Diane Ravitch to WNBC-TV: state tests a "Ponzi scheme"

Diane Ravitch, interviewed by WNYC-TV's Gabe Pressman, called dumbed down state tests a "Ponzi scheme."

Click to this MSNBC link for the full report on Pressman's reporting Ravitch's critical comments on state tests and charter schools.

She said that President Barack Obama's emphasis on state tests will undermine education, and Pressman adds Ravitch said that

the Obama administration wants states to create more charter schools but she insists the evidence to date doesn’t show they do any better than regular public schools.

And she warns that the creation of more charter schools could be "an invitation to corruption."

UFT president Michael Mulgrew to appear on WWRL 1600: Mar. 31, 2010

Randi Weingarten-appointed United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew will appear on Errol Louis' "Morning Show" on Air America Radio's New York station, WWRL 1600 AM, on March 31, 2010, at some point between 6 AM and 9 AM --most likely, I would guess between 7 AM and 9 AM.

Ask him the questions you've been meaning to ask him, such as why he does not muster the hundreds of union officials (including many that never teach or teach for single periods) and mobilize them for pro-active public, grassroots campaigns that address the crises that the schools and the teachers are facing, due to forces in the city and in Albany.

Errol's podcast site. Maybe the interview will be uploaded a day or two after Mulgrew's appearance.

The tech-savvy might figure out how to grab the live stream of the radio broadcast.
VOTE FOR JAMES ETERNO AND THE ICE-TJC SLATE
If you have not yet mailed your election ballot make sure to read the blogs and vote for James Eterno for UFT president and the ICE-TJC slate. Be careful!: either choose to mark X in the full slate option on the first page of the ballot, or vote for single offices. Do Not Mark Both The Slate Box and The Offices Boxes. This action would result in an invalid ballot.
Read Independent Community of Educators' endorsement of James Eterno for UFT president at their website.

Michael Mulgrew and the present city and state emergency

Yes, it is time to appropriate language of the late 1970s/ early 1980s Cold Warriors:

We are suffering from a "present danger," "present emergency."

Let us get it straight, despite appointed United Federation of Teacher's (UFT) Michael Mulgrew' occasionally blustery delivery, Mulgrew's leadership has not been "genius."

William Thompson was far from the ideal candidate. But he is not engaged in a holy war against the teaching profession that Bloomberg/Klein have.

We are enduring a crisis, one that would look different had Mulgrew had taken a proactive position immediately from his entry into his job.
UFT LEADERSHIP AND THE BEATEN WIFE SYNDROME
Except for the lawsuit that --for immediate period-- has saved 19 schools threatened with closure, Mulgrew's posture has been an inheritance of the Randi Weingarten posture for the union, which has been the beaten wife syndrome: don't raise your voice, don't speak out, don't oppose, just oppose the beatings, just hope that they don't get worse.

The UFT leadership needs an aggressive, broad ranging campaign that not only addresses city power forces and Albany (New York State legislature and governor), but also directly engages the public. We bloggers have all addressed the outrages of the city. We should also address the misguided path of the New York State government which will force draconian cuts upon the schools.

We need more than the cute animated TV advertisements for the UFT. We need the UFT to use its hundreds of officials to transform into a grassroot network that would go to the public on weekends or evening rush hours and inform the public of the terrible consequences of the planned cuts in funds from the state, the terrible consequences from laying off 8,500 teachers, the discriminatory inequity of the charter schools, the factual distortion of the small schools record.

Mulgrew has never spoken in this direction. James Eterno and the other activists of the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) and Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) have already practiced much of this suggested strategy: speaking at public fora, walking at evening picket lines at schools under threat of closure.
VOTE FOR JAMES ETERNO FOR UFT AND FOR THE ENTIRE ICE/TJC SLATE.

75% failed to vote in the last UFT election. Don't let this happen. Download this ICE-TJC flier on voting.

Judge sides with education activists -halts closing of 19 NYC schools

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Joan Lobis has heeded the arguments of many education activists and the NAACP in halting the closure of 19 New York City schools.

