Perdido Street School:
Where's Howard Wolfson When You Need Him?
Perdido Street School
Where's Howard Wolfson When You Need Him?
On Monday, Bloomberg shill Howard Wolfson tweeted the following:No murders in NYC last week. Murders down 26% this year off last year's record low.— howard wolfson (@howiewolf) October 14, 2013The NY Times today:After a seven-day stretch in which no homicides were recorded in New York City, five occurred in 10 hours on Friday and Saturday. Three killings occurred in the Bronx, and two in Brooklyn.
Regent Harry Phillips: John King A "Good Guy," Regents Won't Fire HIm
After a week of getting beat up in the press and on the Internet with nary a prominent education reform voice coming to defend him, NYSED Commissioner John King received support from a member of the Board of Regents:A member of the state Education Department’s Board of Regents said Commissioner John King has made mistakes in his handling of a contentious public forum and its aftermath, but said th
Greedy Geoffrey Canada: Privatize Education AND Social Security Too!
Geoffrey Canada has been going around the country with some Wall Street criminals to talk to the youth of America about how they're getting screwed by old people.It started earlier this year (as announced in this Wall Street Journal opinion piece co-written by Canada), but WNYC just picked up the story and Gotham Charter Schools ran with it last night on their "Remainders" list.The gist
YESTERDAY
Regents, NYSED Put On Full Court Education Reform Press
The corporate education reform establishment has gotten the message in the last week since NYSED Commissioner/rookie teacher petulantly canceled four parent town hall meetings on the Common Core after having a rough time of it at the first meeting in Poughkeepsie last Thursday.Today Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch called the press to announce that the Regents and NYSED would be holding 16 parent f
Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch Announces 16 Parent Forums On Common Core
You know the education reform establishment in the state is feeling pressure from the accelerating attacks on the Common Core, the state tests, the evaluation system, the data collection and the rest of the education reform agenda because they took the parent town hall announcement away from NYSED Commissioner King and gave it to Regents Chancellor Tisch instead:The state Education Department will
Criticism Of NY State Education Reform Agenda Grows
You can see the tide turning in stories like this one:Lisa Rudley does not consider herself a special interest.She’s a mother of three, president of Ossining’s special education PTO, and a founding member of New York State Allies for Public Education, a coalition of more than 40 parent groups from Long Island to Buffalo that formed in July.New York State Allies became widely known Monday after its
NYSED Says They'll Look For Ways Students Are "Overtested"
Commissioner John King and his merry men and women in reform at SED are in full-damage control over their education reform agenda these days.The latest example is this:New York state education officials said they would look for ways to make sure that students weren't being over-tested, after concerns from parents and educators about exams tied to a new teacher-evaluation system.Many schools across
NYSED Scripted Lessons Have ELA Classes Spending Weeks On One Short Story
In my school 9th grade teachers are using the vaunted new NYSED lesson pods/seeds for their curriculum.Both students and teachers hate the lessons.Whoever developed the seeds/pods decided that the most important skill to teach students is close reading of text.To that end, the lesson seeds/pods have students learn what close reading is, then read a short story while practicing that skill.Students
Calls For NYSED Commissioner John King To Resign Or Be Fired Grow
Not just parent groups and education bloggers are calling for King's ouster from power:Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti, a Westchester Democrat, released a statement Thursday insisting that King step down amid harsh criticism that the commissioner has ignored parents' and teachers' grievances around the Common Core and related testing. "For quite some time, Education Commissioner John King has clo
Iannuzzi Should Be Grilled At NYSUT Common Core Town Halls
NYSUT announced they would hold town hall meetings with parents and teachers to discuss the problems with Common Core implementation.NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi should be asked some tough questions at this meetings over the positions he has taken on Common Core, Race to the Top, and the APPR teacher evaluation system.Iannuzzi signed off on Race to the Top, happily embraced Common Core and stood
OCT 17
NYSUT, Alliance For Quality Education Announce Their Own Common Core Forums
From Capital Confidential:The powerful New York State United Teachers union and the Alliance for Quality Education — which is partially funded by NYSUT — plan to host a series of forums for parents and educators “to fill the void caused by the cancellations of PTA-sponsored forums” by state Education Commissioner John King. The union’s membership is not a big fan of the way the state has implement
Time To Reform The NYSED And Board Of Regents
A commenter at Huffington Post responds to the calls for NYSED Commissioner John King to resign:No, he shouldn't resign. He and the regents should be called to provide testimony to specify how they were each appointed, who directs their agenda regarding education policies, and we should reform THAT process:eliminate them and institute a state-wide consortium of educators and administrators to set
Isabella's Story
Diane Ravitch posted a letter from a mother on Long Island describing the damage the Common Core has done to her daughter.It is a riveting letter and I want to re-post it in full:This is the message I recently sent to the Board of Regents and my state representatives:I have been very vocal about my concerns regarding the implementation of the Common Core Standards, testing, and curriculum in NYS.
