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An Overblown Look at Klein
November 12th, 2010

There have been many hosannas to Joel Klein since he announced his resignation earlier this week — and there undoubtedly will be more. But none is likely to be as full-throated as a column by Joe Nocera, now on the web page (and to appear in tomorrow’s paper).

Nocera’s take is that of a business reporter, not an education expert. Much of his column is opinion, and some of it makes use of Steven Brill’s somewhat discredited recent work in the New Yorker and the Times magazine. But he does make some mistakes and indulges in convenient omissions. Above all, in calling Klein such a success, Nocera never considers whether students in New York City schools are getting a good well-rounded education that will prepare them for more schooling, work and a satisfying life.

(For a more nuanced and informed look at Klein’s legacy — and some very real accomplishments — see Education Week’s account of a closed conference on studies of the past eight years of changes. In total, Sarah D. Sparks, wrote, the reports “found the [Children First] initiative has led to some systemic improvements in student achievement and teacher quality, but also some capacity problems and resentment among some teacher, parent and community groups.”)

A few specifics points in Nocera’s piece:

Originally, Nocera, wrote, “The gap between New York City and the average for the rest of the state has narrowed to near nothingness.” Kudos to (we assume) a sharp editor at the Times. Within the short time it took to writes this, the phrase, “to nothingness” had been removed. Wisely, too, given the gap is about 10 percentage points, according to the state’s own figures.

Also on test scores, Nocera conveniently does not mention the pervasive achievement gap among races in city schools. Reducing that gap was supposed to be a signal achievement of the Bloomberg/Klein reforms. The recalibrated scoring system introduced by the state this summer essentially revealed that, sadly, that gap remains a chasm, with for example, 81.7 percent of Asians getting levels 3 and 4 (the two highest) on their math standardized tests, compared to the 40.4 percent of black students.

In fact, Juan Gonzalez of the Daily News found that the new scoring system revealed the achievement gap had actually increased since the pre-Bloomberg era. Gonzalez figured, “Back in 2003, 73.3 percent of white fourth-grade students met state standards, compared with only 46.3 percent of black pupils. The gap between the two groups was 26.9 points. This year, the gap between black and white fourth-graders increased to 31.7 points.”

Klein, according to Nocera, built systems “so that appropriate data could be gathered.” But how appropriate? In 2009 — as the mayor sought re-election — some 97 percent of schools got an A or a B on their “report card.” Only two school in the entire city failed.

This year, as test scores fell owing to the state’s new grading system, the progress reports could have reflected that. But rather than letting the chips fall where they may, the city decided to limit the amount a school grades could fall to two letters (A to C).

Another of Nocera’s key themes — along with slamming the teachers union — is the wonder of charter schools (even though, as Diane Ravitch, for one, has noted, the picture is not entirely clear.) “Thousands of parents sign up for the lotteries each year that decide whether their children will get into a coveted charter school slot,” Nocera writes.

True, but is this really, as Nocera would have it, a credit to Klein? Students compete to go to charters so they do not have to attend the traditional public schools And who has run those public schools for the last eight years? Joel Klein. Is this a bit like saluting Microsoft for driving up sales at Apple?

“In most cases,” Nocera says, “charter schools save the taxpayers money because they are much more cost-conscious than the typical big city public school.” Charter schools get an allocation based on the per pupil allocation for students in traditional public schools though not including certain costs. That number has nothing to do with how “cost conscious” they are.

In terms of their actual expenses, many charter school spend more than traditional schools. For example, the Harlem Children’s Zone schools, reportedly spends $15,952 per students compared to $14,452 spent on the average public school student. And even that figure is low because it does not include administration and building costs as well as an after school program integral to the school’s program. The schools raise outside funds to do this. It may very well be money well-spent — but it hardly is an argument that charter schools are cheaper.

This is completely off point but hard to resist. Nocera writes that Klein “had always been passionate about education.” He cites Klein’s experiences as a student in the public school system and oft-told tale of his physics teacher. Interesting that that connection is something Bloomberg’s choice to replace Klein seems to totally lack.

By Gail Robinson on November 12, 2010, 7:56 pm
In category: Education, Gotham City | 1 Comment »

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One Response to “An Overblown Look at Klein”

  1. Sally A. Friedman Says:
    November 14th, 2010 at 2:06 pm

    Thank you, Ms. Robinson. Great critique.

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