A Tough Month for Charters | Live Long and Prosper

A Tough Month for Charters | Live Long and Prosper:

A Tough Month for Charters

Charters are in the news this month, and not in a good way. Eva Moskowitz, the queen of New York City’s Success Academies, was featured in a PBS News Hour Report by John Merrow. The video report, embedded below, discusses Moskowitz’s charter schools and their tendency to freely use student suspensions as a means to discipline students.

Once the report was aired, Moskowitz immediately demanded an apology – apparently for telling the truth about her schools – and in the process, inappropriately revealed confidential information about a student for which aCease and Desist letter has been sent. PBS then issued a clarification, agreeing that it should have given Moskowitz a chance to respond, but essentially standing by its report as accurate.

In addition to the PBS/Moskowitz flap, the Center for Media and Democracy issued a report titled Charter School Black Hole: Special Investigation Reveals Huge Gaps in Public Info on Taxpayer Money Spent.

The report outlines charter school issues in eleven states and the District of Columbia (including Indiana). The problems range from taxpayer money given to charter startups which never materialized, to poor accountability about where taxpayer money was spent. Unlike true public schools, many states have lax accountability laws for charter schools.

JOHN MERROW vs. EVA MOSKOWITZ

“In the end, how charter schools conduct their business is basically their own business.”

A Tough Month for Charters | Live Long and Prosper:

2015 Medley #34

Why Teachers Quit, Kindergarten,
Caregiving, Bill Gates

WHY TEACHERS QUIT

Two Indiana legislators, State Senator Dennis Kruse and Representative Bob Behning, chairs of their respective legislative body’s education committee, have led the “reform” of public education in Indiana. Behning is a florist turned charter school consultant. Kruse graduated college in 1970 with a degree in education and then went into his family’s auction business. They jointly called for an investigation into the state’s (and by extension, the nation’s) teacher shortage.

The most logical response to their questioning the reasons for the teacher shortage would be for them to look in a mirror. However, now that the investigation is in full swing, it seems that their plan is to deny that there is a teacher shortage. In a marathon committee session earlier this month, “experts” debated whether the data actually showed a teacher shortage at all, while parents and teachers waited almost nine hours to have a chance to speak.

A nearly nine-hour study committee hearing on the teacher shortage issue was stacked to allow so-called expert testimony at the start, leaving parents, school board members and teachers to wait hours to address the handful of 

2015 Medley #34

Testing Blamed for Drop in National Math Scores | Al Jazeera America

Testing Blamed for Drop in National Math Scores | Al Jazeera America:

Critics blame focus on testing for drop in national math performance

New U.S. test results showing a drop in students’ math performance  — the first such decline since the national assessments began in 1990 — have given ammunition to critics of test-driven policies that have governed public schools for nearly 13 years.

Math scores for both 4th- and 8th-grade students fell on the 2015 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) results released this week. In reading, scores were lower for 8th-grade students and flat for 4th-graders.

“The new NAEP results simply confirm what we already knew — the current approach to education reform has not moved the needle,” said Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center, a nonprofit organization based at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The NAEP, given about every two years to a sampling of students around the country, is highly regarded by education experts from across the ideological spectrum. Unlike state standardized tests, the content of the national assessments has stayed pretty much the same for 25 years, so educators and policymakers rely on them for a long-term view of student progress.

In math, 40 percent of 4th-graders were proficient or better in 2015, two points lower than in 2013. Among 8th-graders, 33 percent were at proficiency or above this year, also down two points. In reading, 36 percent of 4th-graders scored proficient or greater, about the same as in 2013. Among 8th graders, 34 percent were proficient or better, a two-point decline.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters in a phone call this week that the drop in scores is unsurprising, considering that U.S. students and teachers are still adjusting to the new Common Core academic standards, which most states have incorporated within the past few years. “We should expect scores in this period to bounce around some,” Duncan said. “I’m confident that if we stay committed to this change, we will see historic improvements.”

The Obama administration, in addition to pushing the new academic standards, has helped to usher in era of even more frequent state testing than what started under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. The state tests also now carry higher stakes, as they are used to evaluate teachers as well as to judge schools.

Welner and other critics say teaching and learning have suffered as a result, with schools narrowing curriculums to focus on reading and math — the primary subjects of state tests — and spending increasing amounts of instruction time on testing, and on the teaching of test-taking strategies. “It’s time to try something different,” Welner said.