Lhota And De Blasio Agree - NYC Schools Should Be Closed On Muslim Holidays
From the Daily News: No matter who is elected mayor next month, city kids will likely find two new vacation days on the school calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, the holiest days of the Muslim year. Both Democrat Bill de Blasio and Republican Joe Lhota say schools should close on the two holidays, just as they do for major Jewish and Christian days. It's a matter of "respect" for a r
NYSED Commissioner John King Channels Christine Quinn
New York State Senator Lee M. Zeldin had a meeting with NYSED Commissioner John King yesterday.Zeldin said in a press release that the meeting "went well," in that neither he nor King threw anything at each other and they both got to make their respective points about Common Core and the SED reform agenda.Given how last week's meetings with the public turned into what Capital Confidentia
OCT 16
Cory Booker Beats Tea Party Candidate In Special Election
Yeah, he won by 12 percentage points (at least as of 10:10 PM.)You know what?He should have won by 30+.Booker's opponent, Steve Lonegan, was a Tea Party favorite who trotted around with Sarah Palin during the campaign.Booker faced a Tea Party opponent during the Washington default crisis brought on by Tea Party Republicans, something that hasn't been lost on Americans who now say they like the Tea
NYSED Now Says They'll Try And Do New Common Core Town Hall Meetings
From Capital Confidential:The state Education Department is working on developing a new format for Commissioner John King’s town hall-style discussions of the Common Core standards — one it believes will be far less likely to descend into the sort of shoutfest that prevailed at Thursday’s session in Poughkeepsie. “We are working to finalize venues where constructive dialogue is possible so that to
Assemblyman Threatens To Have Legislature Go Over Commissioner King's Head If Problems With Common Core Are Not Fixed
Buried in this YNN story about Commissioner King saying he's thinking about rescheduling parent town halls so long as the new meetings are "civil" is this: "If it got out of hand, of course, that's not the right manner that we want those things to happen, but I do believe the parents have the right to be heard," said Assemblyman John Ceretto, R-Lewiston."Parents and teache
Joe Lhota Says New Yorkers Will Die If Bill De Blasio Is Elected Mayor
No, seriously - that's what he says in a new ad: So vote for Joe Lhota so we all can be safe - like back in the day.This day, for example:: There, don't you feel safer already?I know I do.Lhota sounds a little like Benito, doesn't he?He certainly puts out the propaganda like Il Duce, that's for sure.
Charter School Sycophants
De Blasio talking pt that he's focused on 95% of non-charter students is flawed. Will be closer to 88% by 2017, his 3rd yr in office— Geoff Decker (@GDeckernews) October 16, 2013Decker fails to mention the increase is partly due to Bloomberg opening as many charters as he can right before he exits office. But the next mayor, if he so chooses, can decide not to replace closed charters with new ones
Superintendent Study Shows State Teacher Evaluation System Is A Mess
As Commissioner King tries to defend his increasingly indefensible education reform agenda from parents, a new superintendents study says the evaluation system has been a disaster:New York’s first attempt to grade teachers on their students’ progress was flawed in several key ways, a new study commissioned by the region’s superintendents says.The state’s formula gave less credit to teachers servin
King, Tisch Bombarded With Common Core Complaints At Invitation-Only Meeting On L.I.
