Would We Get Better Results if the Wall Street Journal Gave Merit Pay for Better Reporting?

"Of course, not everything you try works." 
- Joel Klein on wasting $57 million on failed merit pay schemes.

Hey, Joel, how about "nothing you tried worked?" Except turning the UFT into a wus, which in the ed deform world is all that really matters anyway.

From the Joel Klein School of Management

I was howling with laughter after reading this article on teacher merit pay in the WSJ today blaming poor results on the NYC merit pay boondoggle on the fact that entire schools got pay instead of individual teachers.

In 2007, New York City and its teachers union launched an experiment to determine whether rewarding teachers with extra cash would boost student performance.
Four years and $57 million later, the answer appears to be no. Backers of incentive pay are blaming the way New York's program was structured, and school and union officials are pointing fingers at each other.

Researchers posited that because the bonuses were based on how well entire schools performed, and how well they performed compared to similar schools citywide, the money didn't offer much incentive to individual teachers to excel.
"It was clear in 2007 that this plan wouldn't enable the best teachers to earn dramatically more, and therefore would likely be limited in long-term effect," said Bryan Hassell, co-director of Public Impact, a research and consulting organization that is often at odds with the teachers union. He wasn't involved in the studies.
"This plan paid chump change compared to what the best teachers should be earning for reaching more kids successfully," Mr. Hassell said.

Boy, if only they has offered individual teachers lots more money instead of chump change. The scores would have soared. Just like they did in Washington DC under Michelle Rhee.

The funniest lines in the entire piece belong to "no excuses" Joel Klein who always makes excuses:

"I believe and have always believed in merit pay at the individual teacher level," said Joel Klein, who was then schools chancellor. "The union would agree only to a schoolwide program. It made sense to try. Of course, not everything you try works," he said. Mr. Klein is now an executive at News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal. 

Poor Repert. He hires a guy who made a $57 million losing bet. A guy who believed individual merit pay would work but because the union wouldn't sign onto that tossed enormous amount of money into the trash because "It made sense to try."

No follow-up on this issue from reporter. Like, do you think it was wise to spend so much money that could have been used for real instruction or supplies on something you just wanted to try? Like in throwing it against the wall to see if it sticks?

Let's parse the reporting a little further:

Research is mixed on merit pay's success. A rigorous and closely watched study of a Nashville incentive-pay program found it didn't improve student test scores, while a study of Denver's merit-pay initiative found it attracted higher-quality teachers and kept them in hard-to-staff schools. [CONVENIENTLY LEAVING OUT - BUT DIDN'T IMPROVE SCORES]
But there is a key difference between those programs and New York's. Both Nashville and Denver directly linked performance pay of teachers to the performance of students in their classes. The Denver program also considers classroom evaluations as part of the bonus pay and allows teachers in non-tested subjects to get cash based on schoolwide improvements.

So, the Nashville experiment which DID use individual merit pay failed but Denver is somehow counterposed as not failing to justify saying "Research is mixed on merit pay's success" when in fact there it also failed in raising scores. In fact research has been clear that merit pay has been a total failure wherever it has been tried. But here comes a bait and switch tactic by saying the Denver experiment "attracted higher-quality teachers and kept them in hard-to-staff schools." Exactly what is meant by higher quality teachers? Based on what? Test scores? Or were they from Teach for America which automatically makes them higher quality in the world of ed deform?

A working paper (pdf) just released by Harvard University economist Roland G Fryer flatly contradicts the argument. In a randomised trial in more than 200 New York City public schools, he found "no evidence that teacher incentives increase student performance, attendance or graduation". On the contrary, Fryer reported that teacher incentives may actually decrease student achievement, especially in larger schools.

Another failed ed deform "experiment" on the children in this country. But why site research that refutes WSJ editorial policy? 

Sorry, I have to give this piece an "F". But I have an idea for how Rupert can improve the quality of reporting on the WSJ. Launch an experiment to determine whether rewarding reporters with extra cash would boost performance.

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

The Failures of Katie Couric as a Reporter: Biased 60 Minutes Report on Zeke Vanderhoek and TEP Charters

Katie Couric after reading Ed Notes on her 60 Minutes TEP segment

REVISED Tuesday, March 15, 12:30 PM
NOTE: I revised this as my column this week for The Wave.

by Norm Scott

Katie Couric exhibited a failure of epic proportions as a so-called reporter in her 60 Minutes interview (http://bit.ly/fPqMMk) on The Equity Project charter school lead by another former Teach for America who spent his 10 minutes in the classroom, Zeke Vanderhoek. (Did you know that 30% of NYC charter schools are lead by TFA alums - talk about cult to school pipeline?) The program was an unadorned ad for an attack on teacher tenure and seniority rights and Katie jumped right in. Her next job will undoubtedly be at FOX.

They had the obligatory kid who talked about how the public school teachers didn't care about him. Gee, I've heard a hell of a lot of former charter school teachers who not only found their teachers uncaring, but actually abusive.

Vanderhoek is making his bones on paying teachers 125K a year in what amounts to a full time and full day job.  Leonie Haimson calls him a shameless self-promoter. "He is clearly a genius at self-promotion, if nothing else. Though the test scores at his school turned out to be terrible, he still managed to score a profile in 60 Minutes."

Couric did bring up the fact that TEP's scores were lower than the public schools in the area (only a 31% pass rate) but didn't drill too deep on that one. You know the line: it takes time to reverse the effects of those awful public schools that actually had higher scores even though they pay teachers half as much.  Or - wink, wink - just go our and cream kids with higher performing potential.