Welner added that although proponents of high-stakes testing say it is necessary for closing the Testing Blamed for Drop in National Math Scores | Al Jazeera America:

The Story Of The Seattle Race Curriculum Controversy Finally In Print | PopularResistance.Org

The Story Of The Seattle Race Curriculum Controversy Finally In Print | PopularResistance.Org:

The Story of the Seattle Race Curriculum Controversy Finally in Print

Above Photo: From PopularResistance.org.

It’s finally here: the story of the Seattle Race Curriculum Controversy in print (at least 1700 words of it, anyway). I confess that Z Magazine wasn’t my first choice for publication. I haven’t read the magazine, promoted in the classic lefty documentary Manufacturing Consent, in about a decade. Then I learned that Noam Chomsky contributed to the same issue that featured this story, and I remembered why I used to subscribe.

The link to the Z Magazine article is here, but I decided to repost the story as a blog post so I could reinsert all of the links that disappear in print.

Not a day goes by that I’m not filled with gratitude to all those who offered support and resisted injustice.

 At first glance, Seattle—home to an openly gay mayor, a Socialist city council member, the highest minimum wage in the country, and a citywide initiative dedicated to “racial equity”—appears to be at the forefront in the struggle against injustice, even one of the most insidious, persistent, and misunderstood forms: racism.

Nevertheless, Seattle became home to an embarrassing race curriculum controversy, one in which the school district turned its back on the city’s commitment to racial justice and ignored repeatedly its constituents’ outcries—all stemming from the formal complaints of precisely one white family: “We are concerned that the classroom situation has become a very hostile, unsafe learning environment not only for our own daughter, but all the students in the class—characterized by personal attacks, racial stigmatization, emotional out- bursts, moral intimidation, dehumanization, social polarization, and authoritarian indoctrination. ”

Truthfully, I always knew such an email was coming. Social change is always met with backlash.

In 2001, I was hired to help open the Center School, a small school in Seattle Public Schools, and I began teaching the Race Unit in 2002. Drawing in part from a district-wide training on racism called Courageous Conversations, the Race Unit established safe norms for racial dialogue before tackling loaded subjects like institutionalized racism and White privilege. Students next examined their own racial identities and explored strategies to challenge racism. From the unit’s inception, students embraced it. “Wait until the Race Unit,” seniors told the lower grades. Such feedback from students of a variety of racial backgrounds was commonplace:

• “This unit changed my life. Everybody in my class was bonded by it.
• “If it weren’t for this class, I would’ve been another stuck up kid in the world who judges people constantly. Now I look at people and see more than racial profiles…
• “This curriculum prepared me for the world and made me a better person. It should be taught in every school.”

After nine years of resoundingly positive student feedback—without so much as a comment of concern from parents—I forgot what I always knew was coming. On December 7, 2012, during the 10th year of the curriculum, the email arrived. As student safety has always been and will always be my paramount concern, I agreed to a meeting.

Escalation

The father and mother, both white, tag-teamed a series of yes-or-no questions about the Race Unit that quickly turned to accusations, insults, and even threats. The parents rebuffed all my attempts to discuss the student’s well-being, as well as potential accommodations, making it clear that this meeting was about their political agenda, not their student, who—until the day of this meeting—had always appeared engaged, interested, and participatory.

Their agenda? “We are asking you not to use racial language in reference to students in the classroom.” The parents implied that I should not even permit students to use the words “White people.” They believed that district policies as well as state and federal laws, prohibited “‘personal conversations based on race’ in a classroom.” I could not agree to requests that adopted a colorblind approach to race, as colorblindness itself can be considered a form of racism. Furthermore, doing so would not only disregard United States history, but it would also invalidate district trainings, district policy, and, most importantly, the experiences of countless people for whom race is a fundamental part of their identities.

On January 8, I received a letter from Human Resources; I was under investigation for creating a hostile environment. In the parents’ five-page, single-spaced complaint formatted like a legal brief, I was accused of a host of inappropriate behaviors that contradicted my yearly evaluations, filled with praise:

• Allowing free and unlimited student expression of personal racial prejudice, and The Story Of The Seattle Race Curriculum Controversy Finally In Print | PopularResistance.Org:

Arne Duncan and the Fairy Tale of Educational Reform » Missouri Education Watchdog

Arne Duncan and the Fairy Tale of Educational Reform » Missouri Education Watchdog:

Arne Duncan and the Fairy Tale of Educational Reform

Hansel and Gretel fell for the witch’s promise.  Don’t fall for Duncan’s and Obama’s promise on less testing.  Don’t think the US Department of Education and NGOs will lessen their involvement in state educational development and delivery.  Duncan tells PBS his plans for public school students.  It’s just more of the same top down centralized control of education and continued meddling of the USDOEd.

