Wait ’til you read this. The DOE’s Office of Public and Community Affairs is sending around a draft letter (below) supporting Children First, the mayor and the chancellor. They are asking for signatures from major civic and community groups, and presumably plan to publish the letter and signatures somewhere. So far, it seems, few groups have signed, maybe because no prominent organization in the city that knows anything about the schools could agree to its message. Here is the draft letter in full:
Dear New Yorkers,
Until Mayor Bloomberg took charge of the city’s schools, student performance had been all but stagnant for decades. Now, because of the first phase of the Children First school reforms the Mayor and the Chancellor have enacted, New York City’s students are making real progress. Thousands more students are graduating and the New York City graduation rate is higher than it’s been in more than 20 years. Students’ progress in reading and math is now outpacing gains in the rest of New York State.
But our schools are still not serving all New York City children as they must.
For the sake of our children, we need to act. And we need to act now. If we don’t take the smart next steps the Bloomberg Administration has outlined, we risk failing the children of New York City. That’s a price that we are not willing to pay.
The reforms make sense. Schools need the authority and the resources to build the right educational program for every child, and to ensure that they’re getting the job done, they must be held accountable for their students’ academic success. Schools also must be funded fairly.
Our students and their families, indeed all New Yorkers, deserve the kind of schools and the kind of school system that our Mayor and our Chancellor are creating. We can’t put special interests ahead of the interests of children. This Mayor has it right–we need to put our students’ interests first. We urge all New Yorkers to join together to support these reform efforts. These reforms have real promise and will make schools better for the people who matter most: Our children.
Sincerely, etc.
Oh gag me.
If patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels, then surely “the interests of children” is the last refuge of politicians, as demonstrated so amply in this bleating letter. At least one organization told DOE that they hadn’t been consulted or even had their calls returned throughout Children First, and were surely not signing such a letter now. Surely other groups will see it the same way.
2 Comments:
1 Jackie Bennett
· Apr 5, 2007 at 9:54 am
I hope the people who sign on to the Klein letter are jealous of their reputations for accuracy.
Let’s take this line:
“Now, because of the first phase of the Children First school reforms the Mayor and the Chancellor have enacted, New York City’s students are making real progress. .. Students’ progress in reading and math is now outpacing gains in the rest of New York State.”
Outpaced? Progress?
Only grades 4 and 8 can be tracked across years.
More than half the gains Klein takes credit for in literature and in public comments occurred four years ago, before the Children First reforms were in place. In ELA for example, only 4.2 of the 19 points of gains he takes credit for occurred before Children First. This has been documented by Diane Ravitch, and you can also read my incredibly good post on it here: http://edwize.org/unwinding-kleins-spin
What is more, a close look at ELA and math underKlein’s watch reveals:
1. ELA Grade 4, 2006: the only “outpacing” the city did was that the city scores didn’t decrease as much as the rest of the state.
2. ELA Grade 4, 2005: Grade 4 only kept pace with the state, but was “outpaced” by other big cities, like Yonkers and Rochester. (They were “outpaced”).
3. ELA Grade 8, 2006: the city did “outpace” the state in 2006, BUT
4. ELA Grade 8, 2005: city eighth graders went down 3 points, though the scores were up in the rest of the state (the city was outpaced).
5. Math Grades 4 and 8, 2006 :decreased at the same rate as the state (a little more in 8, a little less in 4)
6. Math Grade 8, 2005: decreased along with the rest of the state
7. Math Grade 4, 2005: increased along with the rest of the state
Overall, student city scores have largely followed the same trends as the state since at least as far back as 1999.
(I am not a good detail person, but I think I’ve got the scores down accurately. I went to a state site and then downloaded charts for most of the results: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/Documents/5-05-mathresults-pr.htm.)
A second thing about this letter: I take issue with this vague line: “Schools also must be funded fairly.”
Yes, they must be. But in written literature and in presentations, Klein disseminates misinformation about the current funding. He omits crucial information and distorts and inflates the differences between schools. Schools, of course, must be equitably funded, but the people likely to sign this letter will not be able to gauge with any accuracy the state of the current funding (unless they ignore Klein’s presentation of it), and therefore will not be able to determine the merits of his scheme.
2 phyllis c. murray
· Apr 9, 2007 at 2:18 pm
An Open Letter to our Chancellor
Chancellor Klein:
The NYC public school system is at an important crossroad. You have now initiated the third reorganization of the system in five years. Yet again, parents, teachers and students were shut out of the decision-making process. This plan will not result in better schools for all our children because it doesn’t focus on what our schools really need. Heed our advice: Stop the Reorganization and Listen to the Public.
Our Schools Need:
Real Engagement with Parents, Students and Teachers
A Focus on Teaching and Learning, Not on Constantly Restructuring the School System
More Equity and Fairness in Resources and Funding for ALL Schools
No Privatization of Crucial Supports for Our Schools
http://www.uft.org/action_center/petitions/reforms?referer=14372
Sincerely,
phyllis c. murray
Visit:http://www.uft.org/action_center/petitions/reforms?referer=14372