Even the "invitation-only" meetings have become unsafe havens for NYSED Commissioner King and Regents Chancellor Tisch:Frustrated superintendents and parents urged New York's education commissioner at a meeting in Oyster Bay on Tuesday to slow implementation of the controversial Common Core curriculum."My daughter is not a '1,' " John Castronova of Oyster Bay told Commissioner
State Senator Jack Martin: John King Must Reschedule Parent Hearings Or Immediately Resign
Another politician jumps in on the side of parents against NYSED Commissioner John King:Common Core But No Common Sense Make no bones about it. I have been consumed with nonstop questions and concerns regarding the state education department’s rollout of the Common Core curriculum. I’m approached by constituents with questions at almost every event I attend in our district. But more than answer qu
Commissioner King Says No To Evaluation Moratorium
Not a surprise - he wants to go forward with the high stakes teacher evaluation system:ALBANY—State education commissioner John King said Tuesday that a call from teachers' unions for a three-year moratorium on using state exam results for “high-stakes” decisions is a “distraction” from the goal of improving New York graduates' outcomes in college and careers.The state's new system for evaluating
OCT 15
Commissioner John King Claims "Special Interests" Planned "Chaos" At Town Hall Meetings
Commissioner John King surfaced at a school in Troy, New York today where Capital NY caught up with him to ask about his cancellation of the PTA-sponsored twn hall meetings with parents on Common Core.Here is what King said:King also elaborated on his decision Monday to cancel four town-hall meetings with parents about the Common Core changes, after he encountered a rowdy crowd in Poughkeepsie las
State Sen. Cecilia Tkaczyk Tells John King To Listen To Parents
From Capital Confidential:Dear Dr. King, I was greatly saddened to read about your decision to suspend four planned PTA-sponsored Town Hall Meetings on the Common Core. Common Core and the standardized testing mandates we’ve placed on our schools, teachers and students are among the most significant challenges ever faced by our public education system. They deserve a full airing, and those involve
Twitter Is Another Way To Let NYSED Commissioner John King Know What You Think
@JohnKingNYSED @TheRevAl @UFT @shankerinst If anyone asks a tough question, will you cancel all future panels?— Arthur Goldstein (@TeacherArthurG) October 13, 2013
The Bully Gets His Feelings Hurt
Michael Fiorillo in this comment thread:Apparently, closing public schools and replacing them with private charters is civil behavior.Apparently, attacking teachers and blaming them for the ills of society is civil behavior.Apparently, monetizing student data is civil behavior.Apparently, doing all of this at the behest of a small coterie of billionaires, without any public input, is civil behavio
Politicians Start To Question John King's Act
The gist from the Times Union article - politicians are starting to openly question John King's reforms and his handling of parent concerns:With so many failing, Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, a former Albany school board president, said she worries about the "self-esteem of kids." Her two teens attend Albany High School, which scored poorly, she said, and Fahy called King's deci
This Journal News Editorial Says The Common Core Forums With Commissioner King Should Go On
Form the Journal News:There’s no question that a “town hall” meeting on newly enacted Common Core curriculum, hosted by the New York State PTA, became heated Thursday night in Poughkeepsie. The new education standards were attacked, and New York State Education Commissioner John King — sometimes standing to respond to speakers — was widely criticized. The public comment period was cut short. Many
How Do You Let John King And SED Officials Know They're Wrong Without Showing Anger And Disrespect?
Peter DeWitt has a blog post up this morning at Education Week on the John King/Poughkeepsie fiasco.DeWitt, who has been on the other end of SED anger himself (he got a pushback from an SED flack when he wrote a blog post pointing out that NYSED Commissioner John King sends his kids to a Montessori school where they are safe from the SED education reform agenda), says that it is a shame that the c
Michael Powell Calls Cuomo Out For Hypocrisy In Times Column
Sheriff Andy said he would clean up Albany with his trusty Moreland Commission no matter where the evidence in the investigations went.Michael Powell notes there are some asterisks to that Cuomo declaration:The commission will never back down.* (*Except when the governor’s aides suggest that subpoenaing the Real Estate Board of New York, which helped lobby for multimillion-dollar special tax abate
OCT 14
Bloomberg Administration: We Went A Whole Week Without A Murder!
No murders in NYC last week. Murders down 26% this year off last year's record low.— howard wolfson (@howiewolf) October 14, 2013That tweet got some interesting reactions:@azi @nycmayorsoffice First time I've seen a mayor's office call attention to 6 days without a reported murder.— BinghamtonNow (@BinghamtonNow) October 14, 2013And this:"@howiewolf MT: No NYC murder last week. Murders down 2
De Blasio Says Bloomberg's Late Term Charter Co-Locations Will Be Subject To Review If He Is Elected Mayor
Doesn't sound like Eva's charter school march changed de Blasio's take on charter school co-locations too much:With just two and a half months left in his administration, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is busy tying up loose ends and attempting to secure some of his most ambitious policy objectives."The city’s Department of Education is giving the green light to open or expand 23 charter schools bef
Commissioner King's Firing Won't Solve The Problems With Common Core And The State's Education Reform Agenda