Who will decide just how much testing is appropriate and what testing should be used?  Think it’s your state agency or school district?  Think again:

GWEN IFILL: Well, it’s not just Washington. A lot of the movement to opt out of these tests started in local school districts and around the country with parents, with teachers.

How much of that will be satisfied by Washington saying do less?

ARNE DUNCAN: Well, I think there are two sides of this coin, folks who think we just need to do more and more testing. I think that is wrong. Folks who think we shouldn’t do any assessments, that’s equally wrong.

And there is a commonsense middle ground here. This is very much a civil rights issue. Historically in this nation, we swept under the rug the horrific disparities in outcomes, the horrific achievement gap between black and white students and Latino and white students and poor students and wealthier students. Too much testing is bad. Walking away from assessment is equally bad.

But let’s find the commonsense middle ground. I think that’s what we’re all striving to do and to do together.

GWEN IFILL: It doesn’t sound like you have figured out where that sweet spot is, Mr. Casserly.

MICHAEL CASSERLY: No, we really haven’t.

And part of our goal here was just toArne Duncan and the Fairy Tale of Educational Reform » Missouri Education Watchdog:

What’s Scary to Kids: Having Dyslexia and Being Held Back in Third Grade!

What’s Scary to Kids: Having Dyslexia and Being Held Back in Third Grade!:

What’s Scary to Kids: Having Dyslexia and Being Held Back in Third Grade!

With certain states jumping on the retention bandwagon, even though we know retention doesn’t work, where do students with dyslexia fit? Students with reading difficulties should not have to flunk third grade to get the help they deserve.

Many children with reading difficulties, who do not have IEPs, are being held back. In fact, probably most students who fail the third grade, who wind up with low test scores, have reading disabilities of some kind. Children don’t intentionally flunk tests.

Many know that retention is so scary for children it rates up there with the fear of going blind and losing a parent! If the public school system is broken when it comes to serving these kids, why aren’t they fixing the system instead of worsening it?

Why are the students punished when the adults fail?

If third graders are not doing well on the tests school officials should look at the following:

• Is the test appropriate? Are students tested so much they don’t have time to learn? What’s Scary to Kids: Having Dyslexia and Being Held Back in Third Grade!:

CURMUDGUCATION: Petrilli: Creaming Is a Feature

CURMUDGUCATION: Petrilli: Creaming Is a Feature:

Petrilli: Creaming Is a Feature

You have to give Mike Petrilli, Head Honcho of the Very Reformy Fordham Foundation, credit. He will say what many charter supporters will not.

The standard charter claim is that charters can do what public schools cannot-- take the same kids and get them to score well on standardized tests raise their achievement levels. They have been hemming and hawing all week over the revelation that Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy was caught keeping a "Got To Go" list of students who were to be driven out of their Very Special Test Score Factory. Success Academy has thrown that principal under the bus, and then had him publicly drive the bus over himself, and then underline it with a classic Moskowitz quote:

At Success, we simply don't believe in throwing people on the trash heap for the sake of public relations.

Success Academy simply doesn't just toss human beings aside because those people don't serve Moskowitz's purpose. Of course, that still leaves the mystery of how SA loses half of each cohort on the way to graduation. But all those parents talking about their experience of being pushed out? Liars or deluded or something.

Mike Petrilli calls "bullshit." In fact, he calls bullshit on everybody, including the people who have been howling at the Success Academy revelations, in particular taking a shot at Randi Weingarten of AFT:

What makes this sort of demagoguery more disappointing than usual is the nature of the issue at hand. As Weingarten’s own members know all too well, classroom disruption is a major problem. In CURMUDGUCATION: Petrilli: Creaming Is a Feature:

Eva's Very Bad Month

It has not been a fun couple of weeks for Eva Moskowitz and her Success Academy chain of test score workshops. I just want to collect all there high points in one spot.

First, she found herself the subject of a John Merrow PBS piece on the use of discipline to push students out and raise the collective scores of her schools. It's worth watching the clip to see her performance:

This is what happens when you get too used to only appearing in media settings that you totally control.