This fall, Vanderhoek proved that just about any hokey ed deform idea will get you lots of publicity. An article by Justin Snider of the Hechinger report that Leonie called "highly deceptive [by] claiming the very existence of this charter school proved that teacher quality is more important than class size."

Listen to this drivel by Snider:

The reality, though, is that of all the things we should worry about in providing a quality education to our children, class size isn't high on the list. Teacher quality matters a lot more. Zeke Vanderhoek, the founder of The Equity Project Charter School in New York City, knows this. His teachers are the most highly compensated public-school educators in the country, earning minimum salaries of $125,000 per year. How does the school afford such salaries? Because Vanderhoek decided he'd much rather have the nation's top educators teaching classes of 30 students rather than mediocre folks teaching classes of 20 students.

Mona Davids of the NY Charter Parents Association said, “He should fire himself now. Equity Project only had a 31% pass rate. Where's his accountability?”

Even the NY Charter Center, the well-funded charter school booster, admitted such in its latest report:

Naturally, Couric dragged out that old warhorse, Joel Klein to discuss the tenure issue. In a case of bad reporting, she failed to raise just a few questions she could have asked. For Katie's future reference, I will list just a few she might try the next time.

Klein is asked by Katie how you get tenure and responds:

Klein:  if you have a pulse you get tenure.... tenure is something you get for showing up.

Fantasy questions from Katie:

·      Mr. Klein, how long were you in charge of the NYC schools? Wasn't it 8 years?

·      Mr. Klein, did you realize that 60% of the current teaching corps in NYC has been teaching for 5 years or less? If you look at the totals over 8 years the number of teachers hired under your tenure might be as high as 70% (or more).

·      Mr. Klein, scuttlebutt has it that 80% of the current corps of principals was placed in their positions since you took over the NYC schools.

·      Mr. Klein, isn't it true that principals are the ones who grant tenure?

·      Mr. Klein, what do you have to say to the fact that a majority of the teachers who you claim are granted tenure for merely breathing have been granted tenure by the 80% of the principals who were appointed under your tenure as head of the NYC schools.

·      Mr. Klein, explain exactly who should be held accountable if teachers receive tenure for merely breathing?

·      Finally: How dare you Mr. Klein try to perpetrate these lies and slanders regarding tenure on the American people?

By this time Klein is sweating bullets and runs off the stage with his coat over his head - and Katie never gets to ask about the scandals and massive incompetence, things that will hopefully one day truly lead to Klein taking the perp walk with his coat over his head.

Ahhhh, real journalism is fantasyland.

END OF COLUMN

Read Leonie's full post: Zeke Vanderhoek, relentless self-promoter

 -------

Afterburn
So, how much fun was it to receive an email from CBS today touting Katie and her piece?

Hello,

This week on 60 Minutes Overtime, Katie Couric Katie Couric discusses her report on the ground-breaking New York City school known as TEP (The Equity Project), her own experience with mentoring students, and the accusation that teachers are "greedy."

To view the video, click here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20042201-10391709.html

Tiny URL:  http://bit.ly/eApWza
  
Let me know if you have any questions.

Jenifer Boscacci
CBSNews.com
415.344.2441
Jenifer.boscacci@cbs.com

Hmmm. I think I'll send my list of questions to Jenifer.

Leonie Haimson did some work on the segment and posted at NYC Ed News listserve:

See video of last night’s 60 min: segment on TEP Charter school, featuring Joel Klein attack on tenure and celebrating the fact that Zeke Vanderhoek fired two of his teachers – that he had so carefully recruited. One was a sped teacher from Arizona who had moved to NYC to take the job.

http://bit.ly/fPqMMk

Strangely, the segment never mentions the large class sizes that supposedly allows him to pay $125,000 per teacher; instead Couric claims the trade off was that teachers had to take on  additional admin responsibilities.

For my earlier post on this school: Zeke Vanderhoek, relentless self-promoter

It sparked a few comments:

-----

Mel:

The report says 247 kids and 15 teachers, all of whom actually seem to teach.  Ratio of about 16.5 students to a teacher. There are no quick fixes.

-----

Leonie

It’s clear from the video that class sizes are much larger than that.  Some are clearly special ed teachers and intervention specialists.

-----

Diane Ravitch
Does the school have a library? a librarian? a school nurse? a social worker? guess not. What is its attrition rate? Anyone know?

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Joel Klein will rake in the dough

Joel Klein will reportedly make over $4 million a year at NewsCorp.

Let’s hope that Murdoch takes a total bath on this one, and he and Klein aren't able to make a penny off of poor kids – either here in NYC or in Africa – by selling bogus “educational” video games supposed to lead to real learning.

Kids, parents and teachers have suffered enough as a result of Klein's delusional and damaging fantasies about what constitutes a quality educator; see what principals said were their hopes for an entirely new direction for our schools now that he is gone.

Klein was reportedly a poor manager at his last private job –Bertelsmann — and was a terrible manager at DOE. The only reason he lasted as long as he did with all the expensive blunders, no-bid contracts, consultants , reorganizations, and wasted millions was because he had a boss, himself wrongly purported to be a good manager, who either wasn’t paying attention or didn’t give a damn.

Joel Klein's holiday card

Thanks to all of you who suggested a caption for the (real) NYC Department of Education holiday card from Joel Klein. And thanks to Ken Libby for the idea.

In the end, I made up my own.


In the same vein, be sure to check out the WaPost Answer Sheet for the censored play by Jamaica High School students about the decision to close their school, and the Huffington Post column by their teacher, Brian Pickett, about how this heartbreaking play was conceived and created.