In the context of the current United Federation of Teachers elections, people should remember that it was the dissident community, activists from the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) and Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) slates that fought long and hard, and early against the closure of city schools. The dominant UFT caucus, the so-called Unity caucus, only joined the struggle against the school closures in the last few months.
The Daily News broke the news Friday night: Tanyanika Samuels and Rachel Monahan, "Judge sides with teachers; halts city plan to close 19 schools" "Daily News," March 26, 2010

In a stunning blow to education officials, a judge halted the controversial closing of 19 failing schools that some teachers and students fought to keep open.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Joan Lobis's ruling Friday sided with the teachers union and the NAACP in their case against the city, which temporarily delayed the high school admissions process.

The surprising decision elated critics of the mass closures, who packed hearings to speak up for their schools, while city officials vowed to appeal.

"The principal made an announcement over the loud speaker and immediately cheers sounded throughout the school," said Christine Rowland, a teacher at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx. "We are thrilled. This is very exciting."

"Some people ran out into the hallways yelling 'yay,'" said Carlos Perez, 16, ninth-grader, at Global Enterprise High School, in the Bronx. "I think it's great. They should have just left the school alone."

The lawsuit charged that the city had not followed the requirement under the new mayoral control of schools law that officials must provide a full explanation of how the closings would affect school communities.

Lobis found the city "failed to comply with the requirements" of the law and ruled that the middle of the night vote that approved the closing schools in January is "null and void."

"We feel vindicated about our concern that closing these schools without a real process was problematic," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, one of the elected officials who sued.

City Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo said the city is planning to appeal the decision immediately. "We are disappointed by today's ruling, which, unless it is reversed, requires the Department of Education to keep open schools that are failing our children," he said in statement.

"Contrary to the ruling, we believe that the Department of Education complied with the notice and public hearing requirements in the new law."

Lobis had temporarily banned the city Education Department from giving eighth-graders high school decision letters, which were slated to be handed out Wednesday.

But her judgment allows the letters to go out to all but 8,500 students who applied for admission to the closing high schools. The decision did not come in time for the letters to be given to students before spring break.

"As soon as possible, the Office of Student Enrollment will mail your child's high school admissions letter to the home address listed on his or her high school application," Chancellor Joel Klein wrote in a letter to parents.

There was no immediate indication from the city on whether they will appeal the decision, which will also affect at least 10 new school slated to take over space in closing schools next fall.

After a teachers union lawsuit last year, the city Department of Education backed down on closing three schools - Public Schools 194 and 241 in Manhattan and PS 150 in Brooklyn.

Those schools remained open and were not put on the closing list again.

"We're ecstatic," said James Eterno, a social studies teacher and the teachers union chapter leader at Jamaica High School, in Queens.

"The word is spreading like wildfire throughout the school. We feel like we're born again, like we got a stay of execution."

List of the 19 schools:

1. Academy of Environmental Science

2. School for Community Research and Learning

3. Christopher Columbus High School

4. Global Enterprise High School

5. Monroe Academy for Business/Law

6. Metropolitan Corporate Academy

7. Robeson High School

8. W.H. Maxwell CTE High School

9. Beach Channel High School

10. Jamaica High School

11. Business, Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship High School

12. PS 332

13. KAPPA II

14. Academy of Collaborative Education

15. Middle School for Academic and Social Excellence

16. New Day Academy

17. Choir Academy of Harlem High School

18. Frederick Douglass Academy III Middle School

19. Norman Thomas High School

Read more.

Vote for James Eterno and ICE-TJC slates for new UFT leadership

Vote for James Eterno for the new UFT (United Federation of Teachers) president.

Sure, the annointed, unelected UFT interim acting president Michael Mulgrew puts on confident talk on television, but on every point, Mulgrew and his predecessor's response to the multiple, successive crises that the city, the state and the national education secretary has been weak and ineffective.




Why vote for the ICE-TJC slates and not "for the woman" or "for the man" in this month's UFT elections?
--because the problems of the UFT today are not accidental. The problems stem from a lethargic, cronyistic, insular clique that is the Unity faction. The Unity caucus has entirely forgotten its fighting roots of the Albert Shanker era (yes, even withstanding his Cold Warrior-ism); it has forgotten that every gain was from an aggressive, pro-active posture, of waging strikes.

Read the above ICE-TJC campaign flyer. The Independent Community of Educators (ICE) stands for principles of a stronger contract, rather than the ineffective Unity clique that has made concessions that have allowed the most hostile working climate for teachers since the 1970s or possibly since the 1960s.