But Eva fought back quickly, demanding an apology in a letter that I won't link to because, incredibly, Moskowitz included the easily-identifiable disciplinary record of a then six year old student. Because when your charter business is under attack, you fight back with whatever weapons at your disposal against whoever stands in your way. Talk about putting adult interests ahead of the needs of children.

Does that sound like a violation of the law? The child's mother thinks so, and has filed suit against Moskowitz.

That was two weeks ago. Then this week, Moskowitz found herself facing off against the city. City Controller Scott Stringer put it plainly:

If an organization wants to be paid New York City taxpayer dollars, they need to follow New York Eva's Very Bad Month

Ben Carson accidentally stumbled on a great idea for improving education - Vox

Ben Carson accidentally stumbled on a great idea for improving education - Vox:

Ben Carson accidentally stumbled on a great idea for improving education

Last year, Ben Carson appeared to endorse a massive change in the way the US funds schools, asking reporter James Hamblin, "Wouldn’t it make more sense to put the money in a pot and redistribute it throughout the country so that public schools are equal, whether you’re in a poor area or a wealthy area?" The implicit idea here, of federalizing education funding and trying to eliminate the budget gap between rich and poor schools, is way more progressive than anything even Bernie Sanders has proposed. So CNN's Jake Tapper pressed Carson further, and he stuck to his guns:

Realizing the confusion he'd provoked, Carson took to Facebook to clarify that, no, he does not want to federalize education funding. He just wants to use federal Title I funds to help schools in poor areas — which is what Title I was created to do in the first place:

But Carson got it right the first time. Federalizing funding of public schools would be a huge boon for both economic and racial equality. It would make our tax system much more progressive and protect schools from cuts during recessions. If Carson's not willing to endorse the idea, then someone else in the presidential race should.

Rich districts spend more per student than poor districts

(The Hechinger Report)

Nationwide, state and local governments spend 15 percent less per pupil on poor school districts, which get $9,270 per student, than on rich districts, which get $10,721. This isn't true in every state. Twenty-three states, including major ones like California and Florida, provide more spending to poor districts. That's as it should be. Quality education in high-poverty areas costs more money than quality education in affluent Ben Carson accidentally stumbled on a great idea for improving education - Vox:

Hillsborough schools to dismantle Gates-funded system that cost millions to develop | Tampa Bay Times

Hillsborough schools to dismantle Gates-funded system that cost millions to develop | Tampa Bay Times:

Hillsborough schools to dismantle Gates-funded system that cost millions to develop

TAMPA — After six years of effort, high hopes and more than $180 million spent, the Hillsborough County school system is unraveling the teacher evaluation system it developed with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The news came in an email this week from superintendent Jeff Eakins to more than 260 "peer evaluators" and mentors who form the core of the system.

It also arrived as the once-cordial relationship between the district and its teachers union imploded Thursday. The two sides walked away from each other in anger as talks over a salary agreement for the current school year broke down.

Eakins announced in his email he has formed a committee to transition away from the once-touted Gates program, and said a number of employee groups would be on the panel.

Unlike the complex system of evaluations and teacher encouragement that cost more than $100 million to develop and would have cost an estimated $52 million a year to sustain, Hillsborough will likely move to a structure that has the strongest teachers helping others at their schools.

Eakins said he envisions a new program featuring less judgemental "non-evaluative feedback" from colleagues and more "job-embedded professional development," which is training undertaken in the classroom during the teacher work day rather than in special sessions requiring time away from school. He said in his letter that these elements were supported by "the latest research."

That's a radical departure from the classroom observations carried out by full-time evaluators who rated the teachers according to a rubric, or scorecard. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and his wife Melinda funded the project and others in U.S. cities through their philanthropic organization.

They hoped the system would create a hierarchy of teachers who could be paid based on their skills. Struggling teachers would be given assistance or, in the worst cases, fired or counseled out of the profession.

The foundation was expected to contribute $100 million through 2016, but instead paid $80 million. It is unclear to what extent the organization will continue to be involved in Hillsborough or whether it will forward any more money to the district.

The school district, meanwhile, has spent well beyond the $100 million it pledged, although some of the money was for related projects including a principal training program.

READ MORE: How Hillsborough County's Gates grant became a budget buster

Among the selling points Hillsborough made back in 2009 when securing the Gates foundation's support: a close working relationship between district officials and the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association. District leaders praised and promoted the union at public gatherings, and assured teachers that members were equal partners in designing the system.

