GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• A teacher describes realizing that some students might not lift themselves up from a 55. (Jose Vilson)
• In Michigan, one third of schools’ state rating is based on self-assessments of future plans. (CapCon)
• In a first, Tennessee rated teacher prep programs by how graduates performed. (Starting an Ed School)
• The city says Dec. 31 is still the kindergarten enrollment cutoff, despite a new state law. (Insideschools)
• Here’s what education types need to know about the “fiscal cliff” and sequestration. (Politics K-12)
• A critic of value-added measures says they should be “given a try” in teacher evaluations. (Shanker)
• One buried stat in TNTP’s D.C. report: Top teachers who leave often cite evaluations. (Dana Goldstein)
• Another take on the TNTP analysis: The bottom line is that fewer high-performing teachers leave. (SFNY)
• A teacher who quit very publicly last month offers a little more explanation of why he left. (Russo)

Council members Christine Quinn and Domenic Recchia hand out school supplies to students at I.S. 281 in Bensonhurst (Credit: William Alatriste)

If today’s attendance figures were a test of how well the city’s schools are rebounding from Hurricane Sandy, as Chancellor Dennis Walcott said they would be last week, then the city scored a 91 percent overall.

Even as 34 city schools remain unmoored from their damaged buildings, thousands more students showed up for classes today for the first time since the schools closed in October. At the same time, charitable efforts are shifting their focus toward replenishing those schools with basic supplies—most recently through a million dollar campaign, launched today, to supply students with backpacks and other supplies.

The city’s overall attendance rate is climbing, but schools in the areas that the hurricane hit the hardest are still struggling to fill their rosters. Of the fifteen schools that returned to their original buildings today, after relocating a week ago, Department of Education officials said about 77 percent showed up on average. And among the 37 relocated schools, two-thirds of students showed up—double the percentage from last week. (more…)

Coach Victor Nazario had no shortage of material to draw on as he launched into a pep talk for the Beach Channel Campus Dolphins before their playoff football game on Saturday.

Less than two weeks before, the Rockaway Peninsula — home to Beach Channel and many of its students — had borne the full force of Hurricane Sandy. Since the storm, members of the football team, like so many others, had been camped out in cold, dark apartments or bouncing among family, friends, and hotels elsewhere — anywhere with power and heat and access to food.

On Thursday, Nazario rushed to organize a practice to prepare for the Saturday matchup, but he was not sure if enough players would show up. A day earlier, just 15 percent of Beach Channel students made it to the school’s first day in a new location.

Now, just before kickoff, Nazario looked around the Port Richmond High School cafeteria, the team’s makeshift locker room, and saw that he had enough players to field a team. His voice cracked with emotion almost as soon as he opened his mouth.

“Needless to say, the last two weeks have really tested our character and our resilience and, in my opinion, you guys passed in flying colors,” Nazario said.

Before heading out onto the field, Nazario reminded the players to relish their time on the field.

“We handle our business,” he said. “And then we go home to deal with the dark.” (more…)

Math teachers from New Visions schools gather for a Common Core training. (Courtesy Tim Farrell, New Visions)

The city’s teachers union has been clamoring for more time for teachers to prepare for the elementary and middle school state tests, which will be aligned to new curriculum standards this spring. Not so for the city’s high school teachers, who have another year to prepare for new tests.

The Department of Education is requiring high school teachers to align two units each semester this year to the Common Core. But beyond that, some teachers have said that without assessments to plan backwards from, they are at a loss about how to proceed, while others view the extra year as license to delay making more substantive changes.

But some high school teachers are seeking out help with the Common Core now, reasoning that it’s smart to work with the new standards while there’s still time to troubleshoot before students face tests based on them.

For math teachers at 14 Bronx schools, support is coming from the network hired to support their schools, New Visions for Public Schools. With a $13 million, five-year innovation grant from the U.S. Department of Education and the help of the Silicon Valley Math Initiative, New Visions is piloting a Common Core-aligned ninth-grade algebra curriculum in the hopes that it will challenge students more and build teachers’ skills. (more…)

• Depression and anxiety are setting in for many children in areas that are still without power. (Daily News)
• Repairs to storm-damaged schools will continue into 2013. (GothamSchools, SchoolBook, NY1, WSJ)
• P.S. 114 parents explain why they withdrew their children from the damaged school post-storm. (Post)
• None of the city’s 152 public unions has a contract; that won’t change until there’s a new mayor. (WSJ)
• Teachers in Chicago marched on a school board member’s office to protest school closures. (Tribune)