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Mayoral Issue Grid: Education



Mayoral Issue Grid

EDUCATION

-Top priority?
-Pay raise for teachers?
-Should city contribute to Campaign for Fiscal Equity?
-Charter Schools?
-Social Promotion

New York City has the largest public school system in the country with over 1 million students and more than 1,100 schools. When he was running for mayor, Michael Bloomberg promised to overhaul the city’s education system and told voters to hold him accountable for the results.

After taking office, he won control of the schools, abolished the Board of Education, and began instituting policies like the end of “social promotion,” advancing students on to the next grade even though they may not be academically prepared.

Recent test scores show that city students are making improvements, but by any measure, the schools still face many critical issues. Many classrooms are overcrowded. Less than half of each high school class graduates in four years. And teachers in the city make less than their suburban counterparts and many leave or quit.

The state’s highest court ruled that the city’s educational system is severely underfunded. It ordered the state to spend an additional $23 billion to ensure a “basic, sound education” for each child. Lawmakers in the state have appealed the decision and have not increased funding. Some believe the city should pay a portion of the needed funding.

In February 2004, Mayor Bloomberg implemented a plan to end so-called "social promotion," the practice of passing students on to the next grade even though they cannot perform at academic standards. Bloomberg instituted standardized tests for 3rd and 5th graders that are required to advance. He now plans to implement the same tests in the 7th grade. Some criticize the plan, arguing it puts too much pressure on students and that single test does not accurately reflect a level of education.

Fernando Ferrer

Fernando Ferrer promises to increase the number of high school graduates from New York City public schools by 50,000 in four years. Within the next eight years, he wants to lower the dropout rate below the national level.

He plans to improve school buildings, hire more teachers, and create a centralized tracking system to monitor student progress and attendance, which he says will identify children at risk of dropping out. He also promises to provide a laptop computer for each high school student.

Ferrer, who often mentions that his wife is a schoolteacher, promises to give public school teachers a pay raise.

To pay for all of this, Ferrer proposes using the $23 billion that a state court ruled the city should receive in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. Although he hopes the majority of the money will come from Albany, Ferrer said city should pay about 25 percent of it.

To do so, he proposed a half a cent tax on stock sales on Wall Street. He argues that it makes sense to require Wall Street to contribute to education because “they are the industry that benefits most in seeing that New York’s children are educated to the highest of standards.”

Ferrer supports increasing the number of charter schools - institutions that are allowed to run independently of the rest of the school system but still receive government funding - as long as they do not take away resources from the pubic school system.

(Read Ferrer’s education platform)

Ferrer said he would not reverse the mayor's action to end social promotion for third and fifth graders. But Ferrer said the real problem is that the mayor is too concerned about test scores.

"The problem in our school system is while the mayor is obsessing about some test score increases in the early grades, we're forgetting about collapsing scores in middle school and a dropout crisis - a level of dropouts of 50 percent and more in our high school grades," Ferrer said.

Michael Bloomberg

Even Michael Bloomberg’s opponents agree that abolishing the Board of Education and taking control of the city’s schools was a major accomplishment. Bloomberg has also instituted a citywide curriculum and increased city funding for the Department of Education by $2.5 billion since 2002. Bloomberg eliminated the policy of social promotion in the 3rd and 5th grades and points toward a 10 percent increase in reading scores for 4th graders as proof of its success. Bloomberg also created a Leadership Academy to recruit and train principals.

After giving the teacher’s a raise in his first year in office, Bloomberg and the teacher’s union were locked in a deadlocked over additional pay increases for three years. In September, the Bloomberg administration and the New York City teachers' union reached a tentative contract that calls for raises of 15 percent over 52 months, but requires teachers to work longer days, eliminates some seniority rights in staffing decisions and establishes a new master teacher position with higher pay.

Bloomberg supports the State Supreme Court ruling that city schools should get $23 billion in more funding. But he does not want the city to pay any more than it currently does. Bloomberg has argued that any increase at all in city education spending would require cuts in other areas that "would harm the very children this lawsuit is designed to help." Michael Cardoza, the Bloomberg administration's corporation counsel, has even said that the city would reject any additional state funds if it had to chip in part of the settlement.

Bloomberg says he is a “strong supporter” of charter schools, institutions that are allowed to run independently of the rest of the school system but still receive government funding. He has urged the state to increase the number that can be created. In the last three and a half years, the Bloomberg administration has opened 17 charter schools with 16 more set to open this fall. His five-year capital plan includes $290 million toward building charter schools in the city.

(Read Michael Bloomberg’s education platform)

Mayor Bloomberg implemented a plan to end social promotion in the third and fifth grades. He points toward a 10 percent increase in reading scores for 4th graders as proof of its success. Bloomberg is now wants to require standardized tests in 7th grade as well.


RELATED ARTICLES:
- After Mayoral Control, Rivals Call For More Changes
- Money, Class Size and Mayoral Politics
- Mayoral Candidates Debate - Education (a transcript)
- The Latest Round on School Funding

 

Mayoral Issue Grid: Education



Mayoral Issue Grid

EDUCATION

-Top priority?
-Pay raise for teachers?
-Should city contribute to Campaign for Fiscal Equity?
-Charter Schools?
-Social Promotion

New York City has the largest public school system in the country with over 1 million students and more than 1,100 schools. When he was running for mayor, Michael Bloomberg promised to overhaul the city’s education system and told voters to hold him accountable for the results.

After taking office, he won control of the schools, abolished the Board of Education, and began instituting policies like the end of “social promotion,” advancing students on to the next grade even though they may not be academically prepared.

Recent test scores show that city students are making improvements, but by any measure, the schools still face many critical issues. Many classrooms are overcrowded. Less than half of each high school class graduates in four years. And teachers in the city make less than their suburban counterparts and many leave or quit.

The state’s highest court ruled that the city’s educational system is severely underfunded. It ordered the state to spend an additional $23 billion to ensure a “basic, sound education” for each child. Lawmakers in the state have appealed the decision and have not increased funding. Some believe the city should pay a portion of the needed funding.

In February 2004, Mayor Bloomberg implemented a plan to end so-called "social promotion," the practice of passing students on to the next grade even though they cannot perform at academic standards. Bloomberg instituted standardized tests for 3rd and 5th graders that are required to advance. He now plans to implement the same tests in the 7th grade. Some criticize the plan, arguing it puts too much pressure on students and that single test does not accurately reflect a level of education.

Fernando Ferrer

Fernando Ferrer promises to increase the number of high school graduates from New York City public schools by 50,000 in four years. Within the next eight years, he wants to lower the dropout rate below the national level.

He plans to improve school buildings, hire more teachers, and create a centralized tracking system to monitor student progress and attendance, which he says will identify children at risk of dropping out. He also promises to provide a laptop computer for each high school student.

Ferrer, who often mentions that his wife is a schoolteacher, promises to give public school teachers a pay raise.

To pay for all of this, Ferrer proposes using the $23 billion that a state court ruled the city should receive in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. Although he hopes the majority of the money will come from Albany, Ferrer said city should pay about 25 percent of it.

To do so, he proposed a half a cent tax on stock sales on Wall Street. He argues that it makes sense to require Wall Street to contribute to education because “they are the industry that benefits most in seeing that New York’s children are educated to the highest of standards.”

