Bloomberg math might help a lot more kids pass! If he can make a 39 into a 53, he's almost made the 55 needed on the regents to pass.
Falsifying figures is a longstanding American tradition. That's how ex-US Education Secretary Rod Paige started the "Texas Miracle."
That, along with voter intimidation, phony felon lists, brother Jeb, Katherine Harris, and Daddy's Supreme Court, and any kid can grow up to be President.
After all these months I'm still waiting to hear your magical "what works" cure - as in something that has magically solved all the problems of public education in real life on a large scale. If you can't back up that refrain, you're spinning as much as Klein is.
"There are lies, damn lies and then there are statistics."
Mark Twain
Well, Bloomberg's small high schools work because special ed and ESL students need not apply. As a result, the federal government is looking to see if they violated these students civil rights.
Maybe the mayor is on the right track. He only places the best students in his small schools. Charter schools have the luxury of imposing very strict behavior rules, unlike NYC. Parents are expected to play a supportive role in these charter schools. We can't get that type of commitment in NYC.
My best students have been my struggling students with very supportive parents. Working together has made a world of difference. The result is better classwork and improved tests scores. I have moved students from 1's to low 3's. That's my job, but it certainly helps when parents pitch in on the homefront.
Is the gloss off mayoral control of the schools yet? The fifth grade test scores tanked once the DOE had to give a state exam rather than a city exam, the city ranks 48 out of 50 on its four year graduation rate, and the mayor has shown himself intransigent in his cell phone ban.
Why would anybody give a little brat like Bloomberg total control? Those people in LA really should learn from our mistake here in NY. One person control of a municipal public school system is a bad idea.
What works, anonymous, is what we do in Nassau--good teachers, small classes, and decent facilities. I see it every day. There's nothing "magical" about it.
I have written about this repeatedly, and refer to it often. As has NY Times education columnist Mike Winerip. As has the NYS Supreme Court, which drew the same conclusion.
I don't know what you've been doing "all these months" but you certainly haven't been reading NYC Educator. Or that other paper, the New York Times.
What I'd like to know is why my son's ELA and math scores will be unavailable until next school year, when he will be in 6th grade. I suppose Kleinbloom & Company are finding new ways to scrub clean and skew the scores. In my value system, this is called lying. 2 DAYS WERE SPENT MARKING THE ELA TEST AT THE END OF MARCH, AND THEY WERE NON-INSTRUCTIONAL, NON-ATTENDANCE DAYS FOR THE KIDS. I'm one of those parents who will leave the city if this unethical educationally unsound dishonest crap goes on. That goes hand in hand with back crediting kids who had 55 in the fall semester, and giving them a back credited 65 when they just get a 65 in the spring semester. It's all BS. WHERE ARE MY KID'S SCORES?? Not all parents are uninformed. Unfortunately for Kleinbloom, I am also a teacher at a high school that is cruelly overcrowded with no hope of relief for next year. Obviously Region 3 didn't get the memo about the middle class leaving the city. 220% capacity is your answer to the reason we have a 4 year graduation rate that is 3rd from the bottom in the ENTIRE COUNTRY. The middle class leaving will create a NYC that will be just an educational gulag and a corrupt bloated nasty contract mill.
I believe it's the state not city who is holding up the scores. However that is "supposed" to change next year.
We did find out if students met or did not meet promotional criteria. My question is, how do they know this if they don't have the scores?
nyc educator:
Least you forget, the not for promotion 8th graders are placed only in the large high schools.
Schoolgal: Yes, the elementary schools do know if a student meets the promotional criteria. So why don't I have that information? I really don't care who is holding up the scores; they took 2 days away for what, exactly, if the scores are still unavailable. I smell a scam. I don't care whether it's the state or the city, it's the same marginalizing of teachers, parents, and kids who deserve better. A straightforward release of scores would certainly maintain credibility, not this smoke-and-mirrors act that doesn't fool me.
Ellie,
I agree, and parents will see if they met the standards on the last report card. I only got the math info last week. While I know who "met" the standard, I have no idea of how they scored.
Not only did I work hard with my students, I also was marking tests in Region 3 which was so unorganized. They made no provisions for foreign students and had to go begging for teachers who read and spoke other languages to mark those tests. We spend 2 hours the first day waiting for tests to arrive in our assigned room. The next day we had very little to do and was sent back to our schools in the afternoon. At least I got most of my record cards completed that day which was the only good thing to come out of it for me.
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