DOE: Why big schools fail and closure is the cure is unknown
City officials often defend their strategy of replacing large, struggling high schools with smaller ones by arguing that it’s the only proven way to boost student achievement.
Today, a top official in the office that plans and executes the city’s school closure plans said that the reasons for why that strategy works remain a mystery.
At a City Council hearing today called to discuss how the Department of Education monitors students in schools as they phase out, officials argued that as schools closing shrink by a grade each year, students receive more individualized support from remaining staff members.
Josh Thomases, the Deputy Chief Academic Officer of the DOE’s portfolio planning office, cited a 2005 New York
Remainders: Education a centerpiece of SOTU
- “Become a teacher,” President Obama says in SOTU address. (Edweek)
- 70 groups have submitted letters of intent to open charter schools in NYC next year. (Centerpoint)
- TFA founder Wendy Kopp doesn’t want teachers’ value-added scores released to the press. (Daily Beast)
- Critics of edu doc Waiting for Superman are thrilled it didn’t make the Oscars cut. (NYC Parents)
- Most students didn’t meet the proficiency bar on a nationwide science test. (NY Times)
- Rahm Emanuel: The choice between an educator and a manager is a false one. (Fox Chicago)
- With the Office of School Food taking a budget cut, non-profits are stepping up. (GS Community)
- The Bloomberg administration is pushing hard against last-in first-out in the press. (City Room)
- An NYC transplant in Beirut describes her school during “The Day of Anger.” (Present Perfect)
- The US DOE unveiled an education dashboard that shows the latest edu data. (Eduflack)
- Wyoming lawmakers want to monitor teachers with videos in their classrooms. (Flypaper)