Ferrer supports increasing the number of charter schools - institutions that are allowed to run independently of the rest of the school system but still receive government funding - as long as they do not take away resources from the pubic school system.

(Read Ferrer’s education platform)

Ferrer said he would not reverse the mayor's action to end social promotion for third and fifth graders. But Ferrer said the real problem is that the mayor is too concerned about test scores.

"The problem in our school system is while the mayor is obsessing about some test score increases in the early grades, we're forgetting about collapsing scores in middle school and a dropout crisis - a level of dropouts of 50 percent and more in our high school grades," Ferrer said.

C. Virginia Fields

C. Virginia Fields promises to reform the school system and eliminate a “top down approach” that she says Mayor Michael Bloomberg has instituted.

She says she will increase parental involvement with an annual “Parent Power” conference. She promises to expand and improve pre-school options. Fields says she will reach out to business, unions, and non-profits to create high school job placement and counseling.

Fields promises to recruit more qualified teachers and give them a pay raise.

To pay for her education plan, Fields promises to secure the $23 that a state court ruled the city should receive in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. She said it is too early to say if the city should be required to pay any portion of the settlement. She criticizes Mayor Bloomberg for not doing more to demand the money from Albany.

Fields supports increasing the number of charter schools - institutions that are allowed to run independently of the rest of the school system, but still receive government funding - but she says her top priority is rebuilding the public school system.

(Read C. Virginia Fields education platform)

Fields said she would not reverse the mayor's action to end social promotion for third and fifth graders, but she said she would take a different approach than Bloomberg.

At a recent forum, Fields said, "I would take the approach of massive intervention very early on, beginning at pre-K, to make sure that we are putting the resources in our schools, assessing our students, providing them with the resources in every step along the way. We are investing in their academics and we can expect a greater performance overall."

A. Gifford Miller

Gifford Miller has made reducing class size his top priority. He has proposed a 20 percent reduction in all class sizes. This means limiting 17 students in kindergarten through third grade classes, 20 students in fourth through fifth grade, and 23 students in junior and senior high.

He also proposes eliminating quotas on the number of students a principal is allowed to discipline and providing after school programs for every child. Using new technology, he plans to foster better parent-teacher communication. And he wants to institute a service program so that every high school student performs community service.

Miller promises to give public school teachers pay raises. He says he will provide bonuses for teachers who agree to work in under-performing schools.

To pay for his education proposals, Miller proposes using the $23 billion that a state court ruled the city should receive in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. He believes the city should pay about 10 percent of this amount and has proposed an income tax on New Yorkers who make more than $500,000 a year to pay for it.

Miller supports increasing the number of charter schools, institutions that are allowed to run independently of the rest of the school system but still receive government funding

(Read Gifford Miller’s education platform)

Miller said he would not reverse the mayor's action to end social promotion for third and fifth graders, but that he does not believe it is the real problem.

"Giving tests does not transform our schools," Miller said. "What transforms our schools is lowering class sizes."

Anthony Weiner

Anthony Weiner says that the top priority for the education system should be ensuring school safety. He believes principals and teachers should be given more power to suspend unruly students. He also wants to replace the current school curriculum and give teachers more say in their lesson plans.

He promises to revamp school spending to ensure that more money goes toward the classroom. For example, he wants to eliminate Mayor Bloomberg’s Leadership Academy that trains principals.

Weiner promises to pay teachers more in order to keep them from moving to higher paid jobs in the suburbs.

To pay for his education proposals, Weiner proposes using the $23 billion a state court ruled the city should receive in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. Although he admits that the city will likely have to pay some portion of this, he has not committed to a specific amount.

Weiner supports increasing the number of charter schools, institutions that are allowed to run independently of the rest of the school system but still receive government funding

(Read Anthony Weiner’s education platform)

At a recent forum, Weiner said, "I believe that having a test substitute for a good teacher or having a test substitute for a reasonable debate in this city is just wrong. You know, I desperately want that third grader to pass but I also want that fourth grader who's an average student to become a great student. I want that seventh grader who's a great student to go on to become a scholar, to go on to Harvard and Yale and the other great institutions. This is what we should be focusing on."

Michael Bloomberg

Even Michael Bloomberg’s opponents agree that abolishing the Board of Education and taking control of the city’s schools was a major accomplishment. Bloomberg has also instituted a citywide curriculum and increased city funding for the Department of Education by $2.5 billion since 2002. Bloomberg eliminated the policy of social promotion in the 3rd and 5th grades and points toward a 10 percent increase in reading scores for 4th graders as proof of its success. Bloomberg also created a Leadership Academy to recruit and train principals.

Since giving the teacher’s a raise in his first year in office, Bloomberg and the teacher’s union have been deadlocked over additional pay increases. He has offered teachers raises of about 5 percent over three years in return for work rule concessions. The teachers union is demanding a 19 percent pay hike over three years.

Bloomberg supports the State Supreme Court ruling that city schools should get $23 billion in more funding. But he does not want the city to pay any more than it currently does. Bloomberg has argued that any increase at all in city education spending would require cuts in other areas that "would harm the very children this lawsuit is designed to help." Michael Cardoza, the Bloomberg administration's corporation counsel, has even said that the city would reject any additional state funds if it had to chip in part of the settlement.

Bloomberg says he is a “strong supporter” of charter schools, institutions that are allowed to run independently of the rest of the school system but still receive government funding. He has urged the state to increase the number that can be created. In the last three and a half years, the Bloomberg administration has opened 17 charter schools with 16 more set to open this fall. His five-year capital plan includes $290 million toward building charter schools in the city.

(Read Michael Bloomberg’s education platform)

Mayor Bloomberg implemented a plan to end social promotion in the third and fifth grades. He points toward a 10 percent increase in reading scores for 4th graders as proof of its success. Bloomberg is now wants to require standardized tests in 7th grade as well.


RELATED ARTICLES:
- After Mayoral Control, Rivals Call For More Changes
- Money, Class Size and Mayoral Politics
- Mayoral Candidates Debate - Education (a transcript)
- The Latest Round on School Funding

 

Campaign 2005: After Mayoral Control, Rivals Call For More Changes


Four years ago, candidates running for mayor saw an ailing public school system riddled with politics and failing most of its 1.1 million students. Many New Yorkers believed outgoing Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had done little for the city’s schools other than browbeat them. While some aspects of life in the city had improved in the previous decade, the schools had not. In fact, many parents believed public education had gotten worse.

In 2005, no one – not even his harshest critics – can say that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ignored education. He made gaining control of the system one of his top priorities -- and accomplished the feat. Since then, he has remained active in school issues, selecting the chancellor, eliminating the Board of Education and community school boards, moving education headquarters across from City Hall, instituting policies to end so-called social promotion, and so on.

All of the major Democratic candidates, as well as Conservative Thomas Ognibene, praise the mayor for taking on education and trying to improve city schools. But they fault him on the effects of his reforms and question whether the changes have improved what takes place in tens of thousands of classrooms across the city every day. Among themselves, the Democrats differ largely in emphasis. While they all, for example, want smaller classes (so, the mayor claims, does he) Gifford Miller makes it his number one priority while C. Virginia Fields includes it as part of a larger package of changes that also include such items as improving vocational education.