Poor misunderstood Joel Klein

In Joel Klein's exit interview in the NY Times he portrays himself as misunderstood. Or is it he himself who continually misses the point?

In response to a question about whether he regrets not paying attention to public school parents and teachers who grew angry at him for his neglect, Klein pulls out a card from a third grader at a Harlem charter school, thanking the Chancellor for being his "advocate." Not only was this clearly orchestrated by a charter school operator, but unmentioned is the apparent lack of appreciation from any of the one million plus parents or students at public schools in the system that he was responsible for running for the last eight years.

In response to a question as to whether he regrets the fact that there are still many schools with large numbers of failing students, Klein brags that he closed nearly a hundred schools.

When asked about whether he regrets that he didn't adequately listen to "outside voices"
he responds that he should "have spent more time really engaging people so they really understand the things that drive me."

Me, me, me. Again, others should have listened to him more; not that he could have listened to others.

He says "I think teachers would feel really respected if we created the kind of profession where teachers were the American heroes, where excellence was truly rewarded. "

Instead, he has scapegoated teachers at every turn, and "rewarded" them with larger classes, closing their schools, putting more pressure to increase test scores at any cost, and advocating for the elimination of their job security and seniority.

There is one honest nugget in the self-congratulatory, self-pitying piece. After a question about whether he would send his own daughter to a NYC public school, he states one of the central tenets of his administration:

"Schools have to turn around from within. There’s not somebody at a central office who waves a wand on this stuff."

In other words, don't blame him if schools didn't improve enough under his watch.

Goodbye and good riddance to Joel Klein

Joel Klein's last (hopefully) Principals Weekly reminds us of some of his worst qualities – his pretentiousness and hypocrisy.

Harold Levy came in as Chancellor quoting Wallace Stevens; Klein leaves quoting T.S. Eliot. (What is it with these corporate lawyers posing as educators; is it intellectual insecurity?)

Klein quotes these lines, from Eliot's Little Gidding:

"We shall not cease from exploration/And the end of all our exploring/Will be to arrive where we started/And know the place for the first time."

Sounds like a a dog chasing his own tail -- an inadvertent metaphor for the perpetual cluelessness of this administration.

He goes onto make oft-repeated claims -- the great achievement gains under his leadership, which were actually quite limited compared to other cities around the nation; and the same old familiar complaints: Why can't we lay off teachers regardless of seniority? Why can't we fire teachers on Absent Teacher Reserve?

He also writes that given "the economics of our state and city" there will be no choice but to lay off teachers -- when there are clearly lots of better choices, other areas of spending that could be cut, and quite a few revenue options as well.

All in all, the letter reminds us of why Klein has been one of the least liked public officials to serve in NYC – with consistently low approval ratings, below 45%, and sometimes well below that for most of his time in office. .

Finally, about the closing schools, he writes:

I don’t think any of you would send your own children to one of those schools. That’s a pretty telling fact. And if that’s true, whose children should go there? Surely, the answer cannot be those with the most challenges and fewest options in life. Let’s not allow job security and nostalgia to stand in the way of doing the hard work necessary to do right by our students.

And let's not allow rigid ideological biases get in the way of providing these students the sort of schools that more advantaged children in this city and state are provided as a matter of course.

Indeed, if the measure is where someone would send his or her own children, Klein should be asked --why did you refuse to make NYC schools more like the ones that your own children attended, or those of Mayor Bloomberg?

The schools their children went to all had extremely small classes, with experienced teachers, in uncrowded facilities, and no high-stakes testing.

Instead, Klein consistently dismissed the importance of class size and experience. As a result, class sizes sharply increased, despite more than a billion dollar meant to reduce class size, schools have become even more crowded with co-locations and the like, and standardized testing has turned into the sole measure of educational quality.

All this is yet another symptom of his and Bloomberg's thorough-going condescension, as Patrick Sullivan has put it, the way in which privileged men have chosen to impose "solutions" on other people’s children that they would never consider for their own.

Let's hope history treats him as he deserves -- an educational Bernie Madoff, who took millions of dollars, in this case from taxpayers, and stole their children's futures.

There's still a week left for Joel Klein to be taken out of Tweed with his coat over his head

At my farewell to Joel speech at the PEP meeting I was going to mention my 6-year old prediction but didn't feel like being that mean. Klein's deal with Rupert Murdoch whereas Klein will be profiting from policies he set as chancellor smells bad enough but in the "government is there to serve the corporation, real estate interests and the wealthy in general" political world we live in my prediction looks like it will go down in flames. I was sent this little tidbit about Pearson's "benevolent" foundation by a teacher:

I'm noticing that Pearson are the new darling publishers in the schools. I've been trying to figure out why and came across this:

http://www.pearsoned.com/press/2010/01/06/pearson-foundation-invests-3-million-to-expand-new-leaders-for-new-schools-efforts-to-transform-urban-schools.htm

 “New Leaders for New Schools has been a vital partner in helping New York City address the challenges of secondary school reform, and we look forward to continuing to work together successfully,” said Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. “New Leaders’ approach in recruiting, training, and supporting principals has helped move us closer to our goal of having a highly-effective leader in every school.”

 Oh, well, Pearson will make enormous profits by using its foundation to promote policies that will ensure they get a big piece of the pie. But we have been saying all along that the ed deform movement is all about wresting control of the stupendous money spent on education out of the hands of the public - a key piece is centralizing control of the schools into as few hands as possible - mayoral control is a prime example. Imagine if companies like Pearson had to deal with 32 separate school districts.

