On Tuesday, Joel Klein sent a letter to every teacher in New York.
The letter was about the TUDA-NAEP results and it built upon the misleading statements he had already made to the public when the scores came out last week. Klein rarely writes to teachers, but who knows – maybe he sensed that his press release would not be enough to stifle the city’s dismay over the flat scores in 4th and 8th grade reading, and 8th grade math. Or maybe he was worried that his corporate sponsors would begin to second guess their investment. Whatever the reason, he got busy and released a Rumplestilsken letter, making fool’s gold from scores that are embarrassingly flat.
Klein said that he was sending the letter because “there has been a good deal of what, at best, can be called incomplete information” in the press about the TUDA scores. That statement in itself is a little alarming, since the newspapers got their information right from NAEP. NAEP is widely considered the most reliable testing organization in the country. Still, Klein knows better. Klein will give us facts.
So, let’s compare Klein’s facts to what NAEP says about NYC’s schools:
Fourth Grade Reading:
KLEIN: We are closing the achievement gap for Black students.
NAEP: In 2007, there has been “no significant change [for Black students] compared to 2003 and 2005.”
Fourth Grade Reading (English Proficient only)
KLEIN: There has been “consistent, steady progress” for these students. Klein points out a three-point gain.
NAEP: NAEP does not comment directly on every sub-group. However, in similar comparisons, NAEP does not consider it progress when cities make a three-point gain.
Eighth Grade Math:
KLEIN: We are closing the achievement gap for Black and Hispanic students.
NAEP: In 2007, there has been “no significant change in the average scores for Black, Hispanic … students compared to 2003 and 2005.”
So, how does Klein take credit for gains that NAEP says don’t exist? Partly he does it by simply ignoring NAEP’s conclusions. Changes that the testing experts say are not significant become cause for celebration under Klein.
But more significantly he does it by including the NAEP score increases that occurred between 2002 and 2003, under programs that he energetically dismantled. For example, Klein highlights a ten-point gain in 4th grade reading. But 7 of those 10 points were gained in the spring of 2003, under programs he dismantled by September. For the next four years – under his reforms – the scores were flat. And they were also flat in 8th grade reading and in 8th grade math.
Klein uses the 2002 results whenever they are convenient, but those gains are the very gains he once dismissed when his agenda was to take a hammer to the schools. In the spring of 2003, Klein was getting ready to sack the districts, toss out the curriculum, bully the teachers, and micromanage the schools. The last thing he wanted was good scores from programs he was eliminating, but good scores are what he got. Thus, when the scores came out, he told the NY Times, “I think we have to realize that still there’s a long road ahead of us. A lot of our children are still not performing in the way I know they can perform.”
And then he swung the hammer. And four years later, the road is just as long.
And since that’s the case, it might pay to take a look at what was in place before Klein blew things up to see if we can figure out what works. One thing that seemed to be working, for example, was Rudy Crew’s Chancellor’s District, comprised of a group of struggling schools that Crew put under his direct control in collaboration with the union. Harold Levy continued the program. Klein took it apart. According to a major study done by the Steinhardt school of education, scores were rising in these schools, and the percentage of students meeting standards on the statewide fourth-grade reading test rose 17.7 percentage points, 6 points more than they did in other struggling schools. The study did not look at 2003, but scores – including NAEP – rose again that year. Klein now takes credit for those scores, but they occurred under programs – and in a school system – that no longer exists.
In education, in life, we rarely go back. Still, to move forward, maybe we need to at least take a look back at our success and examine some of the programs that were working before Klein took them apart. The Chancellor’s District had different curricular programs, for one thing. It also had reduced class size, after school programs, strong teacher support, and the collaborative involvement of the UFT.
What works, we often wonder. Isn’t it time to stop with the bragging, think about the students, and take a look?
3 Comments:
1 phyllis c. murray
· Nov 22, 2007 at 7:02 pm
The Crisis in Education Continues
By Phyllis C. Murray
There is a CRISIS in EDUCATION . This state of crisis in the schools is not new. The minority populations have felt this for a very long time. In 1972 I began to chronicle the events in the school as parent involvement began to become an issue. And now in retrospect, I can see that the idea of public education as big business and its failure to produce a marketable product is not new; nor is the inability of our students to pick up the ladder of social and economic mobility which rests horizontally at the base of all walls that surround the inner-city.
In 1964 Martin Luther King warned us about partially educating youth in the following statement: “huge masses are left handicapped in the shadows of ignorance and submerged in second class status.”
.