Click here for the ICE UFT election flyer, as presented on their blog.
ICE is joining ranks with Teachers for a Just Contract, which is fighting for a better contract, as well as fighting for a stronger rank and file participation for the activism of the union.
You can reach Teachers for a Just Contract by calling (212) 831 3408.

TJC's mailing address is
Teachers for a Just Contract
Post Office Box 545
New York, N.Y. 10028

Their email address is justcontract@yahoo.com.

NYT editorial: National School Standards, at Last

Much of the current consensus in the educational "reform" debate is noxious:
the pro-school shutdown approach, the extolling of charter schools while ignoring the cynical bias behind the student selection process, the 60 or 70 hour work-week demands at charter schools.
The goal of national standards is one thing that is worthy of support. We cannot have an outrageous patchwork of 50 standards. Obviously, it represents different standards in different states. We are a geographically highly mobile country. Different standards result in a jolting change for students that migrate from one state to another.

The New York Times' March 14, 2010 editorial endorsement for national standards.

Which film resembles your surreal teaching job?

The outrageous bureaucratic madness ---
the humiliation ---
teaching in New York City.

Which film conjures up parallels to the maddening conditions of your teaching job
---under Bloomberg / Klein, or regardless?

The Big Clock
The Caine Mutiny
Blackboard Jungle
Up the Down Staircase
The Hospital
The King of Hearts
The Poseidon Adventure
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Gallipoli
Lean on Me
Crazy People
Office Space

Resource statistically indicating Chancellor Joel Klein is boldly segregating schools

We have seen the trends first hand, i.e., in the schools.

The Village Voice found a case example of the trend last month, in a glaring example, with a segregated school building, with two contrasting populations, P.S. 198 and P.S. 77.

So, let's get this clear again:
New York City Schools have become starkly segregated under School Chancellor Joel Klein. The trend is this: schools have shifted from having mixed populations, to becoming far more exclusively composed of one race. Click through the following address. Scroll to the bottom of the website for a particular school. You will see a chart showing the ways in which school populations have become more homogeneous.

Go to School Digger for New York State:
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/NY/search.aspx

Then enter the zip code you are interested in studying, enter high school, and the number of miles you are interested in studying school populations for that range.

You will find schools; then, you can click to a school in the range you find, to find how the racial composition of schools has become skewed in the Chancellor Klein.

See for yourself: you can clearly see the racial homogenization of New York City's public schools.
Some various findings:
White population at Murry Bergtraum, declined over 50 percent from 2002 to 2008.
And for the School for the Physical City, that population has declined from 57 in 2001 to 16 in 2007.
In the same period, the city opened the Bard High School Early College that has drawn a majority White population in contrast to other Manhattan High Schools: 297 in 2008, out of a student body of 543.

The NYC Department of Education ("DoE") doesn't think that integration is a pursuit worth reaching for. Time was, Seward Park High School had different groups in its student body. Now, there are different schools under one roof, at the Seward Park "Complex" on Grand Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side:
Dual Language School and Asian Studies School, a new school: 257 Asian, 15 Hispanic, 14 African-American, 7 White
New Design School, a new school: 252 Hispanic, 134 African-American, 16 Asian, 14 White
Essex Street Academy, a new school: 197 Hispanic, 88 African-American, 36 White, 21 Asian

The source for the statistics themselves?
The bottom of each school's page in the schooldigger website indicates: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.

NY Daily News: Bloomberg $ bought silence

Only problem with this story: Where was this paper, and the other daily newspapers when it came time to exercise any critical thinking about money power and arm-twisting, whoops, I mean influence, when New York City community groups were muscled in to authorize charter revision for the mayor
or when it came time to recognize how Mayor Bloomberg seemed to buy every piece of media real estate last year in his reelection bid?

Mayor Bloomberg's money was able to buy silence concerning possible election miscues

Adam Lisberg, "New York Daily News," Sunday, February 28th 2010

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/02/28/2010-02-28_mike_went_under_radar.html#ixzz0hAGlQtwk

Mayor Bloomberg's money was able to buy more than just consultants, polls and advertising in his reelection campaign last year: It was able to buy silence.