And then I always wonder about the relationship between Klein and Bill Gates. I haven't been around schools much but I was a tech guy since the mid-80's and from what I see, there are a lot less Macs than PC's - my district was all Mac but now seems much less so. It would be interesting to hear what other tech people have to say - any pressure out there over the years to get PCs over Macs?

And don't forget the $80 million (and more I bet) ARIS boondoggle. Can't we link the Citytime scandal to that? (See the stuff RBE at Perdido Street has been doing- How The CityTime Scam Worked)

Remember, there are only a few shopping days left to get those cuffs on Uncle Joel.

Afterburn

As scandal erupts and arrests are made, warning signs for CityTime fraud were there all along

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/

Joel Klein, lousy manager from the beginning to the end

See this article in Capital about what a bad manager Joel Klein was...with lots of stories of screaming fights at Tweed.

It might make good gossip, but anyone paying any attention to our schools has known for a long time that Klein was a terrible manager, though the mainstream media seems to have paid little attention before now. The theory floated in the article is that everything was better before Kristen Kane left in 2007.

When [Kane] she left in 2007, Klein filled her position of chief operating officer, but no one took over her managerial responsibilities and the department suffered for it, a former official said.

“There really never was any high-level management coming out of Joel’s office without her, and certainly, she was never replaced,” said a former DOE official.

(Photo Anagnostopoulos replaced Kane as COO, though strangely, her name is never mentioned in the article. Photo is also the only top level DOE official to have quit, at least so far, since Cathie Black's appointment was announced, and clearly, someone wants to make her the scapegoat.)

Yet the reality is that Klein made one management blunder after another, long before Kane left. As soon as he dissolved the school districts, supposedly to save money but really to grab more power for himself, the whole thing fell apart.

Those of us who were around in the early years still remember the huge budget overruns at DOE, the whole special education mess when kids went two years without referrals and services, the Diana Lam horror show, the reading curriculum fiasco, and don't forget the bus route reorganization that left kids having to cross highways and shivering in the street in the middle of winter. This very visible indication of Klein's heedless mismanagement took place in February 2007 -- nearly a full year before Kane resigned in December 2007.

In fact, Klein mismanaged the department consistently from the moment he stepped into the job till the moment he left. For those whose memory is short or weren't there at the time, they really should read our book, NYC Schools under Bloomberg and Klein.

The funniest moment of the more recent Cathie Black brouhaha was when Kathy Wylde, head of the NYC Partnership and inveterate Joel Klein booster, defended the appointment by saying,

“Many members of the school community have spent the last several years complaining about how badly managed the school system was,” Ms. Wylde said. “If anything else, this shows the mayor was listening, and he went after a manager.”

Of course, she had never admitted this publicly before.

Sexy time?

Amazing how sexy the education privateers find each other. In the NY Times , a few weeks ago, Joe Williams of the charter lobby group Democrats for Education Reform said that Joel Klein had made education "sexy" again.

In today’s Times, Joe compares Rhee to a “rock star” and Joel Klein says that “education has become sexy in America, partly because of Michelle.”

What a ménage a trois! ....next thing you know, they’ll be claiming Bill Gates is sexy too.

Funny, I don’t find them sexy at all, though I can see Michelle Rhee as an effective dominatrix.

I guess it takes all kinds….

The Teaching Profession: Out With the Old, In With the New

The Sunday Times book review section review "Shock of Gray" a book about the aging world population, posing the issue of older people vs. younger people for jobs in addition to the fact that as birth rates drop there are fewer workers to support the elderly. What is of interest to us is when the author, Ted C. Fishman, refers to "age arbitrage" where companies trade in their older employees for a younger, cheaper work force elsewhere - outsourcing - attributing this to globalization.

This got me to thinking about what we've seen here in NYC within the teaching ranks and the growing assaults on senior, higher paid teachers. First we saw Joel Klein claim early in his tenure that seniority was harming poor kids because the most experienced teachers could transfer out to better neighborhoods while at the same time attacking senior teachers by claiming the very same seniority transfers were foisting incompetent teachers on principals. He also attacked the "bumping" rules where senior teachers had the right to bump junior teachers within the same license area. The 2005v contract killed these seniority rules and created a pool of ATRs, the use of these senior teachers as short term of long term subs.

Then Klein implemented what he called fair school funding, where for the first time a school was charged for the costs of the teaching staff. Thus, a school with a lot of teachers with over 22 years making a hundred thousand a year (by the way, giving big raises at the top was part of the long-term plan- call it an investment - to create such a gap in salary between new and senior teachers as to start the pressure cooker boiling) could afford less teachers, thus giving principals an incentive to go after the higher salaried teachers.

The next level of attack is coming from the likes of the Bill Gates foundation and Arne Duncan who want to totally revamp salary structure to be based on the scores of each individual teacher using value-added. Part of this attack is to degrade teacher experience. As Susan Ohanian wrote which we quoted Gates' spokesperson Vickie Bernstein in our post ( Calls to action for teachers -) the other day:

Lest you doubt the triage metaphor, consider Vicki Phillips' recent remarks to the National PTA. Phillips is the Education Director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

So we know master's degrees have almost no value.
We know certifications don't make a difference.
We know that after three years, seniority doesn’t really matter . . . After year three, teachers usually don't get significantly better or worse. 

So you see where this is going. Degrade the profession, use more TFA temps, etc. By increasing non-unionized charters - pay the salaries to make them competitive with the public schools but demand 30% more work, no pensions and possibly lousier health plans - they ultimately will be able to drive down every one's salary so one day we are back to the 50's, with a basic non-unionized work force making peanuts and with lousy working conditions.