The biggest difference among the candidates comes over funding for the system. All of the Democrats support the court’s ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit which ordered that city schools receive billions of dollars more a year to provide students with a “sound basic education.” But they disagree over how much of this money – if any – should come from the city and how the city should pay for that share.

ASSESSING THE BLOOMBERG CHANGES

Success in education can be difficult to measure, particularly over the short term. When he won control of the city’s schools, Bloomberg reportedly said, “"If reading and math scores aren't significantly better, I will look in the mirror and say I've failed. And I've never failed at anything in my life."

Most test scores are up , but the mayor’s rivals argue the increase may not result from the mayor’s changes and that, in any event, tests scores may not accurately reflect what goes on in the schools. Eva Moskowitz, chair of the City Council Education Committee and a Miller ally, held hearings in June where experts questioned the reasons for the increase in test scores. They note that, while New York City had seen a sharp rise in scores on the fourth grade state-wide English test, scores had gone up even more sharply in Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers – school systems that had not had the benefit of Bloomberg’s leadership.

And others dispute how much weight one should give the scores. "The focus on test scores in the early grades and the rise in the test scores in the early grades is a very narrow measure," Ferrer said in unveiling Ferrer's education reform package last month. "The right measure for the success of our school system is how many kids who graduate on time have the tools they need to go on to higher education and get a steady job."

Miller still sees a litany of problems. “Attendance is down, teachers are leaving the system in droves, violence is an increasing problem in our schools, and parents feel more disconnected than ever,” Miller said this spring.

IN THE CLASSROOMS

More than any of the other Democrats, Miller has tried to carve out education as his issue. And Miller has focused largely on class size, calling for a 20 percent cut in the number of students in a class. This would mean, for example, a maximum of 17 children in all kindergarten through third grade classrooms in the city. "Every teacher, every parent and every principal can tell you that kids can't learn in classrooms that are bursting at the seams from overcrowding," Miller has said.

Miller has called for putting a proposal aimed at reducing class size on the November ballot. Bloomberg, though, will probably block the measure from going before voters this year. It could appear in 2006, though, by which time Miller will either be mayor or out of office entirely.

Ferrer would focus on reducing what he calls the “educational dropout crisis we have in New York City.” Ferrer's plan calls for a series of changes, starting at the pre-K level, because, he says, “children begin dropping out of high school when they start falling behind before school and in the early grades.”

So, like the other candidates, Ferrer would cut class size. He would also improve the system for tracking children’s progress as they go through the system, offer counseling and extra help for middle school students, provide all high school students with a laptop computer, and strengthen the high school curriculum in social studies, sciences and the arts. At one end, he would offer more challenging classes; at the other he would provide more math and literacy programs for struggling students.

Weiner, who frequently reminds listeners his mother was a long-time public-school teacher, has proposed a three-part program focusing on making schools safer; attracting and keeping good teachers; and spending money in the classroom, not at school headquarters in the Tweed courthouse. In going after spending on school bureaucracy and what he terms “political pet projects,” Weiner aims at two of Bloomberg and School Chancellor Joel Klein’s prized initiatives: the parent coordinators in every school and the “leadership academy” to train principals.

Fields has offered a plan dubbed SMART. The acronym covers smaller class sizes, massive interventions at the earlier levels, academic partnerships with universities, recruitment and retention for teachers, and technology and tutorial help.

All of the candidates call for reaching a new contract with teachers, something Bloomberg has failed to achieve in the two years since the previous accord expired. Weiner notes that teachers in New York receive far less money than their suburban counterparts, leading the Scarsdale school system to raid the city for teachers. Whatever the intrinsic merit of giving more money to teachers, the stand has a possible political payoff as well. The politically powerful United Federation of Teachers has not yet announced who it will back in the mayoral race, and all the candidates would undoubtedly like their support. This may explain Bloomberg’s apparent shift on the teacher’s contract. He has stopped publicly demanding sweeping changes in work rules, such as ending tenure, and instead says teachers will get a raise.

Lesser known candidates weigh in on education as well. Democrat Chris Brodeur’s 100 innovations for New York City only touch on education (there’s more about ending corruption, making more things free and requiring bathroom doors to open outward instead on in), but he does want to end bullying.

Minor party candidates chime in on some of the mainstream issues – but include a position or two reflecting their affiliations. And so, along with smaller classes, Green Party candidate Theo Chino wants to “include ethics, nonviolence, and environmental conservation in school curricula.” Libertarian Audrey Silk calls for more discipline, increased vocational training and, as befits a Libertarian, more free-market style competition. “We do a great disservice to our children by removing competitive sports and competitive academics,” she says on her Web site.“Similarly, we do a great disservice to our children when we force them to solve problems and reach solutions ‘by committee’ instead of teaching them self-reliance."

One candidate takes this a step further. Seth Blum, who teaches math at a public high school in Manhattan, has declared himself the candidate of the Education Party. Blum's platform would decrease the emphasis on tests, institute a curriculum written by city schoolteachers, and get money for education both through a surcharge on tickets to events held in new stadiums and a voluntary tax check-off for education. The group’s slogan trumpets, "The strongest democracy arises out of a most educated society.” For now, though, the party must grapple with New York democracy and get enough signatures to win a place on the ballot.

RUNNING THE SYSTEM

None of the Democratic candidates want to return to the days before mayoral control. But most charge the system has become too centralized and undemocratic.

“I hear the same complaint over and over again,” Fields says in a statement on education on her Web site. “No one at the Department of Education cares what we think and no one is listening.”

To change this, Fields said she would have an annual conference for parents and also pay more attention to the various education councils set up to replace the community school boards.

More than any other candidates, Ognibene focuses on the running of the system. He would cut the bureaucracy and give more power over budgets and some educational issues to individual principals. To ensure that this worked, all schools would be evaluated annually. But Ognibene would not surrender mayoral control. “If I were mayor, nobody would overrule me,” Ognibene said at an education forum. “That's the whole point of being mayor, isn't it?”

FUNDING THE SYSTEM

While the Campaign for Fiscal Equity ruling calls for an additional $14 billion for schools over the next four years, it does not dictate how much of the money should come from the state and how much from Albany. Bloomberg, though, has been adamant that the city will not pay a penny. Ferrer has staked out the opposite ground, saying the city will have no choice but to pay 20 to 25 percent of the $14 billion.

Weiner has criticized Ferrer on this, arguing that the former Bronx borough president could undermine the city’s negotiating position with the state. “Our position should be we don’t put in money because we’re the ones who have been victimized,” Weiner said at a forum ponsored by the Citizens Budget Commission. “Mr. Ferrer, you’re 100 percent wrong.”

“If you think zero is a sound negotiating strategy, that has gotten us exactly zero,” Ferrer said at the same forum. “And it will continue to get us zero.”

To fund the city’s share, Ferrer has proposed a small tax on stock transactions. While not committing himself to paying any set portion of the CFE settlement, Miller has proposed keeping the tax surcharge on people earning more than $500,000 a year. This, he says, would pay for smaller classes and would also put the city on the road to paying some of the money called for in the CFE ruling.

All the Democrats fault Bloomberg for not getting more state money for the schools – for not stopping fellow Republican George Pataki from stonewalling on the CFE ruling by filing appeals and refusing to budget money for the settlement. “The same kind of passion, determination, tenacity we have seen this mayor use to fight for a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan is missing when it comes to fighting Albany for funds for our schools,” Field has said.

