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Schools Win Kudos
September 19th, 2007

The News, Post and Sun all offer their hearty congratulations to the New York City schools for winning the Broad Prize for being the nation’s most improved urban school district. Along with bragging rights, the award brings a half a million dollars the city can use for scholarships.

School Chancellor Joel Klein’s reforms, the Post says, “in particular, his emphasis on accountability among teachers and principals, move the schools in the right direction.” The News agrees: “The award is testament to how far the schools have come as Bloomberg and Klein ended social promotion, raised expectations and gained control over a huge bureaucracy.”

The Education Election goes so far to think the award could help a Bloomberg candidacy for president (if, of course, there is a Bloomberg candidacy for president).

Of course, praise has its limits. After lavishing compliments, the Sun uses the award to trumpet – once again – its demand for vouchers: “New York City still awaits the acid test — namely, whether parents, if given the choice, would send their children to the public schools.”

And some question whether the city deserves the award Parents and teachers under the umbrella of NYC Public School Parents sent a letter to Eli Broad and the Broad Foundation, which awards the prize, urging them not to honor the city schools. “We have witnessed one incoherent wave of reorganization after another over the last five years, leading to unnecessary chaos and in many cases, disruption of educational services,” the writers said. “None of these changes have been planned or undertaken with any consultation of the stakeholders in the system.”

And David Quintana, who said he participated in a focus group at the Department of Education for the Broad Foundation, expressed disappointment at the city’s getting the prize saying, “DOE is totally dismissive of parents views and makes short shrift of our concerns for our children.”

Given Eli Broad’s view of education, writes Diane Ravitch, a frequent critic of the current Department of Education, the city probably does deserve the award, “a prize conferred by one billionaire on another.”

Edwize, the teachers union blog, also sees a match between Bloomberg and Broad. “The Broad Prize doesn’t really measure teacher quality. It doesn’t use the multiple measures that are needed to evaluate good teaching, nor does it have the on-the-ground ability to see what’s taking place in hundreds of real schools. It looks at ‘data.’ … Under Klein, the city schools’ public face is all about data,” the blogger said.

As to Quintana’s complaint, tomorrow the City Council Education Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the education department’s “parent engagement initiatives,” a frequent target of school system critics.

By Gail Robinson on September 19, 2007, 8:15 am
In category: Education, Gotham City | No Comments »

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