The next step will be to demand that when layoffs come, seniority be thrown out - this will be a focus for Cathie Black. Part of their game plan it so appeal to the newer, younger teachers who will demand they be kept on while older higher salaried teachers are let go. Watch the value-added scores be released just in time - can't you see a list in the NY Post of every teacher making a high salary and their value-added score compared to lower salaried teachers in their school? That's coming folks, to a school near you.

Should see this picture for teachers within the context of Fishman's book, as part of a worldwide trend? Or is this a unique case?

AFTERBURN
For those of you who thought of Joel Klein as incompetent - with his multiple reorganizations and all the other hazarai, I disagree. His job was not to improve education or even about education. It was about ideology and to do what I described above. In the latter he was brilliant - a master, especially with a cooperative UFT - non incompetent either by the way, as solidfying and holding on to power is the prime directive and they have done that as well as Klein has done his work.

More PEP POO: The Big Hug

 I'm processing the wonderful videos of the Real Reformers in action last night but this 2 minutes segment of Joel Klein actually sort of praising Ed Notes and giving me a hug was easy to get up on you tube. Reminds me of my principal who when told by the district they were hiring me away said, "My car was stolen today but this makes up for it." A few months later she was hugging me when I came to the school. And then there was that hug from Randi at her last Exec Bd. meeting.

Gee, affection seems to grow the less proximity I have to people. I ought to take a long vacation away from my wife, who considers me the most annoying man on earth. I haven't asked her exactly how many men she is comparing me to.

Before you see the video of a parting hug between Joel and I at last night's PEP, your homework is to read these 2 posts:

Separated at Birth: Joel and Norm - I Miss Him Already

 

Assessing Joel Klein: What Influenced Him in the Late 60's? What If He Had Remained a Teacher?

 

Klein finally admitted we were twins, saying each of us felt the other was the evil twin, funny coming from a guy who hangs out so much with Evil Moskowitz.

This never would have been on the record if Julie hadn't ran over to the camera - gee, thanks. I've written two pieces on Joel Klein which are companions to this video. I wanted to hug Joel as a way to say thank you for the way he has helped galvanize opposition to the ed deformers by an amazing group of Real Reformers. Would I have met Julie and Alev and the rest of the CAPEers? Or Leonie and Lisa and Mona and Khem and Bonnie -  some of the leading ladies in the parent wing? Or the wonderful young teachers getting involved with GEM if not for Klein's policies of closing schools, favoring charters, forcing co-locations, multiple reorganizations, etc. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU JOEL KLEIN. May your successor continue your work of helping us organize Real Reformers.

Of course the reaction of my friends - as you can hear - was not totally positive. James Eterno sent over hand lotion. People shunned me - saying they won't come near me until I showered. They're all just haters. (But the depth of hatred towards Joel Klein is awesome - and let me say right here, I am not a hater. I love everybody.)

Some complained that I had let Klein use me to make himself look good. Since when has Klein ever cared about looking good? Well, maybe this was for the press to show what a good guy he is. But really, as my wife who has no connection to anything education-wise said- why should he care about trying to look good? He's gone. In fact, he gave Ed Notes, which has absolutely hammered him, some cache by calling it "powerful and  pointed." It reminded me of the early editions of the print version around 1997. Soon after Randi took over the union, she opened up a Delegate Assembly by holding up Ed Notes and saying, "I love reading Ed Notes." Of course, all the Unity clones now felt it OK to read it and during meetings if you looked down from the stage, you would see half the people holding up Ed Notes and reading it.

Lot's of people speculate whether Joel Klein believes his own bullshit. Some say he knows it's all a con. I take the other view and think he is a True Believer who is passionate about what he has done. I've been in his presence too often not to see the flashes of anger and passion. I do not think it is an act.
I'll say more on this issue another time.

Oh, and what were those words that Joel whispered in my ear? I'll take that to my grave. Or at least until the next post.

Separated at Birth: Joel and Norm - I Miss Him Already

Cathie Black convenes first meeting of her team

Last Update: Tues, Nov. 16, 8am
(Additions in red)


VIDEO: More PEP POO: The Big Hug

At least he talks like me.

Wow! Joel Klein really did have some ed creds - at least if you read the NYTimes article today by Javier Hernandez (how nice to have him back writing on ed issues), where he points out just how much more qualified Klein was than Cathie Black. In a matter of speaking. I mean there's really qualified and then there's veneer qualified like Joel. And then there's Cathie Black qualified - socializing with the mayor - really the only kind of qualified that counts in their rarefied atmosphere. What kind of value-added score does she get for that?

[Have you noticed the NY Times hammering her with their increasing scrutiny? - see Note below].

Klein taught full time for as long as Randi Weingarten (6 months) and she was no more qualified to lead the UFT and AFT than Joel was to lead the DOE. Ask yourself: which results are worse - the schools after 8 years of Joel or the UFT after 10 years or Randi? Let's call it a draw.

In a five-page letter to state education officials, Mr. Bloomberg mentioned Joel I. Klein’s every possible brush with education, including his time at the Justice Department, his speeches on the rights of the mentally ill, and even a plaque on his high school’s wall of fame. As Mr. Bloomberg repeats the ritual of seeking approval from the state for his chancellor-in-waiting — this time, Cathleen P. Black, the chairwoman of Hearst Magazines — his case may be even more strained.

A crucial part of Mr. Bloomberg’s case in 2002 was Mr. Klein’s “considerable experience in the education arena.” Mr. Klein, the son of a postal worker, attended public schools in Queens and taught math to sixth graders in the city.
“Collectively, this training and experience provide Mr. Klein with the extensive management, educational, administrative, business, analytic, policy and political skills essential to the chancellorship,” the waiver request said.
While Mr. Klein’s experience with New York education was slim, Ms. Black’s may be slimmer.