Given Pataki’s intransigence – and Bloomberg’s apparent inability to shake it – the crucial vote on education in New York may not come in the September primary or even on Election Day but on November 7, 2006, when New Yorkers select their next governor.

 

Mayoral Candidates: Education


EDUCATION

-Priorities
-Pay Raises for Teachers
-Campaign for Fiscal Equity

Fernando Ferrer

Fernando Ferrer promises to the number of high school graduates from New York City public schools by 50,000 in four years. And within eight years, lower the dropout rate below the national level. He plans to modernize the schools, hire more teachers, and create a centralized tracking system to monitor student progress and attendance, which he says will identify children at risk of dropping out it can be prevented before it happens. He also promises to provide each student a laptop computer to engage them in learning in and out of school

Ferrer also promises to give public school teachers a pay raise.

To pay for all of this, Ferrer proposes using the $23 billion that the State Supreme Court ruled the city should receive in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. Although he hopes the majority of the money will come from Albany, Ferrer said city should pay 25 percent of it. He has proposed a tax of about a half a cent on sales of an average share of stock. He argues that it makes sense to require Wall Street to contribute to education, the former Bronx borough president said, because “they are the industry that benefits most in seeing that New York’s children are educated to the highest of standards.”

(Read Ferrer’s education platform http://www.ferrer2005.com/site/News2?abbr=eng_&page=NewsArticle&id=5859)

C. Virginia Fields

C. Virginia Fields promises to reform the school system and eliminate a “top down approach” to education. She proposes extending after-school programs and increasing parental involvement, with an annual “Parent Power” conference. She promises to expand and improve pre-school options. Fields says she will must reach out to business, unions and non-profits to partner in planning our high school job placement and counseling.

Fields promises to recruit more qualified teachers and give them a pay raise.

To pay for her education plan, Fields promises to secure the $23 that the State Supreme Court ruled the city should receive in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. She said it is too early to say if the city should be required to pay any portion of this and has said the mayor should demand the money from Albany before committing any money.

(Read C. Virginia Fields education platform http://www.newyorkers4fields.com/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=cndIssues&htmlId=2153)

Gifford Miller

Gifford Miller has made reducing class size the top priority for education. Miller promises to reduce class sizes by 20 percent. This means kindergarten through third grade would have no more than 17 students, 20 students in fourth through fifth grade, and 23 students in junior and senior high. He also proposes eliminating quotas on the number of students a principal may discipline, provide after school programs for every child. Using new technology, he plans to foster better parent-teacher communication. And we wants to institute a service program so that every high school student performs community service.

Miller also promises to give public school teachers pay raises. He also wants to tie salary and advancement to performance and provide bonuses for teachers who agree to work in under-performing schools.

To pay for his education proposals, Miller proposes using the $23 billion that the State Supreme Court ruled the city should receive in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. He believes the city should pay about 10 percent of this amount and has proposed an income tax on New Yorkers who make more than $500,000 a year to pay for it.

(Read Gifford Miller’s education platform http://www.giffordmiller.com/issues/education.html)

Anthony Wiener

Anthony Wiener says that the top priority for the education system should be ensuring school safety. He believes principals and teachers should be given more power to suspend unruly students. He also wants to replace the current school curriculum and give teachers more say in their lesson plans. He promises to revamp school spending to put more money toward the classroom, for example eliminating Mayor Bloomberg’s Leadership Academy that trains principals.

Wiener promises to pay teacher’s more in order to keep them from moving to higher paid jobs in the suburbs.

To pay for his education proposals, Wiener proposes using the $23 billion that the State Supreme Court ruled the city should receive in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. Although he admits that the city will likely have to pay some portion of this, he has not committed to a specific amount of city funding.

(Read Anthony Weiner’s education platform http://www.anthonyweiner.com/speeches/show/3)

Michael Bloomberg

Even Michael Bloomberg’s opponents agree that abolishing the Board of Education and taking control of the city’s schools was a major accomplishment. Bloomberg has also instituted a citywide curriculum and increased city funding for the Department of Education by $2.5 billion since 2002. Bloomberg eliminated the policy of social promotion in the 3rd and 5th grades and points toward a 10 percent increase in reading scores for 4th graders as proof of its success. Bloomberg also created a Leadership Academy to recruit and train principals.

Since giving the teacher’s a raise in his first year in office, Bloomberg and the teacher’s union have been deadlocked over additional pay increases. He has offered teachers raises of about 5 percent over three years in return for work rule concessions. The teachers union is demanding a 19 percent pay hike over three years.

Bloomberg supports the State Supreme Court ruling that city schools should get $23 billion in more funding. But he does not want the city to pay a single additional cent. Bloomberg has argued, any increase at all in city education spending would require cuts in other areas that "would harm the very children this lawsuit is designed to help." Michael Cardoza, the Bloomberg administration's corporation counsel, has even said that the city would reject any additional state funds if it had to chip in part of the settlement.

(Read Michael Bloomberg’s education platform)

RELATED ARTICLES:
Money, Class Size and Mayoral Politics http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/Education/20050520/6/1423
Mayoral Candidates Debate Education (a transcript) http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/fea/20050425/202/1389 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Setbacks and Successes for Education Councils


Despite frustrations and setbacks, the community education councils that replaced the 32 community school boards last fall were more effective in their first year than many observers expected, and parents say the councils may become more powerful as they learn to flex their political muscles.

The first year was difficult for the councils, which are made up mostly of public school parents and elected largely by officials of school parents association. Some council members complain about what they consider a dismissive attitude by the Department of Education. They are dismayed that Chancellor Joel Klein removed the one clear power the councils had -- to determine school choice and magnet programs. In poor neighborhoods in particular, the councils have had difficulty attracting enough members, and many don't have the full complement of nine parents.

The experiences of one council member, David Bloomfield, chair of the Graduate Program in Educational Leadership at Brooklyn College and first vice president of the Citywide Council on High Schools, reflect those of many council members. "My chief frustration was the perception that the Department of Education had created the council as window dressing," Bloomfield writes in an article for Inside Schools. "Rarely was there a sense of welcomed collaboration between the parents on the board and Department of Education officials."

Despite this, he says, there were successes. When the council publicized complaints it had received from parents, an article appeared in the Daily News. This, Bloomfield writes, prompted the Department pf Education to appoint an executive director for secondary schools and to revamp its policies on admission to high school.

Other councils point to success too.

On Manhattan's West Side, parents who thought admissions procedures discriminated against poor and working class Latino families were able to get a hearing. On the East Side, parents upset by the progressive math curriculum aired their concerns. And a community council member from Queens says he is impressed by the clout the council gives parents.

"I've been empowered to a degree I wouldn't have thought possible," Jeffrey Guyton, a council member from District 30 in Long Island City, said in a letter to the New York Times this spring. "I've helped to get a leaking roof repaired and am organizing a seminar on asthma at PS 2, among other things."

When the legislature gave the mayor control of the city schools, it dissolved the 32 community school boards and replaced them with 32 "community education councils" each with nine parents elected by parents associations, two ember appointed by the borough president and one high school senior, who does not get a vote. These councils are supposed to approve boundaries between schools, review educational programs, evaluate supervisors, and make recommendations on building use. The legislature also created the council on high schools and a council for special education. The first councils were selected for one-year terms, but the next set will serve two, starting in the fall.

