You labor under the misconception that a government-run monopoly can provide ADEQUATE educational services to 1.1 million students in New York City alone.

One hundred years of public-school history in this town should have proven to you by now that one government-controlled organization cannot handle such a complex job.

And nothing will change for the better in the future.

Building sports stadiums and fudging the figures.

Too many people labor under the misconception that this mayor wishes to improve education beyond lip service. Time and time again, when he had the chance, he chose other priorities.

And while I don’t disagree with your list, I’d simplify it by agreeing with CFE–good teachers and small classes make good education. (Mayor Moneybags reps have stated he’d say “No, thank you” if pressed to contribute one dime in that direction.) The further elements, while highly desirable, would come next.

In its 48 page report, the Rodel Charitable Foundation of Arizona, drew the conclusions that investments in the following strategies would make economic sense for improving Arizona schools.

They said that there are five strategies that are effective in raising student achievement: full-day kindergarten for all students; preparing and recognizing teachers for high performance; reducing class size; creating smaller schools or schools within a school; providing one-on-one tutoring and extra help for struggling students.

So what are NYS/NYC strategies?

You took the words right out of my mouth! Bless you!

Just to add to Curious2:

The UFT does not hire DOE personnel. Once the powers that be deem an individual fit to teach and hires him/her, the union’s job is to protect his/her rights under a contract agreed to by both the UFT and the City.

I’m sure that there are some folks who should consider a different career, but the vast number of colleagues I’ve worked with were excellent educators. As Chaz said, micromanagement is the real problem. The DOE keeps looking for one size fits all systems (e.g. balanced literacy”) instead of allowing teachers to teach.

Maybe you should be dealing with the real issues facing NYC teachers.

1. Class sizes; Good school districts have class sizes between 18-25 not 34. Did you know that Bloomberg would not allow a class size charter proposal to be voted on by the people?

2. Micromanagement; The best teachers adjust to the student population and bring in teaching techniques that they feel is best. However, the DOE has a “one size fits all” mentality making it difficult to adjust to the students’ needs.

3. Salary; To attract the best teachers, you need to pay them a competitive salary. NYC teachers are paid 15% less than the teachers in the suburbs.

4. Respect; DOE has brought direspect to the teacher to a new high. How are students going to respect teachers when the DOE does not respect us?

As for getting bad teachers out of the system. If a teacher is bad the DOE can file charges and follow through. Don’t blame the union, Randi has made it easy to get rid of teachers, it’s the DOE who does not handle it correctly.

I suggest you put pressure on your fellow union members and union leadership to reform the union such that bad teachers can be more easily terminated. This would accomplish two of your goals:
1. The remaining teachers would be given more respect as professionals in our society.
2. The kids would get a better education, i.e. be somewhat less “shortchanged”.

Our value is further devalued by ignorance and misinformation. As an example, the public thinks that we have it easy with paid vacations and holidays. Only people intimate with teachers see us lesson planning and catching up with paperwork during these breaks. Even some teachers think that we are paid for summers off. We are not. Our salaries are divided into 24 paychecks because teachers of the past went broke in July and had problems making ends meet until September.

I think that the UFT should continue its public education program to increase our “value” in the eyes of the public. I don’t like our contract, however, we did not sell out our “unborn” in this contract with lower starting salaries. Even Kleinberg understood that much. Educating the public about education (including some lost souls who post here with us and who shall remain unnamed) on a consistent basis beyond contract negotiations will increase our aesthetic and economic value.

This leads to other interesting questions:
1. What is the value of management?
2. Why are private school teachers so poorly paid?
3. What political pressure can we put on the political hacks and the schools to stop shortchanging our kids?
4. Has COPE been effective?

You wrote:

“You “understand” only the following: vouchers and privatization.”

More accurately, I understand what works. Teachers are teachers whether they work in the public school system or in private schools. Or colleges and universities. The important differences lie in the organizations for which teachers work.

The public school system fails far too many kids because competition is thwarted as a result of the state’s education monopoly. You will probably spend your entire career denying the obvous, but that’s your choice.

You added:

“We’re still waiting to hear you say something relevant to the work WE do.”

Why put the load on my shoulders? No one commenting at this site is engaged in anything beyond complaining about the inequities that arise in the state’s education monopoly and how those inequities impair the working lives of teachers.

The solution to the problems of running a bureaucracy that serves 1.1 million customers won’t bite you.

You asked:

“What do you have to offer us that helps us improve instruction and the work that we do where we are, not in voucherland?”

You are employed by a state monopoly. That is the entire problem. If the state relinquishes its monopoly, the world will become your oyster.

It is disappointing that you so deeply fear the solution to your professional problems.

You concluded:

“Until you start getting relevant, I will heed the advice of others and ignore your nonsense.”

Good thinking.

“I think they’re (Bloomberg and Klein) simply misguided as most in private industry are into thinking that the same techniques used to make private companies more efficient will work just fine in the classroom.”

First, Klein isn’t really a friend of “private industry”. He expended much effort attempting to prove Microsoft, by producing the most desirable software in history, was harmful to the software industry. He’s actually a hypocrite.

Second, however, is the fact that private industry is always searching and experimenting with methods aimed at increasing the success of every business. Meeting the right goals is the object of every private enterprise. There is nothing about the business of educating kids that makes it unique. Goals are easy to identify. The methods of acquiring knowledge aren’t mystical.

You wrote:

“Mistake #2 is simply that they equate standardized test score results with overall success.”

You are in dreamland.

You opined:

“See schools aren’t businesses.”

Really. Tell that to the successful private schools all over NYC.

You added:

“A more profitable business in the short and long term is clearly a success.”

Or putting it another way, an unprofitable business in the short and long term is clearly a failure.

Given your view that unprofitable businesses might be failures, how do you characterize and rate the NY public school system?

You added:

“But children are more complicated than the bottom line. Test scores are important. No doubt they’re needed to track progress and determine whether techniques are appropriate and so on. But this isn’t the end all and be all of educational sucess.”

Private industry, more than any other segment of the US economy, is screaming for better educated job seekers.

Meanwhile, private schools have no trouble setting a course and heading toward a goal. Parents of private-school kids aren’t worried about what will become of their kids following graduation.

Vouchers would solve all the problems identified on this board.