Not commonly known: Joel and I are twins

I think I'm going to go over to Uncle Joel and give him one big hug at what may be his final PEP meeting tomorrow night - if I can get him to look up from his Blackberry. If I run into him I would honestly tell him what I told Randi when she left: It was never personal, but political.

I know some people despise them both, but in many ways I had more of an affinity for Klein than I did for Randi (maybe because I never worked in the system for Klein other than as an F-status a few days a week). Klein and I at least came from the same place. Randi was from someplace else - I haven't figured out exactly where yet- and I'm not talking about a physical place.

Klein and I are about a year or so apart in age and had many similar experiences through our formative years. We both grew up in a lower middle class setting in neighborhoods undergoing changes. He in Long Island City, me in the East NY section of Brooklyn, a severely block busted neighborhood that went from all white and Jewish to all black and Hispanic in the blink of an eye. 

(Imagine those scary and tough teachers in PS 190, my elementary school - from 1956 when I graduated to less than 10 years later- I would bet my pension that they were shell shocked at the changes - as were the teachers at George Gershwin and Jefferson just a few years later - a real lesson to people who think the quality of the teacher is the key element in whether schools are successful - something Joel Klein never learned first hand it appears.)

Our families were probably similar - his dad was a postal worker and mine was a presser in the garment industry. (My first union experience was my dad coming home from a strike with a "picket captain" are band.)

Both of us went to neighborhood high schools (Bryant and Jefferson) and not the specialty high schools (I totally bombed on the Brooklyn Tech test and I would bet he may have too since an ambitious fellow like him would have gone to one of those schools if he could). When he talks about the transformative experience in high school I totally identify with it. I got a world class education at Jeff that totally prepared me for college - but I very luckily was placed in the college bound group of about 150 students that got very special treatment. Another lesson I learned early on - education was not equal for all. 

Of course Klein destroyed my alma mata while leaving his alone - and the replacement small schools at Jefferson have struggled mightily by all reports. 

(I did after school service credit for a great guy and great teacher in the Jeff school supply room - I think his name was Sidney Zukov- and he at times complained about his classes and how kids didn't want to learn - I told him he should teach honors classes because they were so stimulating. He gave me a look and rolled his eyes- it took me 10 years to realize that look meant those classes were doled out to favorites - I heard years later he transferred to South Shore HS when Jeff started to get real bad.)

At the college level Klein and I diverged. He got into Columbia. I never even thought of applying to anyplace by Brooklyn College, where I felt I also got a world class education. Klein went on to law school at Harvard and I went on to grad school in history at Brooklyn College, aiming for a PhD one day and writing and teaching at the college level.

But there was this pesky war going on and they removed grad school deferments and Klein and I were offered a chance to get a deferment - I think he was a year or two behind me. The offer was for elementary school or junior high math. I chose the former; Klein the latter. Neither of us had any thought of staying in teaching.

I went through hell my first year. I can't believe that Klein didn't have a similar experience - or worse - I was a big guy at least with little kids and he is a small guy with big junior high kids. I don't know about him (and would actually love to interview him one day on just that time in his life) but I had zero experience dealing with people of color and was hit by culture shock.

Now here is where we diverge. He must have gotten a good lottery draft number after 6 months of teaching. I also got a decent number but was in my third year of teaching in 1969/70, with my own 4th grade class - my first full year with a class - which I absolutely loved - and was hooked on teaching. Klein jumped out as soon as he could and went back to law school. I dropped out of the MA in history program at Brooklyn College and got an MA in reading instead. I remained in the system full-time through 2002 and part-time through 2005. Joel came back to haunt all of us in 2002.

Still, no matter how much I criticized Joel Klein, I always felt there was some common ground somewhere in his psyche - we would need a steam shovel to dig it out but something has to be lurking.

At least Joel talks like me.

As for Cathie Black, other than us being the same age, she is an alien from another galaxy.

NOTE: Black will not last long as a candidate with the NY Times clearly taking a position against her.

This Stuff is What Will Make Black Withdraw

Today's press conference re Black nomination; and other events this week

We had a great press conference this afternoon to oppose Cathie Black’s nomination as NYC school chancellor, with a turnout of about 50 parents and teachers, and reporters from nearly all the major news stations and papers.

Civil rights leaders Norman Siegel and Michael Meyers spoke about how the selection by the mayor of such an unqualified individual made in secret violated principles of diversity and transparency and reeked of cronyism.

NYC Council Education chair Robert Jackson, parent leaders Tina Schiller from Manhattan, William McDonald of Queens, Philip DePaolo of Brooklyn, and teachers Julie Cavanagh and Justin Wedes spoke eloquently how the mayor’s choice of someone without any educational experience or credentials is a betrayal of our children.

The Siegel/Meyers letter, signed by more than 100 teachers and parents is posted here; news stories are already up at NY1 and AP/Wall St. Journal, AP photo above. Thanks to all who came!

If you didn’t make it to our event, you have two more chances this week to attend rallies opposing Black’s nomination:

Monday, November 15 at 10:00 AM at Brooklyn Borough Hall Sponsored by Chris Owens, Democratic district leader. For more info, call 718-514-4874/ /chris@owensforchange.com.

Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 4:45 PM in front of Tweed, 52 Chambers Street. For more info, contact William McDonald at whm6363@gmail.com

Please be sure to sign onto our online petition, if you haven’t already, which has already generated more than ten thousand emails to Commissioner Steiner, the Regents, and state legislators. And then follow up with a phone call to Steiner at (518) 474-5844.