The Gateses hoped the newly developed systems in Hillsborough and elsewhere would result in all students — especially those with the highest needs — getting quality teachers.

But in a report published Sunday, the Tampa Bay Times showed the project fell short of many of its goals and cost more to sustain than the district could afford.

Lower-income schools continue to hire the newest and least qualified teachers. Test scores are still Hillsborough schools to dismantle Gates-funded system that cost millions to develop | Tampa Bay Times:

Your State And Local Elections Are Now A Super PAC Playground

Your State And Local Elections Are Now A Super PAC Playground:

Your State And Local Elections Are Now A Super PAC Playground

Don't underestimate the importance of super PAC money in local elections this year.

WASHINGTON -- The influence of billionaires in the post-Citizens United era is in no way limited to the 2016 presidential and congressional elections.

While the super-wealthy dominate those races, local and state elections in 2015 are also attracting big money from Forbes-listed billionaires and local wealthy interests that's funneled through super PACs.

Not all states, cities and municipalities hold elections on even-numbered years. On Nov. 3, voters in Kentucky and Mississippi will hold gubernatorial and legislative elections, and voters in New Jersey and Virginia will vote on legislative candidates. Louisiana held its pre-runoff election for governor and many other down-ballot races on Oct. 24, and will hold a runoff on Nov. 21. Many other cities and municipalities have held or will hold elections this year, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Nashville and Dallas, among many others.

Super PACs and nonprofits -- in some cases connected to a single candidate -- have taken on a dominant role in many of these elections. Super PAC spending on state and local elections often has more of a direct influence on government than spending on the more talked-about 2016 presidential election. In many cases, donations to these unlimited money groups come from developers, contractors and special interest groups looking to gain special favors from their local government.

“When you look at smaller races, the relative importance of outside spending increases, both in terms of outcome of election and influencing policy,” said Rick Hasen, a University of California, Irvine law professor and author of the forthcoming Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections.

Super PACs emerged after the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited donations from corporations, unions and -- following a related lower court ruling -- wealthy individuals, so long as they remain independent of candidates. The court's belief in such independence has not, however, played out in the real world.

Super PAC spending on state and local elections often has more of a direct influence on government than spending on the more talked-about 2016 presidential election.

Super PACs are spending the most on the two hotly contested gubernatorial races in Kentucky and Louisiana. Some groups raising unlimited sums for Kentucky’s gubernatorial race, including the ones involved only in the primary election, have collected more than $14 million. Those involved in Louisiana’s election have pulled in more than $16 million.

The key role of super PACs in off-year gubernatorial races became clear in 2013, when Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) launched the Fund for Louisiana’s Future, a super PAC to support either his Senate re-election or a run for governor. Vitter opted for the latter, coming in first in Louisiana's Oct. 24 gubernatorial election without winning an outright majority. He's now advancing to a Nov. 21 runoff against the No. 2 finisher, Democrat John Bel Edwards, and well-funded interests have donated significant sums to his super PAC.

Cheniere Energy donated $125,000 to Vitter’s super PAC. The natural gas company has already received more than $1.7 billion in property tax relief and other incentives and rebates to expand its liquefied natural gas export site at Sabine Pass. MCNA Health Care, the contractor running Louisiana’s Children's Health Insurance Program dental program and Medicaid, also contributed $100,000 to Vitter’s super PAC. New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and his wife, Gayle Benson, have contributed $37,500. The state gave the Saints a sweetheart deal on a stadium renovation in 2009.

The pro-Vitter super PAC spent most of its money on beating back fellow Republicans Scott Angelle and Jay Dardenne in Louisiana's open general election. The Republican Governors Association has meanwhile pumped $3.2 million into another super PAC to help Vitter in the runoff.

LA Families First -- the super PAC backing Edwards, Vitter’s Democratic runoff opponent -- is mostly funded by teachers unions and labor unions, including the International Brotherhood Your State And Local Elections Are Now A Super PAC Playground:

Chicago Teachers Union president calls Gov. Bruce Rauner a 'sociopath' - Chicago Tribune

Chicago Teachers Union president calls Gov. Bruce Rauner a 'sociopath' - Chicago Tribune:

Chicago Teachers Union president calls Gov. Bruce Rauner a 'sociopath'

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis sat with House Speaker Michael Madigan at the union's annual fundraiser Friday and in a speech took several shots at Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Senate President John Cullerton also was at the event, which benefits the CTU's political action committee. He and Madigan looked on as Lewis and other union officials and allies called on legislators to intervene in the financial problems at Chicago Public Schools.