There have been difficulties. Resignations, dismissals and unfilled vacancies meant that almost half of the 32 councils did not have their full complement of nine parent members on January 3, 2005, according to a report prepared by Carolyn Prager of Advocates for Public Representation in Public Education. Because a great many of those who did finish their terms did not run for re-election or were defeated, there will be a huge turnover in the councils in the fall. Almost as worrisome, the turnout in the election limited to three parent association officers in each school was dismal.

Indeed, in some poor neighborhoods parents feel as frustrated as ever. "We have no power at all," Glenn Simmons of the council for District 32 in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn told the Daily News. "Our members resigned because they were unhappy. If you want to make a difference in schools, community education councils are not the place to do it." Christian Rodriguez, a member of District 22 in Flatbush told the Daily News that many parents were chased away by frustration. "If you come into the situation cold, like a lot of parents did this year, it really is a shock to your system," he said.

The bureaucracy seemed to conspire against the councils. Members learned that they did not have the free access to schools that their predecessors on the community school boards enjoyed; rather, they could visit only if the principal agreed. They were upset when, without consultation, the chancellor revised a regulation -- A-185 -- on zoning to remove their ability to designate magnet schools and school choice programs in their districts.

By spring, members were grappling with onerous conflict of interest regulations that required them to disclose their personal finances - and perhaps be removed from the council - if they had even a remote connection to a group or company that does business with the Department of Education. A council member in District 13 in Brooklyn faced disqualification because she worked for Verizon, the telephone company, which does business with the school system. "You've got to be kidding," Carmen Colon, president of the District 13 council, told the New York Times. "She has nothing to do with contracts. She's a clerk." Colon said excessive paperwork discouraged civic-minded parents from running for office.

Despite these problems, some councils took on important issues. Darlene Vanasco, a parent, attended a District 15 meeting in Brooklyn on a middle school initiative and small class size. "The dedication of the people on the council has been incredible," she said. "They are tenacious, smart and informed and I do believe they can really make a difference over time."

District 3's council was instrumental in airing the Center for Immigrant Families' report on what it called de facto segregation in the gifted programs on Manhattan's West Side. District 2, also in Manhattan, held three forums on the math curriculum. Serena Brown, newly elected to the panel, said the middle school admissions process was greatly improved with the help of the council. According to Catherine Skopec, a parent who has attended nearly all District 2 council meetings, the panel really listened and there was some movement on some issues."

In December many of the councils banded together in an Association of New York City Education Councils to help solve their problems. They engaged civil rights attorney Norman Siegel as counsel. Besides public representation, the group provides members with technical assistance on such matters as how to read budgets, placing emphasis on the capital budget that councils are supposed to approve.

"I think the councils had a lot of great ideas," said Vanasco. "I also think they feel quite hobbled in instituting the ideas. The issue is not whether they could be effective. The issue is how. Some feel a lot of work was put in with not enough hard results to show for it. However, I do think we need to be patient. Change happens over time."

This topic page has been adapted from an article that originally appeared Inside Schools, an independent guide to New York City public schools sponsored by Advocates for Children.

 

The 2006 School Budget -- Reasons To Be Pessimistic


Almost every public school parent, student and teacher takes it as an article of faith that city schools do not have enough money. Teachers spend their own money to purchase supplies, parents buy paper towels for their child’s classroom and students regard crowded classrooms and shabby playgrounds as the norm. But, as angry as many New Yorkers may be about this, they – or at least their elected representatives – do not blame Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Or so it would seem from the recent council hearing on next year’s budget for the Department of Education.

Earlier this month, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein appeared before the council’s Education Committee to answer questions on the proposed $14 billion operating budget for the Department of Education. Probably the most remarkable thing about the session was how peaceful – even cordial – it was. And the muted response extends beyond council chambers. Parents have stored away their Save Our Schools (SOS) buttons, and this spring has seen no banner waving rallies in front of Tweed Courthouse or angry letter-writing campaigns.

Certainly the sharp rise in results on standardized test scores by city students – released just two days before the council hearing -- contribute to some of the optimism. Council members and others were undoubtedly cheered by an increase, however slight, in school funding. The mayor says he has boosted city spending for education by a total of $2.5 billion since he took office.

But the aura of good feeling in the council chamber could fade. As savvy parents, council members and educators know, the optimistic budgets of spring can look far different in autumn. Last year, for example, many students showed up at school in September to find scheduled classes eliminated because of budget cuts. The Department of Education restored the bulk of those programs but only after weeks of turmoil at many city high schools.

Even now, the budget features some unanswered questions and possible dangers. For example, some wonder how much of the increase in the operating budget money will actually go into classrooms. The budget also makes two assumptions that are, from the city’s viewpoint, wildly optimistic: It assumes the education department will get almost $2 billion for capital expenses from Albany and that teachers will agree to a contract giving them merely a modest salary increase.

THE BUDGET INCREASE

All told, the mayor sees the Department of Education operating budget increasing by about a billion next year. This comes down to about $910 for each of the system’s 1.1 million students.

The increases include:
--$15 million to help at-risk students;
--$2.8 million for gifted and talented programs;
--money for new small schools, some designed to replace larger failing schools
--$4.6 million for English language learners and $2.8 million for a translation unit to help families that do not speak English;
--$95.9 for special education
--$13.4 million school security

But much of the budget increase, the chancellor readily admits, will not show up in classrooms. Some will go to pay increased fuel costs and fringe benefit costs. While he would rather spend this money in the classroom Klein said, he had no choice: Students have to get to school somehow, and, once there, they cannot sit in unheated classroom.

Since Klein took over, many people, including some of the Democratic candidates for mayor, have criticized him for spending too much on consultants and on high priced bureaucrats (educrats in the jargon) with little education experience. But parent activists and even council members will be hard-pressed to determine just how much money goes for such items. As a recent council guide to the education budget notes, “The education budget is so large and so vague that it’s easy to hide serious flaws within it and hard to spot trouble when it arises.”

Class size can be a case in point. The mayor’s executive budget calls for adding $10 million to keep class size in lower grades at its current level – but it does not set a clear numerical target.

Smaller classes remain popular – many educators say that they are one of the few proven ways to boost students' performance – and expensive. But while advocates for them appear, for the moment at least, to have removed the issue from the budget talk, it is part of the mayoral campaign. Council Speaker Gifford Miller, for example, would spend $380 million – generated by keeping the income tax surcharge on the richest New Yorkers – to limit classes in the lower elementary grades to 17 students. Borough President C. Virginia Fields and Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer have also called for smaller class sizes. At the same time, advocates for smaller classes have launched a drive (in pdf format) to put a ballot measure calling for smaller class size before voters in November.

THE CAPITAL BUDGET

In its four-year capital plan for 2006 to 2009, the city hopes to spend $10.5 billion to create more than 50,000 additional places for students around the city, restructure 44 schools, modernize science and computer labs and provide athletic facilities, among other improvements. In light of the overcrowding at many schools and shabby and outdated facilities at many others, the plan holds obvious appeal.