Finally, come to the PEP meeting and make your voice heard! Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 5:30 PM at Brooklyn Tech HS; map here. Just think, it’s one of the last chances you'll have to let Joel Klein know how you feel.

The Bloom Is Off The Rose

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's stewardship of his city's education system has taken a troubling turn. The resignation of New York Schools Chancellor Joel Klein precipitated an incredibly secretive process to name his replacement -- Cathleen Black, chairwoman of Hearst Magazines (you know, Cosmo, Esquire, Oprah) and former publisher of that beacon of journalism, USA Today. Black has absolutely no education experience nor has she ever sent her children to public schools or herself attended public schools. In fact, Black is so unqualified for the job (she does not have three years teaching experience and did not complete graduate work in education) that a waiver from David Steiner, the state education commissioner, will be required in order for her to actually work as NYC Schools Chancellor. (A Wednesday New York Times editorial calls on Steiner to "thoroughly vet" Black "to determine if she is up to the job.") Of course, Klein himself needed such a waiver, although he came to the job having been educated in the city's schools and having been a teacher for a short period of time.

To me, the clear message that Bloomberg has sent to New York City educators and veterans of the New York City Department of Education -- and other potentially qualified candidates across the nation -- is that a complete outsider with no experience in education and no record of public service is preferable to any candidate with experience as a teacher or school administrator. The more galling fact is that no search was undertaken to fill the Chancellor vacancy. The New York Times reports that no one else was "seriously vetted or considered -- and few of the usual suspects ... were even consulted." It appears that Black was tapped to run New York City schools primarily because of her business experience and because she travels in the same social circles as the Mayor. As Black herself said, the job offer "came out of left field."

I'm not some corn-pone, but I'm just left shaking my head here. Is this really the best process to select the leader of the nation's largest school system? Would Black have risen to the top if a true search had been conducted? Is this the type of executive management that voters had in mind when they elected Bloomberg mayor?

Is the selection of someone like Black good or bad for education? Klein argued on NPR that it doesn't matter because she will be surrounded by "extraordinary lifetime career educators.... The problem with public education is it's not operated effectively. It's operated as a political organization." I imagine that it may be freeing in some sense to not be tied down by prevailing orthodoxies, but it is troubling to me to think of a leader of such a complicated system and enterprise lacking any frame of reference whatsoever, let alone any detailed knowledge.

Here are some other takes:

• New York Times - Room for Debate - "Who's Qualified to Run New York City Schools?"
  
• Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic
  
• Valerie Strauss - The Answer Sheet
• Diane Ravitch - The New York Review of Books
• Dana Goldstein - The Washington Post
• Dan Collins - The Huffington Post
  

Isn't it time we had an educator, for a change?

Wow! It sure has been an interesting couple of days. Lots of news and commentary on Klein's resignation and the Mayor's appointment of Cathie Black to replace him. On the disappointing Klein legacy, I was quoted in the AP, the Times, NY1, am NY, Education Week, NBC News, and elsewhere.

I was personally attacked by the NY Post, and by Joel Klein on NY1 last night. When confronted with my quote from the Times, Klein called me a "propagandist" with an "agenda" (see video clip, starting at 2:30 minutes in.) Yes, I do have an agenda: for smaller classes and better schools for our kids.

There has also been much controversy and criticism of the mayor's appointment of Cathie Black, a publishing executive to succeed Klein. See the front page of the Daily News (below), this Times story and and these articles on our blog. Parents and elected officials alike have pointed out that Ms. Black sent her own children to private schools and has no education background, except for serving on the advisory board of a charter school.

Given her lack of education experience and qualifications, Ms. Black needs a waiver from the State Commissioner to be appointed chancellor.

Please sign the NYC Kids PAC petition, to urge the Commissioner to deny her a waiver. As soon as you sign it, the petition automatically sends an email in your name to the Commissioner Steiner, to the Board of Regents, and your state legislators,. Even if you have signed other petitions, please sign this one now, since it has an immediate impact.

The mayor would never dare appoint a magazine executive to head the police or fire departments. Leading the largest school system in the country needs just as much expertise, if not more. Only an educator is likely to recognize the necessary elements of a quality education, and how to work effectively with parents, teachers, and members of the community to create them. No matter what skills Ms. Black may have as a corporate manager, she simply has no idea what our children really need to succeed. We have had nine long years of a non-educator; it is time for a change.

Please also forward the petition link to your friends, and post it on your Facebook page. Here's hoping for better days!

The End of a BloomKlein Era: Was He Pushed? Who Cares?

Posted to The Wave for publication, Friday. November 12, 2010
www.rockawave.com


By Norm Scott

Joel Klein is so accommodating. I was just about to sit down and write another inconsequential and undecipherable column as deadline approached when the phone rang. "Norm, it's Joel. I'm thinking of resigning. Am I too late to make your column? I'll hold off for two weeks if I missed your deadline." (That guy doesn't make a move without consulting me first.) Despite my overwhelming sadness, I told him it was fine to resign.

"What's your next move Joel? Why not try brain surgery? You know as much about that as you do about education." Joel went on and on about his options before dropping the Big One. "Rupert? Rupert who?" I said. "Oh, that Rupert. But you know nothing about business or effective management or inspiring people. I mean, Joel, you know I love ya, but frankly, in 8 years you have taken the NYC public school system down a hell hole."

"Yeah, I know. Test scores and grad rates and the achievement gap and all that crap. I hate to tell you this Joel, but it was all false by just about every piece of data we have. Ha, ha, ha, ha - I know you love it when I use the D word."