The mysterious $750,000 shell company that ran his Election Day poll-watching operation was paid by the state Independence Party, using $1.2 million Bloomberg gave from his own pocket.

Not a penny of it was disclosed until January. All the headlines about how operative John Haggerty can't account for the $750,000 came out after the election was over.

Separately, a coalition of real estate interests also gave $750,000 to the state Independence Party to support City Council candidates.

None of that was disclosed at the time, either, back when voters could have seen which landlords were dropping $45,000 apiece on those candidates - and could have voted accordingly.

A year earlier, Bloomberg dropped another $1.2 million on the Independence Party just as he was pushing to extend term limits with a professional-grade operation that never explained how it was funded.

All those donations went to an Independence Party account that reports its doings only in January and July - and is only supposed to be used for "ordinary activities," not "promoting the candidacy of specific candidates."

The law is flimsy, though, and Bloomberg and party officials believe it was porous enough to soak up the cash without penalty.

Critics say they broke the law, but since the donations were reported to the notoriously toothless State Board of Elections, don't expect a robust probe to find out who's right.

The city's own Campaign Finance Board, by contrast, runs one of the nation's most rigorous monitoring programs for political spending. It audits campaigns, asks for supporting documents and holds candidates to account.

The CFB does it because most city candidates - Mayor Bloomberg not among them - run for office with tax dollars. In exchange for taking public money, candidates forswear big bucks from special interests and agree to intensive monitoring.

Still, clever candidates always find loopholes. The CFB plugged one last year after Bloomberg's challenger, William Thompson, complained that the mayor's personal donations were buying him support without any disclosure.

The CFB agreed. Starting this year, all candidates must report any cash they give from their own pockets to a party.

The board also wants to force outside groups to report their independent spending on city campaigns, so New York voters will have a full picture of who's backing whom before casting ballots.

"There's a gap in disclosure of political activity at the city level," CFB spokesman Eric Friedman said of the board's proposal, which it hopes to enact this year.

"When outside parties go out and spend money on behalf of a candidate," he said, "they're going to disclose which candidate they're supporting, and they're going to disclose where the money comes from."

For New Yorkers who want to know that, it would have been a helpful law during last year's campaign - and during the push to extend term limits a year earlier.

As the law stands now, though, a smart candidate can buy influence - and silence.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/02/28/2010-02-28_mike_went_under_radar.html#ixzz0hAGA7IcQ

Resource statistically revealing Joel Klein era as boldy segregating

We have seen the trends first hand, i.e., in the schools.

The Village Voice found a case example of the trend last month, in a glaring example, with a segregated school building, with two contrasting populations, P.S. 198 and P.S. 77.

So, let's get this clear again:
New York City Schools have become starkly segregated under School Chancellor Joel Klein. The trend is this: schools have shifted from having mixed populations, to becoming far more exclusively composed of one race. Click through the following address. Scroll to the bottom of the website for a particular school. You will see a chart showing the ways in which school populations have become more homogenous.

Go to School Digger for New York State:
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/NY/search.aspx

Then enter the zip code you are interested in studying, enter high school, and the number of miles you are interested in studying school populations for that range.

You will find schools; then, you can click to a school in the range you find, to find how the racial composition of schools has skewed.

See for yourself: you can clearly see the racial homogenization of New York City's public schools.
Some various findings:
White population at Murry Bergtraum, declined over 50 percent from 2002 to 2008.
And for the School for the Physical City, that population has declined from 57 in 2001 to 16 in 2007.
In the same period, the city opened the Bard High School Early College that has drawn a majority White population in contrast to other Manhattan High Schools": 297 in 2008, out of a student body of 543.

The NYC Department of Education ("DoE") doesn't think that integration is a pursuit worth reaching for. Time was, Seward Park had different groups in its student body. Now, there are different schools under one roof, at the Seward Park "Complex" on Grand Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side:
Dual Language School and Asian Studies School: 257 Asian %, 15 Hispanic, 14 African-American, 7 White
New Design School: 252 Hispanic %, 134 African-American, 16 Asian, 14 White
Essex Street Academy: 197 Hispanic%, 88 African-American, 36 White, 21 Asian

The source for the statistics themselves?
The bottom of each school's page in the schooldigger website indicates: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.