“We are told of one stunning educational success after another with ever more children passing the standardized tests. But in reality, the city’s public school students, particularly those students of color in inner city neighborhoods, are receiving a less than quality education.” EDUCATION PLANNING COUNCIL OF HARLEM/NY July 2006
“The system still fails to educate its African American and Latino students to the degree that they are ill-equipped to compete, academically and intellectually, with children of other racial and ethnic groups, attending schools in other neighborhoods. Our children are graduating at too low a percentage, we can also say poorly prepared for the challenges of higher education and fulfilling, lucrative new millennium careers.”EDUCATION PLANNING COUNCIL OF HARLEM/NY July 2006
National Assessment of Educational Progress: In 2007, there has been “no significant change in the average scores for Black, Hispanic … students compared to 2003 and 2005.” Jackie Bennett Edwize Nov.22, 2007 “TUDA and DOE Response -Part II”
These statements are not new. Our youth are in crisis. And the educational system is in crisis. This means that we need to look for ways to end the cycle of failure which is systemic throughout the impoverished inner city communities. Everyone should be involved in the process of ameliorating this situation. If not, that is the problem.
Since one size does not fit all, we should certainly try to look at exemplary programs for our schools which will work. Of course there are success stories whenever these programs work and enable students to reach their academic potential. Nevertheless, we are constantly assessing the progress of students and tailoring instruction to meet their needs. The hours spent by effective teachers are incalculable. But at least as educators we try because we are dealing with human lives.We try because the alternative of not trying is too costly as prisons await those children who have failed to become productive citizens. We try because the school to prison pipeline is a reality for far too many of our students as police in our schools takeover the role once reserved for teachers and administrators.
Educators in NYC public schools, know that smaller class size is a priority; adequate resources are a priority; staff development is a priority; and parent participation is a necessity. We know that we need highly qualified teachers, paraprofessionals, social workers, guidance counselors, psychologists,mentors, administrators, and union leaders. Surely, the schools that have the aforementioned cadre of professionals are fortunate.
However, it is unfortunate that NYC has left parents and teachers out of the decision making process for too long. Therefore, I applaud any positive effort that is being made on behalf of children in NYC. Certainly, we have a long way to go. But we must pull out all stops to make this broken system work.
NYC Public School System was once a viable force for its earliest immigrants, like Henry Kissinger, who attended George Washington High School at night and worked in a shaving-brush factory during the day. Today, the NYC Public Schools must work for all of its students, again. Arthur Eisenberg is right: “The state must seek to break the cycle of discrimination and disadvantage”. Certainly, the future of America,as a strong nation, depends on it.
2 paulrubin
· Nov 22, 2007 at 9:12 pm
This is what you get when you put your own selfish pride above the best interests of the students. You can’t run on a platform of taking over and remaking the system in your “image” and then let little things like existing success stand in the way. We’re also looking at the inevitable result of making standardized test scores the end all and be all of evaluating schools, teachers and principals. Unless products in the private sector, there’s generally limitations to how far you can push test scores especially without 100% teaching to the test. Instead of dumbing down the curriculum to match the tests, we should be studying ways to better assess the curriculum which should always be as reach and meaningful as possible. Both NAEP and the state tests are a depressing bad joke. Chancellor Klein isn’t going to be able to spin this the way he wants. He’s had his 6 years and all we’ve succeeded in doing in minimal test score improvements at the expense of all the other important things schools should be doing. It would be bad enough if test scores were dramatically improved but they’re not. That makes the past 6 years a travesty by those who run the system and a complete lack of surprise to those who work within the system. Cut class sizes by 50% and watch test scores rise.
3 NYC Educator
· Nov 24, 2007 at 11:25 am
The only surprise, for me, is that anyone is remotely surprised. If you’ve followed Diane Ravitch over the years, you know that this administration’s M.O. is to twist the truth to make themselves look good no matter what. If one score’s up and another’s down, focus on one and ignore the other. If there is no improvement, ignore everything and hope no one notices.
I just saw a tape of the last PEP meeting, in which the no. 1 concern of parents was smaller class size. Rather than acknowledge this, the city grouped a whole bunch of other concerns together and ignored the class size issue altogether.
The NAEP scores could not be manipulated by this administration. That’s why they desperately need to ignore them.
But the Times, the Sun, and some of the other tabloids are refusing to heed the administration. This moment in time is a golden opportunity for a vigilant union to show the emperor’s new clothes for what they are. It’s time to use every resource of the union, to put pressure on Tweed, and keep it there.
Leave a Comment