GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• A new test added to the city’s gifted screening battery is supposed to be harder to game. (Insideschools)
• Occupiers who are protesting the political conventions said they hitched a ride on a UFT bus. (BuzzFeed)
• A teacher explains how he introduces himself on the first day of school to set the right tone. (Yo Mista)
• After a decade at a city school, a teacher-turned-student is surprised by what’s early. (Music and Beyond)
• An argument for looking more closely at students when doing teacher evaluations. (Sara Mead)
• Tracing the evolution of the Democratic Party’s education platform from 1972 to now. (Answer Sheet)
• Paul Ryan said he’s okay with school prayer as long as individual states sign off on it. (HuffPo)
• Michelle Rhee wasn’t always down with Obama’s education policies, but she is now. (Politics K-12)
• The important anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit” first appeared in a teachers union pamphlet. (Edwize)
• Some Horace Mann alumni are returning their diplomas to protest sex abuse. (HM Action Coalition)
• A criticism of “How Children Succeed”: Grit without content is of little value at all. (Core Knowledge)

Chancellor Dennis Walcott visited the School of the Future to hear from department chairs about citywide education policy reforms.

Most classrooms were set up and schedules finalized at M.S. 223 in the Bronx this morning, 24 hours before students would arrive for the first day of school.

But teachers still needed to meet to review the lesson plans they are aligning to the state’s new curriculum standards, the Common Core. As they finished their breakfast and got to work, they were joined by Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and his top deputy, Shael Polakow-Suransky, on the first of their two school visits today.

Walcott gave the teachers a quick pep talk before sitting in on their training sessions. But he cautioned that the school’s past successes — which include a strong arts program, summer classes, and a New York Times Magazine profile — were not enough.

“I think this is a tremendous school. You’ve had major accomplishments,” Walcott said. “We need to make sure we model what you’re doing and also improve on that performance as well.”

Like all city schools, M.S. 223 is contending with the new standards, looming changes to state tests, and citywide special education reforms aimed at better integrating students with disabilities.

Today, the teachers focused on a small piece of the sweeping changes: developing performance tasks, or assessments that reflect the Common Core’s emphasis on real-world applications of classroom learning. (more…)

A teacher reported for looking at pornography on a school computer in January remained assigned to schools until late March, racking up additional complaints that he was loitering in girls’ bathrooms during that time.

During the period when the teacher, Daniel Meagher, was collecting allegations, city officials were demanding more power to fire teachers who misbehave.

Yet the extended timeline between the first allegation against Meagher and his removal from the classroom suggests that the city does not always use the power it already has to shield students from school workers suspected of illicit behavior — and that the Department of Education sometimes does not even know when teachers are accused of misconduct.

According to a report released today by Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon, Meagher behaved inappropriately at three different schools: Bedford Academy High School, P.S. 17, and P.S. 19. A city teacher since 2000, Meagher was assigned to multiple schools as a member of the Absent Teacher Reserve, the pool of teachers without permanent positions who rotate to new schools each week.

Bedford Academy’s principal called Condon’s office in mid-January after students said they saw Meagher looking at pornography in the school library and other school officials realized Meagher had also been searching online for sexually explicit content about children, according to the report. Investigators quickly began looking into the allegations, seizing Meagher’s computer six days after hearing from the school principal.

But it was not until March 30, more than two months later, that the Department of Education assigned Meagher to a central office position to keep him away from students, according to the report. That month, the principals of P.S. 17 and P.S. 19 each reported that Meagher had been spotted repeatedly in girls’ bathrooms. (more…)

Last year, Robert Jackson (l.) and Speaker Christine Quinn, candidates for higher office im 2013, joined UFT President Michael Mulgrew on the first day of school.

Visiting schools to shake hands with students and pose with parents on the first day of school is a time-honored stop on elected officials’ public schedules.

But few of them will be pounding the pavement on Thursday. That’s because their presence is required at a different kind of political event: the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

All of the leading contenders in next year’s mayoral race have made first-day-of-school stops in the recent past. Last year, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn appeared in Inwood with United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew to celebrate their budget victory that prevented thousands of teacher layoffs.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer handed out “Back 2 Basics Guides” at several schools, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio was in Fort Greene calling on parents to get more involved in their children’s education. As comptroller in 2009, Bill Thompson used the first day of school to criticize the city for increasing class sizes.

This year, all four are part of the roughly 450-member New York State delegation that will help nominate President Barack Obama for a second term Thursday evening. On Tuesday, the delegates approved the party platform, presented by Newark mayor Cory Booker, which included a hefty slate of education policy positions. (more…)

Academic achievement matters. But character traits such as perseverance and self-control might well matter more when it comes to students’ long-term success.

That’s the main idea behind “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character,” the new book by Paul Tough. In the book, which came out this week, Tough expands on his 2011 New York Times Magazine article about city private and charter school educators’ efforts to figure out why some students thrive in college and beyond while others founder.

The educators’ conclusion was that students with certain habits of mind are more able to handle the challenges that college presents. They decided those habits should be taught — and measured, using a “character report card” that they developed. Tough documents this effort along with other initiatives and new research that support the theory that students possessed of strong character can overcome even staggering odds.

“How Children Succeed” is timely in New York City, where education officials have replaced high school graduation with college success as their top goal for students. The city is encouraging schools to target students’ “soft skills”  but has no plans to introduce a character report card, officials say.

We’re inviting our readers to meet Tough and ask him about his book at an event we’re hosting on Sept. 29. Details are on our calendar.

To tide readers over, we’re offering an exclusive excerpt from Tough’s book in the Community section today. The section is from a chapter about the chess team at I.S. 318, which dominates national championships not just for middle schools but for high schools, too. Much of the chapter focuses on Elizabeth Spiegel, the school’s chess teacher, who pushes her students to develop many of the same character values that other educators are thinking systematically about how to teach.

Tough writes:

“Teaching chess is really about teaching the habits that go along with thinking,” Spiegel explained to me one morning when I visited her classroom. “Like how to understand your mistakes and how to be more aware of your thought processes.”

• Two of the three schools that launched the high-profile School of One program dropped it. (Daily News)
• The city’s bid to make school lunches healthier also made them not hit federal calorie minimums. (Times)
• Pop-up enrollment offices across the city match latecomer students with open seats. (GothamSchools)
• A principal removed after investigators found improprieties was also fined. (GothamSchools, Post)
• After months, parents at Brooklyn’s P.S. 9 are still trying to make up a federal funding loss. (Daily News)
• City schools slated for turnaround last year, including seven in Queens, are now reopening. (Daily News)
• A new “career ladder” plan will give quicker raises to D.C. teachers in needy schools. (Washington Post)
• More than a dozen school districts nationally are facing legal challenges to same-sex programs. (WSJ)
• Classes resumed in Chicago, but they could end again if teachers carry out a threatened strike. (Tribune)
• The Gervais, Ore., school district is trying to close a funding gap by selling off most of itself. (Times)