Joel hung up happy while I cried my eyes out. I must have been the only one who was sad as cell phones all over the city exploded with shouts of joy emanating from the ranks of NYC parents and teachers. He was so polarizing and despised by all, we had no better organizing force.

My biggest fears were that Bloomberg would appoint someone with heavy credentials, like a Black or a Latino/a with a PhD. An ed deformer in drag who would fool communities into thinking they were going to be represented. But not to worry. Bloomberg came through and picked a white businesswoman who ran magazines and worked for Hearst. Phew! What a relief. Cathie Black - which do you like better - BloomBlack or BlackBloom - will be just a new face with the same old agenda. Sort of an Arne Duncan, less polarizing type, which to my mind as an organizer of opposition to the ed deform agenda, is a negative.

Black has even less educational experience than Joel (he actually taught briefly in the 60's when so many men entered teaching to avoid the draft) and she also needs a waiver from the State Ed Department since she is not qualified to be left alone with a class of children. Calls have already begun to deny her a waiver. Good luck with that as Regents head Meryl Tisch and State Ed head David Steiner are in Bloomies' pocket. But go ahead and sign the petition just to make a point. [See note below]

There is lots of speculation out there about whether Joel was pushed or jumped on his own. One person wrote, The only theory I've heard so far, from a DOE employee, was he saw the thing was falling apart and got out while the money was good. But others say that even Bloomberg had enough. The NY Times said, One of the first concrete signs that Mr. Klein was not long for the job was the appointment of Sharon L. Greenberger as the Education Department’s chief operating officer in April — something that, according to the official, “was imposed over Joel’s objection.”

Leave it to Leonie Haimson to sum up Joel's eight years as quoted in the Times article:

“He is leaving us with a legacy of classroom overcrowding, communities fighting over co-located schools, kindergarten waiting lists, unreliable school grades based on bad data, substandard credit recovery programs and our children starved of art, music and science — all replaced with test prep,” said Leonie Haimson, the head of Class Size Matters, an advocacy group and a critic of Mr. Klein’s.

With the next Panel for Educational Policy meeting coming up at Brooklyn Tech on November 16, Joel's intemperate leaving leaves us with a feeling of loss since the Real Reformers (as opposed to the phony reformers Joel Klein led) planned to appear with their red capes stamped with the RR Real Reformer logo to perform their rap song, "Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up?" Well, the show will go on with a performance scheduled in front of the entrance to Tech at 5:30.


Klein leaves school closing mayhem
Joel isn't leaving without starting the ball rolling on the crop of 47 schools on the closing list that are coming under attack. Of course we know that Beach Channel is cooked, as is Jamaica HS, whose chapter leader James Eterno is still fighting mad. He posted an excerpt from his chapter newsletter on the ICE blog. Titled "Department Of Ed Starves Jamaica And Then Sends Reviewers To Criticize Us For Being Malnourished," Eterno says, "I compare our plight to being in a prison where the warden cuts our food ration by 30% and then complains that we are too skinny." Of course the same analogy applies to Beach Channel.

I went to an early morning rally/demo at targeted John Dewey High School in Coney Island, a school once a jewel of the system that attracted students from all over the city. Dewey and the recently closed Lafayette HS bear similarities to the Far Rocakway/Beach Channel situation where one school is closed and the next school down the line becomes the target for starvation and closure, part of strategy of intentionally destroying large high schools –a falling domino effect of destruction. Expect John Adams HS in Ozone Park to be the next target. I made a short 4-minute video of the Dewey demo that in just a few days received 3000 hits. You can see a bunch of videos in addition to an advocacy toolkit for fighting back at the GEM blog. http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com/

How Odd
Well, I have become increasingly immersed in rehearsals at the Rockaway Theatre Company for my first acting performance as "Vinny the card player" in the upcoming production of "The Odd Couple." I even ride the subways muttering my lines. The other day, a young fellow sat down catty corner to me. On the surface he appeared a bit menacing so I nudged away a bit. I took out my playbook and started studying. I practically leaped out of my seat when he tapped me. "Are you in 'The Odd Couple,'" he asked? I told him I was an amateur and it was my first role. He broke out into the biggest smile, "It's 'The Odd Couple' man. That is wonderful." He seemed so happy for me. Turns out he is an actor who just moved to NY. I told him about the great work at the RTC and he should check it out. My stop came up and I had to get off but I'm sure we would have had a great chat. "Check it out. The play is at the great community theater at the RTC in Rockaway at Fort Tilden," I called as the door closed.

When Norm is not riding the subway trying out his lines on strangers, he blogs at http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/. His email is normsco@gmail.com

Addendum
Check out the NY Times article and compare what Randi has to say with what Leonie said. I feel the same frustration with the weak-kneed UFT/AFT response to ed deform as I feel with Obama's similar cowering in front of the Republicans.

NO WAIVER letter:

Dear Commissioner David M. Steiner,

Today, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his appointment of Cathie Black to replace Joel Klein as Chancellor of New York City Schools. Ms. Black, currently executive vice president of Hearst Magazines, lacks the required educational and professional qualifications for the position of Schools Chancellor as determined by state law. As a result, she will require a waiver from your office in order to accept the appointment.

The children, parents, and educational community of New York City deserve a leader with experience in education. Ms. Black's corporate experience may well qualify her for executive positions in business, but the education of our children and the training of our teachers is not corporate business. We urge you, as an educator, to:

~Deny the necessary waiver for Ms. Black's appointment

~Reaffirm the qualification requirements for NYC Schools Chancellor

This is the link: http://www.petitiononline.com/DenyWaiv/