But there’s a hitch. According to the mayor’s budget, $6.5 billion of that money will come from the state. The city’s estimate derives from the judge’s order in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit on the funding of education in the city. In his decision, Judge Leland DeGrasse ruled that the city schools needed an additional $9 billion in capital funding for the next five years. But, Governor George Pataki has appealed the judge’s ruling and the state has not budgeted any money to comply with DeGrasse’s ruling.

Of the $2.6 billion in the 2006 executive capital plan presented in April, $1.8 billion is to come from the state – but the state budget adopted this spring did not include those funds, creating a possible $1.8 billion gap in the capital budget. “Should we vote yes on a budget with $1.8 billion that’s not there?” education committee chair Eva Moskowitz asked Klein during his appearance at the council. “Can we get it before October? I don’t know. I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

Klein responded that the capital budget was not “pie in the sky. It is a court mandate.” But, he conceded, it would be hard to fund the programs without the state money. Despite repeated questioning, he would not say what he would advise the mayor to do if (cynics would say when) the money does not materialize.

The Educational Priorities Panel, a private group that works to improve education in the city, advises caution. It notes that the administration says no projects will be delayed. But the group adds in a statement on its web site, “In the past, capital budget cuts and increases have not necessarily been a good predictor of how many new schools will actually be built.”

If the Department of Education eventually cancels or delays some projects for lack of funds then council members, particularly those whose districts are affected, would squawk. But for now, at least, legislative and executive branch can present a united front, looking to Albany to come through.

THE MISSING CONTRACTS

The other big question mark in the budget involves labor costs. New York’s 100,000 public school teachers have been working without a contract for two years, as has the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, which represents 5,500 principals, assistant principals and other administrators. The teacher's union, the United Federation of Teachers, has recently stepped up demands for an accord and criticized Mayor Michael Bloomberg for not using the city’s $3.3 billion city surplus to reach a settlement with the teachers. Bloomberg, on the other hand, argues the surplus is temporary at best. The administration also says it wants to use the contract to force major changes in other aspects of the teachers contract – scrapping many seniority rules, making it easier to fire teachers, giving principals more authority over who they hire and so on.

Klein said the budget envisions the teacher’s a contract similar to that reached with many other city workers. But the teachers – along with police and firefighters – have resisted this idea, arguing that the city must pay teachers more if it is to compete with suburban school districts and keep qualified teachers in the city.

POLITICAL GAMES

As it is every year, the 2006 budget discussions also provide council members an opportunity to lobby for items of particular concern to their constituents. Vincent Gentile decried overcrowding at Fort Hamilton High School in his district. Diana Reyna outlined deteriorating conditions at the 850 Grand Street Campus. “We are bursting at the seams,” she said.

And Simcha Felder, most of whose Orthodox Jewish constituents do not use the public schools, urged the city to raise money by selling parts of some little used school playgrounds for real estate development. “It’s a no brainer,” he said. Many might agree – but not in the sense Felder meant.

Such gripes and proposals are all part of the game, as Klein apparently has learned very well. As he rushed out to another meeting, Moskowitz asked him whether he had a “philosophical objection” to giving teachers an allowance to buy books and supplies. The program was cut from this year’s budget – and last year’s as well. “No,” Klein said, “I don’t have a philosophical objection. You always put it back anyway.”

 

The Real School Security Problem


Some of New York City's public schools now house "sweep rooms" for students cutting class, "holding cells" in the basement, and dozens of police and security guards. Unnoticed by many, these new additions are part of an unprecedented expansion of the criminal justice system into the educational domain.

In doing this, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has received inspiration from his predecessor. He has adopted the same "broken windows" theory that shaped former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's approach to fighting crime in New York City neighborhoods. The theory holds that minor signs of disorder, such as a single broken window, send a signal that no one cares, creating an opening for more -- and more serious -- offenses. So, to prevent crime you fix the broken window.

Thus, the Impact Schools Initiative, which takes its name from another police department program, Operation Impact, that put more police officers into high crime areas. Impact Schools is a joint effort by the police department, the Department of Education, and the mayor's office. Launched in January 2004, it targets middle and high schools with high levels of reported crime, and employs aggressive policing strategies to reduce violence and disorder.

But in light of new data profiling the Impact Schools, one must ask, "Which came first -- broken windows or broken schools?"

Impact Schools have more economically disadvantaged students and more black students than other city schools. They also tend to be more overcrowded, and less well funded than schools throughout the city, according to new research (in pdf format) by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy. These problems existed before the launch of the mayor's Impact Schools initiative; only time will tell if conditions are changing. Looking back, we have to ask ourselves whether these schools had already been crying out for special attention -- not in the form of cops, security cameras, and "sweep rooms", but teachers, books, and computer rooms.

The facts speak for themselves. According to Drum Major Institute, the current 22 Impact Schools are operating at 111 percent capacity -– making them five percent more crowded than the average New York City public high school and seven percent more overcrowded than schools the Department of Education describes as similar. The worst of the Impact Schools, Walton High School and Christopher Columbus High, both in the Bronx, were at more than 180 percent capacity in 2004.

The city spent an average of $1,482 less for each student at an Impact School than it did at the average city high school in 2003. Furthermore, while the city increased spending on direct services in high schools by $1,217 per student between 2002 and 2003, average spending on students at the 22 Impact Schools rose by only an average of $609.

More than six in ten students at the 22 Impact Schools serving the lowest income families are poor enough for a free lunch (a benefit available to families whose incomes are up to 130 percent of the poverty line). This compares with about five in ten at the average city high school. At the six poorest Impact Schools, more than eight out of ten students are eligible for free lunch. At Walton High School -- also among the most crowded of the Impact Schools -- that number reaches nine in ten.

Additionally, the Impact Schools have a higher percentage of students of color and significantly fewer white students than the average city high school. More than half of students at the Impact Schools are black, compared with 35 percent in the average city high school. And there is also a slightly greater proportion of Hispanic students in the Impact Schools. At the same time, Impact Schools have a substantially lower share of white students -- 4.6 percent, as opposed to 14.2 percent.

Finally, ninth and tenth graders at Impact Schools were far more likely than their counterparts elsewhere in the city to be over age for their grade. By the time they reach high school, these older students, many of whom have had a difficult time in school, require additional resources to improve their academic performance. Getting extra help is made all the more difficult when a school is packed to the rafters and stretched to the limit, as is the case in the 22 Impact Schools.

Mayor Bloomberg seems eager to point to numbers showing crime falling at the Impact Schools this year over last.

But a recent analysis by the National Crime Victimization Survey has shown that putting police officers in schools does not stem violence. In fact, the opposite seems true: Schools using security measures such as law enforcement agents and surveillance cameras were associated with increased reports of school violence and disorder, while schools relying on more participatory efforts to educate youth on school rules and appropriate conduct were associated with less reported school crime.

The city has chosen to respond to the headline-grabbing visible symptoms of school disorder rather than treating the root causes, a complex social and education problem. If the city took a more thoughtful look at the 22 Impact Schools it would find they have much more in common than high rates of crime. Addressing those problems, and bringing the chronically resource-poor and overburdened Impact Schools up to the level of the rest of city schools, could go a long way toward making those schools safer, better places of learning.

The question for New York City now is not whether we fix the broken windows, but how?

Rhee, a fellow of the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, is executive director of the Prison Moratorium Project

Money, Class Size and Mayoral Politics


Having once told voters to judge him on his handling of education in the city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg reacted jubilantly to the news on May 18 that reading scores for the city’s fourth graders had risen sharply this year. Of the students taking the test in 2005, almost 60 percent met state standards, an increase of about 10 percent over last year.

But amid the good news, a stubborn fact remains: Kids in New York City still do far worse on this type of exam than students elsewhere in the state. Statewide, 70 percent of fourth graders meet the standards.

Many of those looking to close that discrepancy -- or “achievement gap” -- see two, sometimes related solutions: Give the city schools more money and use a lot of that money to decrease class size. Both issues have emerged as hot topics in this year’s mayoral race.

The Funding Issue

The fight for more state funding for city schools dates at least back to the Dinkins administration when the Campaign for Fiscal Equity filed suit, seeking more funding for city schools. Despite numerous court rulings in the city’s favor, New York City public schools have not yet seen any of the billions of extra dollars the court ruled they should receive -- and thanks to court appeals by Governor George Pataki they are not likely to any time soon.

Bloomberg has made his position on this issue clear. He supports the court ruling that city schools get billions more. But he does not want the city to pay a single additional cent.

The courts did not address the question of how much of any new funding would come from the state and how much from the city, declaring that such decisions belong with the legislative branch, not the judiciary. But, Bloomberg has argued, any increase at all in city education spending would require cuts in other areas that "would harm the very children this lawsuit is designed to help." Michael Cardoza, the Bloomberg administration's corporation counsel, has even said that the city would reject any additional state funds if it had to chip in part of the settlement. And the mayor's proposed budget for fiscal year 2006 does not assume any big influx of state funds for education or any major additional city expense to match it.

His opponents clearly see him as vulnerable on education in general, and this funding case in particular. But they are also attacking each other.

In April, Fernando Ferrer proposed a tax of about a half a cent on sales of an average share of stock. Ferrer anticipated this would raise about $1 billion –- or, he said, enough to cover the city’s share of any negotiated settlement between city, state and courts in the CFE case. It makes sense to require Wall Street to contribute to education, the former Bronx borough president said, because “they are the industry that benefits most in seeing that New York’s children are educated to the highest of standards.”

Even though a similar, and far larger, tax existed in New York City until 1981, virtually everybody criticized Ferrer's proposal. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose support would probably be needed for such a tax to be enacted, said the idea was dead. Bloomberg called it a ``job-killing'' plan, and Representative Anthony Weiner, also running for mayor, termed it ``a mind-bogglingly bad idea.''

For her part, C. Virginia Fields says it is far too soon to be talking about how much the city will pay. “We need to have a much more aggressive position taken by the mayor of this city with the governor and the state legislature,” she says. The mayor needs to show the “kind of passion” he has exhibited on the West Side stadium and push the governor to provide “what’s right for the children of New York City."

Council Speaker Gifford Miller has proposed an extension of a tax surcharge on those earning more than $500,000 a year.

Weiner’s plan to provide funding for city schools calls for a tax on millionaires and cuts in some of Bloomberg’s pet education programs, such as paid parent coordinators in every school and the Leadership Academy, which trains prospective school principals.

The Class Size Debate

If and when the city gets any additional money, many parents, teachers and others want it to go toward reducing the number of students in city classrooms, particularly in the elementary school grades.

Just how much emphasis to put on cutting class size has been a key part of the educational debate in the city.

Advocates, such as the organization Class Size Matters, believe that no other single improvement can do as much to boost achievement as cutting class size. According to Class Size Matters, average class size in kindergarten through third grade in New York City is 22, down from 25 several years ago. But the group says that a quarter of students in the early elementary grades remain in classes with more than 25 children. This compares with an average class size of 20 in New York State as a whole. Class sizes become progressively large as children advance through public school, with high school classes in the city typically 34 students.

Led by Miller, members of the City Council have proposed reducing the average class size to 17 in early elementary grades, 20 in grades four and five, and 23 in middle school. At a mayoral candidates forum on education, Miller said that smaller class size is one of the things “that we know works” in improving education.

The other Democratic candidates express similar beliefs.

“Smaller class sizes is part of my overall list of things that we need to address,“ Fields says, along with better pay for teachers, expanded high school vocational programs, identifying students with possible problems at an early age and increasing the number of guidance counselors.

Chiding the mayor for not making overcrowding and class size a priority, Ferrer said, “Smaller classes mean our kids can get the individual attention they needed and deserve…Smaller classes work”

Not surprisingly, the teachers union has supported effort to reduce class size. “Lowering class sizes is one of the most basic, foundational reforms we can do to improve student achievement,” UFT President Randi Weingarten, said at a rally earlier this month, adding that some of the money in the court case must go toward reducing class size rather than being “squandered.”

The Bloomberg administration does not seem to agree. A 2003 audit by State Comptroller Alan Hevesi found the city did not create the number of new classrooms it was supposed to, despite being given money for that purpose. The mayor’s proposed 2006 budget includes increases in funding -– particularly for the mayor’s cherished program to create more small schools -– but has no additional money to cut class size. And in its plan for a sound, basic education, given to the courts last summer, the city said it would focus on leadership training, secondary school reform, early childhood education and special education and instruction for non-English speakers. The plan does not mention class size as a priority.

The Department of Education denies it ignores class size. Stephen Morello, communications director for Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, told the Sun recently that the administration already had cut class size and that reducing it further “is a key part of the city's five-year capital plan and its strategy for spending the CFE operating funds.”

But advocates, remaining skeptical, want to force the city to deal with class size. Class Size Matters has launched a drive to put on the November ballot a measure calling for the city to spend at least 25 percent of any CFE money on bringing down class size in the city to a level comparable to that in the rest of the state.

In 2003, advocates collected more than 114,000 signatures in support of a ballot proposal on class size. But Bloomberg managed to quash the vote. Since the mayor has his own ideas for charter reform measures , he could well bump the class size question off the ballot again this year, regardless of how many signatures advocates collect.

 

 

 

Teaching Fellows Make Their Mark


"How many lives did your last spreadsheet change?" asks an advertisement on the downtown R train, as it rumbles toward lower Manhattan, filled with briefcase-toting professionals on their morning commutes.

The advertisement is for the New York City Teaching Fellows program, which recruits soul-searching professionals and recent college graduates with liberal arts degrees to teach in New York City's public schools. The program is founded on the premise that energetic, committed and well-educated people -- even those without teaching experience or training in education -- can help fill the critical teacher shortage in the city's poorest and hardest-to-staff schools and, in doing so, help turn those schools around. The fellows commit to two years of teaching in the public schools, receive a full salary and benefits, and earn a masters degree in education.

Now approaching its fifth anniversary, the Teaching Fellows program can point to many success stories. In dozens of interviews over the past year, principals told us that fellows have invigorated their teaching staffs and brought great enthusiasm and energy to their schools. And, while teacher retention is still a problem, the percentage of fellows who return for a second year has steadily improved.

The Teaching Fellows program, which began in 2000 with just 313 fellows, has grown into a significant presence in New York City schools. There are now 6,100 former and current teaching fellows in over 1,079 of the city's 1,300 public schools. That means that one in 15 of the city's 80,000 teachers is a Teaching Fellow. In 2004, fellows accounted for a quarter of all new hires in New York City public schools and a staggering half of all new hires in math and special education.

The program seems to have been most successful in the new small schools and in schools in which competent new administrators are seeking to improve student performance and staff morale. Even in high-poverty neighborhoods, there are effective schools in which fellows say they feel their hard work makes a difference in children's lives and where the fellows get guidance and support from their colleagues and supervisors.

Sadly, however, the program has not been uniformly successful. Fellows in poorly run schools with weak leadership tell us that they are set adrift in chaotic environments where no one helps them cope with students who have serious social and academic problems. Fellows in these dysfunctional schools say they feel completely isolated and so are more likely to quit. Even the most idealistic and hardest-working teachers cannot turn a school around without the help of a competent administration.

What Works

Many principals actively seek out teaching fellows because they have a reputation for being smart, energetic, and eager -- even if they have little formal training as a teacher.

"I've had nothing but wonderful experiences with them," says Ron Smolkin, principal of Independence High School in Manhattan, which opened in September 2003, and where six of the 30 teachers are fellows. "They are extremely bright, they want to save the world, and they grasp at every suggestion I make."

Administrators and fellows agree that the program has brought ambitious, motivated and talented people, who might otherwise never have considered teaching, into the public schools. " Many fellows say that the program offers a way to become involved in the public schools without spending several years -- and thousands of dollars -- to go to graduate school. "I know that I would not be teaching unless it were for the fellows," says a fellow now in his second year teaching 10th grade math and science in Brooklyn. " I've been lucky with being placed at a school with a good administration and lots of fellow fellows who I now call friends. The fellows are the best teachers at my school… [and] we are a great support network for one another. "

(Like many fellows interviewed for this article, this fellow asked to remain anonymous. As employees of the Department of Education, they are instructed not to speak with the press.)

Dozens of administrators credit the fellows with helping to change the culture and quality of instruction in their buildings. As a result, many fellows say they feel they are making a difference, not just in the lives of individual students, but in the quality and atmosphere of their schools as a whole.

What Doesn't Work

Fellows spend about seven weeks training and student teaching during the summer before they start as regular classroom teachers, but many say that summer school is not an accurate indicator of what they face in the classroom. The fellows program also matches all the teachers with mentors who visit their classroom about a dozen times during the school year. And the fellows take graduate courses in education. But, in general, the fellows are largely on their own.

As a result, their main association is not with the fellow program but with the school in which they teach. " I don't think of myself as a Teaching Fellow, except when I think about the fact that I was so poorly prepared to be a teacher," says Michelle Heller, a second year fellow at Discovery High School in the Bronx. " I identify myself as a teacher at Discovery High School. We have a strong, unified staff and take a lot of pride and ownership in our school."

Unfortunately, many schools that have the greatest need for fellows also have the weakest administrators and so provide the fewest opportunities for brand new teachers to learn their craft.

A third year teacher at a Brooklyn middle school, who entered teaching though the fellows program, says she bases her teaching largely on what she can remember from her own years as a middle school student. In her three years teaching in New York City public schools, she has not had a single opportunity to observe another classroom teacher, either within her school or outside of it.

"As a fellow, my number one support was another fellow who was one year ahead of me. He was my lifeline in the school, not because he has more experience, but because I can bounce ideas off him,” she said.

Some fellows in similar situations say that these pressures can overwhelm a brand new teacher. A former teaching fellow at a Manhattan high school, who quit during her second year, says that she entered the fellows program wanting to teach as a career, but is now seriously reconsidering that. " I am re-evaluating teaching as a profession because my experience was so miserable," she says. "What made teaching particularly difficult for me was the administration and the one-and-a-half hour math classes where the kids did not know how to add or subtract and I was trying to teach them algebra."

Vicki Bernstein, head of the Teaching Fellows program at the Department of Education, acknowledges that sending inexperienced teachers into the city's most difficult schools "would not be the optimal way to bring people into the teaching profession." But, she says, "That's where the need is."

Culture Clashes

Some principals complain that fellows, never having led a class before, often struggle with classroom management. And while some fellows wind up being excellent teachers, others are just not cut out for the job. Seasoned teachers and principals sometimes resent the fellows who they see as starry-eyed and naĂŻve outsiders. In many schools this is amplified by the fact that, despite efforts to recruit minority fellows, most teaching fellows are white, and the communities and schools they teach in are mostly black and Hispanic. Of the fellows who entered in 2004, roughly 58 percent are white, 19 percent are African American, 13 percent are Latino and 5 percent are Asian.

"I go to hiring halls full of fellows and it's overwhelmingly a white crowd," says Brian Leavy Devale, principal of PS 257 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where 99 percent of the students are black or Latino. He says the fellows he has hired are excellent teachers and predicts that at least one will go on to be a principal or superintendent one day.

But, despite that, Devale prefers to hire people from the community so that the kids can have role models from similar backgrounds. "I'm all about keeping it open to people who have a vested interest in making it a better community, not just blowing in to try it out," says Devale. "It's a community school and I want to keep it that way."

"I've met some fellows who are going to go back after two years and write a book about 'my time in the urban jungle,'" he says. "Don't come in here to do a social experiment. It's a slap in the face."

Keeping the Fellows

Across the United States, public schools lose teachers faster than they can recruit them. During the 1990s, there was a steady rise in the number of new teachers entering the nation's public schools, but the number of teachers leaving rose even faster, according to "No Dream Denied," a January 2003 report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. For example, in 1999-2000, U.S. public schools hired 232,000 teachers who had not taught the year before. The next year, more than 287,000 teachers left the public schools, resulting in net loss of 24 percent. "It is as if we were pouring teachers into a bucket with a fist-sized hole in the bottom," the report said.

The fellows program aims to train and retain educators for New York City. Because it is only five years old, it is difficult to know whether teachers who enter the city's schools through the fellows program are here to stay. But, so far, the retention rate for fellows has improved each year.

This year, 88 percent of fellows returned for a second year, compared to 80 percent in the first group. This is particularly encouraging when compared to the national retention rate for new teachers. Only 86 percent of new teachers nationwide return for a second year of teaching, according to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.

Bernstein attributes the improved improving retention rate to a rigorous selection process. Plus, she says, the program works hard to prepare fellows for the reality of teaching in the public schools. "People are going into challenging environments and we are doing a better job of giving them realistic expectations," says Bernstein. "At first, many hoped and thought they could make a difference instantly."

Room for Improvement

Many fellows say the program could be improved if, during their first year, they taught fewer classes and had more opportunities to observe senior teachers or receive professional development. Plus, fellows say that the program could better prepare and support the fellows with more intensive mentoring and with classes tailored to the realities of teaching in New York City public schools. Still, many say that it is difficult to imagine how they could have really been prepared for their first year in the classroom.

"The courses we took before we started teaching were helpless because nothing can prepare you for this," says a fellow in her second year as a special education teacher at a large middle school in Brooklyn. "I look back and can't believe I actually survived. But even on my worst day, I think 'Wow, I'm so lucky.’ I really am grateful. I got to jump right into teaching, and I get my masters. It's trial by fire. And I feel if I can do it here, I can do it anywhere."

This topic page has been adapted from articles that originally appeared on Insideschools.org, an independent guide to New York City public schools sponsored by Advocates for Children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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