail 90% of the class. IF students are not responding to homework, do not base most of the grade on assignments. … For the next marking period, try to raise the grades so that a good majority have the opportunity to pass. … Just so you know, out of all the teachers you have one of the lowest passing percentages.

4/29/02
I know that this is a true problem, not just for us, but across the city. In other more competitive schools teachers face different problems: lawsuits from parents, elaborate cheating rings, higher suicide attempts and depression, unfriendly competition among staff. Well the bottom line is you cannot fail 90% of any class—even if you feel that they deserve it. You must try to bring up their grades….

6/9/02
Well, try not to fail an overwhelming majority. Use your judgment. Make some phone calls this week to let parents know it’s a last chance shot. Keep a record of your phone calls. The bottom line is you can’t fail everyone, except for a couple. You have to evaluate each kid and try to pass a fair amount. Keep me posted.

6/15/02
we must make sure that we stay on top of this from the beginning next year. Passing just a tiny percent of your students will look really bad. Even if you feel that they did not meet the standards, just to let you know it may be the lowest rate in the school.

By: R.I.P. Richmond Hill

R.I.P. Richmond Hill — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:16:00 +0000

”If anything, he said, the city would focus on efforts to keep them in the school system until they complete their graduation.” Oh really Mr. Walcott? My school is mostly comprised of English Language Learners and Students With Disabilities, they usually take about five years, instead of four, to graduate. Yet, you had no problem shutting down the school and calling it a failure, even though our five year graduation rate was above average. These students need (and could really use that extra year) more time to learn English and to overcome their disabilities. Never trust a word out of their mouths… so many lies, so much deception. It literally makes me sick! Keep patting yourselves on the back, fine job you’re doing destroying public education and making everyone (including the students) in the large comprehensive high schools feel miserable and defeated.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:14:00 +0000

The higher graduation rates are actually the result of fraudulent credit recovery and other false means of goosing grauationrates by lowering academic standards fthroughout the school system. Bloomberg’s self congratulatory claim of improved graduation rates is absurd at best. Bloomberg should be instead recognized as the “laughingstock par excellence” in the realm of public education.