Techydad points out how getting John King fired from NYSED won't solve the problems that we're having in the NY State public education system:Even now, people are calling for King’s resignation. Sadly, I don’t think this will cause real change. Instead Commissioner King will likely become a scapegoat. He will be publicly fired and blamed for the fiasco. Then, they will appoint a new commission
No Reformer Comes To Commissioner John King's Defense
Lat spring, College Board President David Coleman said this about NYSED Commissioner John King:“These are hard times for New York City and New York State,” Coleman said. “The vultures are out. There is a culture in our city and state right now of trying to take people down, including the commissioner to my left.” Coleman then implored the mostly friendly audience, which included former superintend
Garden City Parents Upset NYSED Commissioner King Canceled Town Hall Meeting On Common Core Concerns
From Patch:New York State education commissioner John King has "suspended" Tuesday's roundtable discussion on the new Common Core standards until further notice.The Garden City School District, in conjunction with Nassau PTA, was hosting the forum at the high school. Parents and educators from across the county were invited to attend. King also called off three other forums scheduled to
NYSED Commissioner King's Charter School Chain Does Not Have To Use APPR Teacher Evaluation System
Just outrageous:State Education Commissioner John King is overhauling the state’s method of evaluating teachers, but the charter schools he used to run aren’t participating. The high-performing Uncommon Schools — which include 20 schools in Brooklyn — have opted out of receiving federal Race to the Top funds, meaning they don’t have to follow the new state rules in teacher evaluations.“Uncommon Sc
OCT 13
Common Core Madness - It's Time To Take Down Cuomo Over This Too
A teacher leaves a comment on the Poughkeespie Journal story about NYSED Commissioner King canceling his Common Core town hall tour after he got beaten up on Thursday by parents agnry over the state's reforms:It's about time the facts about Common Core have come to light. I'm all for educational reform ... it should be an on-going endeavor by every district in the state. But this national-wide, wh
Desperate John King Tries To Blame Teachers Unions For His Poughkeepsie Meltdown
The Buffalo News reports that NYSED Commissioner John King is blaming "special interests" for hijacking the PTA-sponsored town hall meeting on Common Core in Poughkeepsie and using this as an excuse for why he canceled the rest of the town hall series:State Education Commissioner John King on Saturday canceled appearances at four upcoming PTA-sponsored community meetings, following a bar
Does Commissioner John King Have SED Officials Monitoring The Internet For Education Reform Heresy?
Apparently the informational text reading police are unfamiliar with literary techniques like figurative language: The Niagara County Sheriff's Office was asked by Albany police on Friday to investigate a perceived threatening comment made on social media by a teacher at George Southard Elementary School. An Albany detective who contacted the sheriff's office said the teacher had posted "can'
Is Commissioner John King Now A Liability To The Education Deform Movement?
CNY Teacher posts that NYSED Commissioner had a difficult week.On Thursday, he got beaten up pretty badly at a state PTA-sponsored town hall meeting on the Common Core in Poughkeepsie, as parents attacked him over his education reform agenda, problems with the Common Core standards, the inBloom data project and King's hypocrisy for sending his own kids to Montessori Unlimited, a private school wit
OCT 12
The Pineapple, The Hare And The King
A fable:A pineapple, a hare and NYSED Commissioner John King decided to have a race to the top.Commissioner King wanted the race to be educationally sound, with lots of informational text reading, argumentative writing and diagnostic tests throughout the race.Commissioner King also wanted to hold the coaches of the racers accountable for the outcome of the race.King said he would use a value-added
Commissioner John King Throws Gasoline Onto The Common Core/inBloom/Endless Testing Bonfire
The only thing worse that NYSED Commissioner John King could have done after his meltdown in Poughkeepsie the other night, where he threatened to take his microphone and lectern and go on home if the audience didn't sit quietly and let him pontificate about the wonders of Common Core, Endless Testing and the inBloom data base, was to cancel the remaining meetings with parents across the state.One
North Carolina Governor Cuts School Funds, Uses Money To Remodel Executive Mansion Bathrooms
Another one of those "Seems Like An Onion Story" that is sadly very, very real:North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) "plans to spend up to $230,000 in taxpayer funds remodeling bathrooms in his private living quarters at North Carolina's Executive Mansion even as he demands belt-tightening for public schools and social programs," the Raleigh News and Observer reports. A spokesman
In Which I Use The Danieslon Rubric To Evaluate John King's Effectiveness
NYSED Commissioner John King has deemed the Danielson rubric the evaluator tool of choice for teacher observations in New York City.I have deemed the Danielson rubric the evaluator tool of choice for NYSED Commissioner observations in Poughkeepsie.On Thursday, NYSED Commissioner King came to Spackenkill High School auditorium to preach the Gospel of the Common Core in a state PTA-sponsored event.F
NYSED Commissioner John King: A Profile In Cowardice
Reaction to NYSED Commissioner John King's canceling of his Common Core Gospel Tour:.@tfarley1969 @Stoptesting15 @carolburris @LIOptOut only if Shelly & Regents paying attention he's lost confidence of parents & teachers— leonie haimson (@leoniehaimson) October 12, 2013King has definitely lost the confidence of parents and teachers.Up until this week, he had more than maintained the confid