"There's so many areas that we have been able to influence legislatively, but we couldn't do it without some of the people in this room," Lewis said.

CPS is operating on a budget that counts on nearly $500 million in help from Springfield, and district CEO Forrest Claypool has warned of Thanksgiving-season layoffs absent help from a deadlocked state Capitol.

The theme of CTU's Friday fundraiser at Plumbers Local 130 Hall on the Near West Side was "Changing What We Cannot Accept." The union is marshaling its forces amid stalled contract negotiations, with a downtown rally planned for the last week in November.

The union and the Chicago Board of Education weeks ago enlisted the help of a mediator to step into the contract talks, one step in a long process required before teachers can go on strike. Negotiations have reached a point where the union may call for that process to move to one of its final stages, known as "fact-finding."

A malignant brain tumor kept Lewis from attending the event last year. Instead she appeared in a recorded message in which she directed supporters to back the mayoral candidacy of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia. Garcia was last year's keynote speaker instead, and eventually he forced Mayor Rahm EmanuelChicago Teachers Union president calls Gov. Bruce Rauner a 'sociopath' - Chicago Tribune:

Comprehensive Common Core survey sent to teachers, principals | EdSource

Comprehensive Common Core survey sent to teachers, principals | EdSource:

Comprehensive Common Core survey sent to teachers, principals

Every superintendent and principal in California, along with 7,000 teachers statewide, received an extensive questionnaire this week asking for their perspectives on how well the rollout of the Common Core State Standards has been handled.

The nonprofit research agency WestEd is conducting the survey with the blessing of  State Board of Education President Michael Kirst and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. Results will be tabulated in summary form and won’t be identifiable by school, district or county office of education.

“Our goal is to have a better view about implementation from the perspective of teachers, principals and superintendents,” Kirst said.‎ “These results will help inform decision-making, especially about professional development and additional support needed.”

The survey, the most comprehensive to date, will parallel similar questionnaires in other states, including Florida, Massachusetts and New York, providing cross-state comparisons.

The 17-page questionnaire to teachers, estimated to take 15 minutes to fill out, asks teachers to identify and rate the forms in which they’ve received support in the Common Core – including online materials, training, textbooks, and Comprehensive Common Core survey sent to teachers, principals | EdSource:

Success Academy Founder Calls ‘Got to Go’ List an Anomaly, Except for all those other times- The New York Times

Success Academy Founder Calls ‘Got to Go’ List an Anomaly - The New York Times:

Success Academy Founder Calls ‘Got to Go’ List an Anomaly

Big Education Ape: Success Academy parent's secret tapes reveal attempt to push out special needs student - NY Daily News... http://bit.ly/1N0DVqv

Eva S. Moskowitz, the founder of the Success Academy charter school network, said on Friday that a list singling out children under the heading “Got to Go” was an anomaly and that the network did not have a practice of pushing out students it saw as difficult.

Ms. Moskowitz said that as soon as the network learned about the list, Success Academy quickly reprimanded the principal who had created it.

The list included the names of 16 students. It was created in December at the direction of Candido Brown, who had just become the principal of Success Academy Fort Greene.

Ms. Moskowitz said the school, which then went through second grade, had severe disciplinary problems. Mr. Brown previously said in an email that he believed he could not turn the school around if the 16 students remained.

Success Academy is New York City’s largest charter school network and serves mostly black and Hispanic students, who perform much better on state tests than the citywide averages. The network’s critics have long argued that it achieves those results in part by weeding out weak or difficult students, and the list appeared to lend some validity to those accusations.

Ms. Moskowitz, who spoke on Friday at a news conference, said that the list existed for only three days before Mr. Brown was admonished and that he changed course. Nonetheless, nine of the students on the list eventually left the school.

Parents of four of them said that school or network employees told them that the school was not right for their children and that they should withdraw. They described repeated suspensions, multiple daily phone calls and frequent demands to pick their children up from school early, which made their lives difficult and in some cases contributed to their decisions to leave.

Ms. Moskowitz, a former member of the City Council, said the fact that the network chastised Mr. Brown so quickly showed that his actions did not reflect the network’s approach.

“A mistake was made here, and I take personal responsibility as the leader of this organization,” she said.

“But I take credit for the fact that we acted swiftly to address the mistake,Success Academy Founder Calls ‘Got to Go’ List an Anomaly - The New York Times: