It was exactly at this time last year when Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza announced their plan to introduce a bill in the New York State Assembly that would alter admission to New York City’s 8 Specialized High Schools from a single Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) to extending offers to… Continue reading A SHSAT Compromise I Can Live With – Can You?
Fifteen years ago when I began my journey as an education advocate, I was in it for myself. More specifically, for my son Jonah, who has multiple disabilities stemming from a genetic mutation called Fragile X Syndrome. I saw my quest as securing a high-quality seat for my boy in a school that would provide… Continue reading The Dead Canary: The Problems Within NYC’s Special Education System Signify Global Dysfunction
Yesterday the New York City Department of Education released student test scores on standardized test scores. What do they mean? It depends on whom you ask. Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said this: “These scores are indicative of the sustained progress we have made in classrooms, schools and districts across all five boroughs,” Carranza said in… Continue reading Everything You Need To Know About NYC’s Test Scores
On April 6, 2018, I published a post called Cynthia Nixon on Education: Look At What She Did, Not What She Says. In it, I called out the gubernatorial candidate for standing with Mayor de Blasio on removing the screening process from New York City’s top performing public schools, and with the teachers unions on… Continue reading What Happened The Last Time NYC Took Over School Admissions (Hint: Not What They Said Would Happen)
The New School’s Center for New York City Affairs issued a report today called “The Paradox of Choice: How School Choice Divides New York City Elementary Schools” and I find it underwhelming. Lead authors Nicole Mader, Clara Hemphill and Qasim Abbas draw broad conclusions from limited data sets, leave important questions unacknowledged (let alone unanswered),… Continue reading Unraveling the “Paradox” of School Choice: A New Report from the New School Gets More Wrong Than Right
Mayor tacitly acknowledges failure of his Renewal Schools program with the announcement of 14 new school closures. (This is a guest post by Pete Cook which originally appeared in his new blog, “Retort: Correcting the Record on Education Reform.” Pete became involved in education reform in New Orleans Public Schools as a 2002 Teach For America… Continue reading Bill de Blasio Goes Full Bloomberg
Nothing good. For starters, see this statement from StudentsFirstNY, “Mayor de Blasio’s Renewal Announcement Too Little, Too Late,” printed below. Also see the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The 74, and Politico. For NYST coverage, see here, here, here, and here. From StudentsFirstNY: “Mayor de Blasio’s expensive school turnaround model has failed miserably and kids have… Continue reading What the Heck is Happening With Mayor de Blasio’s Renewal School Program?
Those of us in the education arena argue all the time but here’s something we all agree with: the most important factor in raising student achievement is great teachers. The New York City Department of Education has chosen to ignore this factor by forcing principals from 39 schools to hire 41 teachers from what was… Continue reading The New York City DOE Chooses Cash Over Kids
At I.S. 339 in the Bronx in a science class for English Language Learners, says New York City’s 2017 “Quality Review Report,” during a vocabulary review the teacher gave an answer key to students that included two mistakes. On the most recent state tests, 3.8 percent of 6th-graders reached proficiency in math. At Martin Van… Continue reading Would You Send Your Children to These Schools?
(This is a guest post by Chris Stewart that was originally published on his blog, CitizenEd. Chris is former Director of Outreach and External Affairs at Education Post.) Over a decade ago New York City’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, and its most powerful union boss, Randi Weingarten, had a showdown over the handling of teachers who weren’t… Continue reading NYC Is About To Send Hundreds of Troubled Teachers to Struggling Schools, and Nobody is Standing up for Children
