New Study: Ignoring Teacher Performance in Layoffs Hurts Kids

August 10, 2015

Matt Barnum | The 74

Performance trumps seniority when it comes to deciding teacher layoffs — if the goal is to minimize negative effects on student learning.

A new study by Brown University professor Matthew Kraft finds that laying off teachers based on how long they have been in the classroom rather than how effective they are hurts student achievement in math. It’s the first evidence based on actual layoffs that the policy known as LIFO, or “last-in-first-out,” has harmful consequences for students.

Instead of Teaching, NY Schools Become Fraud Factories

August 2, 2015

By Post Editorial Board

“The whole city should be just as outraged as Melissa Mejia, the William Cullen Bryant HS “grad” who revealed in Sunday’s Post that she’d been awarded a fraudulent diploma.

Well, the whole city except for the insiders who conduct (or just wink at) such fraud all across New York’s schools system.”

Key & Peele Imagines What It’d Be Like if We Obsessed Over Teachers the Way We Do Athletes

July 28, 2015

By Aisha Harris, Slate

By now, the lament about how our culture privileges athletics over education is an old one—but Key & Peele has breathed new life into it in their latest sketch, “TeachersCenter.” A spot-on parody of SportsCenter’s hyperbole-laden talking heads, busy CGI ticker screens, and obsessive play-by-plays, the clip cleverly reimagines athletes as the educators we entrust our children to every day.

The Good News About New York Students’ Low Test Scores

July 20, 2015

By Erik Engquist | Crain’s New York

“It’s inevitable: When New York’s standardized test scores are discussed, everyone focuses on the portion of students achieving proficiency. And, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo often points out, that number is under 40%.

“Thirty-one percent of third to eighth graders are proficient in English, but 99% of the teachers are rated effective; 35% of third to eighth graders are proficient in math but 98% of the math teachers are rated effective,” Mr. Cuomo boomed in his state of the state address in January. “Who are we kidding, my friends?””

A Lesson in Teaching: Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Farina Oversee Significant Staff Turnover at Two Troubled Schools

July 16, 2015

New York Daily News Editorial Board

“Two of the city’s worst-performing schools are on track to get a desperately needed infusion of fresh teaching talent.

Give credit to Mayor de Blasio, Chancellor Carmen Fariña and leaders at Automotive and Boys and Girls high schools for taking a crucially important step forward.”

Site Devoted to Education Overhaul Is to hold Presidential Forums

July 12, 2015

By Maggie Haberman
The New York Times

“An education-focused news outlet run by the journalist-turned-advocate Campbell Brown plans to host presidential forums for both parties, with the first one held in New Hampshire.

The Seventy Four, a site recently created by Ms. Brown, a former CNN anchor who supports charter schools and overhauling the education system, will host the forums with the American Federation for Children, she said.”

Most NYC High School Graduates at CUNY Need Remedial Classes

July 5, 2015

By Aaron Short
New York Post

“New York City high school graduates who enroll at CUNY often aren’t ready for college, according to data showing the rising number of freshmen in need of remedial help.

An astonishing 78.3 percent of CUNY community college students who graduated from city high schools in 2014 enrolled in remedial courses this past school year, up from 77.6 percent the year before.”

America’s Promise to a New Generation

July 5, 2015

By Geoffrey Canada
New York Daily News

“In the 1960s, when I was a young boy growing up in the South Bronx, the poorest Congressional District in the United States, children around me were being lost to gangs, crime, drugs and lousy schools.

I, though, was sustained by a dream. My mother, a single woman, and my grandparents convinced me that if I went to school, worked hard and graduated from college, I could get out of the neighborhood, get a good job and live a “good life.””

New York’s Never-Ending Teacher-Evaluation Farce

June 18, 2015

By Post Editorial Board

“Teachers-union boss Mike Mulgrew admitted a while back that he’d “gummed up the works” to block a new rating system meant to get rid of lousy teachers.
This time, the state Board of Regents did the job for him.
Nudged by Gov. Cuomo, lawmakers this year told the board to devise another system, after Mulgrew & Co. made sure the previous go-rounds failed. The plan was to go into effect by Nov. 15.”

Education Reforms Spur NY Lobbying ‘Arms Race’

June 14, 2015

Jon Campbell, Gannett Albany Bureau

“ALBANY, N.Y. — Education policy is big business for lobbyists in New York state.

Various education interests have spent at least $124 million trying to influence lawmakers, officials and the general public at the state and local level since the start of 2006, including a record of at least $16 million last year, according to a review of state records by Gannett’s Albany Bureau.”

Partnership for Educational Justice