A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves | Ed In The Apple

A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves | Ed In The Apple

A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves

The theory of action that describes the Board and the successor Department of Education are known as Newton’s First Laws of Motion … sometimes referred to as the law of inertia. An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction.

If you ask upper management in the Department why they’re following a particular policy the standard answer is, “That’s the way we’ve always done it,” Newton’s First Law of Motion –the law of inertia.

Meisha Porter begins her tenure on March 15th, the third chancellor to lead the Department of Education during de Blasio’s seven plus years in office.

Can she change the direction of the leviathan?

Education policy has become inexorably intertwined with mayoral politics.

On June 22nd voters will select the Democratic Party candidates for Mayor along with the Comptroller, 37 of the 51 members of the City Council and three out of CONTINUE READING: A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves | Ed In The Apple

School Openings: Political Gamesmanship Collides with Sound Educational Policy. | Ed In The Apple

School Openings: Political Gamesmanship Collides with Sound Educational Policy. | Ed In The Apple

School Openings: Political Gamesmanship Collides with Sound Educational Policy

President Biden set a target of school re-openings within his first hundred days in office; however, the decision to open schools is local; the 14,000 school districts across the nation have the authority to open and close schools. The national teacher unions (NEA, AFT) do not have the authority either; the local unions within school districts “negotiate” school openings.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) produced a “Roadmap to Safely Open Schools” (Read here)

Randi Weingarten, the AFT President favors reopenings, with safeguards..

Education Next, a widely read website was prescient, Schools will remain closed for the rest of the 2019–20 academic year but will reopen in the 2020–21 academic year (albeit with the potential of localized, rolling closures for 14–28 days triggered by additional waves of infection,

The Los Angeles School District has been closed since the pandemic hit in March, COVID positive rates in Los Angeles remain high as well as hospitalizations and deaths. The teacher union (UTLA) has been adamant, has threatened a strike and only in the last few days agreed to a phased reopening plan.

The conservative media has pummeled teacher unions.

The New York City teacher union (UFT) threatened a “safety strike” in August, CONTINUE READING: School Openings: Political Gamesmanship Collides with Sound Educational Policy. | Ed In The Apple

NYC School Chancellor Leaves: The Toxic Intersection of Mayoral Control and Mayoral Politics | Ed In The Apple

NYC School Chancellor Leaves: The Toxic Intersection of Mayoral Control and Mayoral Politics | Ed In The Apple

NYC School Chancellor Leaves: The Toxic Intersection of Mayoral Control and Mayoral Politics

Richard Carranza, the New York City School Chancellor unexpectedly announced he was leaving his position.

The cognoscenti were not surprised, for months the chancellor and the mayor have been dueling; it was only a matter of time before the chancellor packed it in.

Highly effective leaders select subordinates and give them the authority to carry out their role. Interestingly a number of the mayoral hopefuls had major roles in city government: Kathryn Garcia was the NYS Sanitation Commissioner, Sean Donovan the HPD (Housing Preservation and Development) commissioner and Maya Wiley, the mayor’s counsel, all served with distinction. Micromanaging schools has a sad and long history; mayors claimed credit for positive education news and blamed and fired chancellors to deflect bad news.

Unfortunately from day one the mayor attempted to keep a tight rein on the Department of Education. He selected Carmen Farina, a retired Department deputy chancellor and friend to temporarily fill the job; she stayed for de Blasio’s entire first term. Farina’s one major initiative, the Renewal Schools, pumping mega dollars into the hundred lowest achieving schools was a dismal failure. Read here.

Renewal’s ideas were untested, and, almost from the start, the program was hobbled by bureaucracy and a tight timeline imposed by a mayor eager to show on a national stage that schools could improve without censure, CONTINUE READING: NYC School Chancellor Leaves: The Toxic Intersection of Mayoral Control and Mayoral Politics | Ed In The Apple

Will Secretary of Education Cardona Grant Standardized Test Waivers to States? | Ed In The Apple

Will Secretary of Education Cardona Grant Standardized Test Waivers to States? | Ed In The Apple

Will Secretary of Education Cardona Grant Standardized Test Waivers to States?

Secretary of Education Designee Cardona testified at his Senate Education Committee confirmation hearing (Watch here); committee members have five minutes to ask and receive answers: a preview of Cardona policies? Maybe. One of the first questions was whether he would grant waivers allowing states not to administer standardized grades 3-8 tests. Chalkbeat reports,

Miguel Cardona sent mixed messages… how he would approach federally required standardized testing this year,

“If the conditions under COVID-19 prevent a student from being in school in person, I don’t think we need to be bringing students in just to test them,” But he suggested he still believes testing could be useful this year.

“If we don’t assess where our students are and their level of performance, it’s going to be difficult for us to provide targeted support and resource allocation in the manner that can best support the closing of the gaps that have been exacerbated due to this pandemic,”

Senator Burr followed up by asking whether states should be able to make their own decisions.

Cardona responded: “I feel that states should not only have an opportunity to CONTINUE READING: Will Secretary of Education Cardona Grant Standardized Test Waivers to States? | Ed In The Apple

NYS Board of Regents selects Lester Young as Chancellor | Ed In The Apple

NYS Board of Regents selects Lester Young as Chancellor | Ed In The Apple

NYS Board of Regents selects Lester Young as Chancellor

Over the last few years when an education leader was selected, i. e., head of NYC schools, or, US Secretary of Education I had to scramble to check them out.

The selection of Lester Young as chancellor of the Board of Regents culminates a lengthy career serving the children of the city and state of New York.

Back in the days of decentralization Dr. Young was the superintendent of District 13, a Brooklyn school district, mostly Afro-American with a corner in Brooklyn Heights. My colleague, Frank Lupo, was the union district rep. Frank and Dr. Young, in the roiling days of decentralization, when superintendents came and went, where school venality was all too common, District 13, lead by Dr. Young was a shining light.

When decentralization moved to mayoral control Lester led a new “experiment,” the city was divided into ten meg-districts, and, a range of services, guidance, attendance, community organizations, etc. worked with, not under, the regional superintendents, a leadership model that required enormous skills. I was CONTINUE READING: NYS Board of Regents selects Lester Young as Chancellor | Ed In The Apple

Teachable Moments – The Insurrection on the Capitol: How can we “teach” students to be warriors of Democracy? | Ed In The Apple

Teachable Moments – The Insurrection on the Capitol: How can we “teach” students to be warriors of Democracy? | Ed In The Apple

Teachable Moments – The Insurrection on the Capitol: How can we “teach” students to be warriors of Democracy?

Last week I researched my blog topic, the role of the Congress in counting the electoral votes, a pro forma process; I reread the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and posted the blog.

“Will Republican Senators and House Member ‘Objections’ Prevent the Election of Biden/Harris? Why January 6th Will Be an ‘Interesting’ Day,” (Read here)

Little did I know …..

Wednesday morning, as usual, I donned my dri-fit winter biking clothes pedaled around the almost deserted roads; awaiting my steaming black coffee; and turned on MSNBC. The media announced the Ossoff-Perdue race – the democrats won both Georgia seats and will control the Senate – barely. Senator Schumer will be the majority leader and control the Senate calendar and the bills that come to the floor.  I pumped my fist, “Yes.”

The combined meeting of Congress gathered and I settled in to watch the constitutional process, it looked like a long day with thirteen Republican senators and over 130 Houses members “objecting.” 

The insurrection exploded.

Watching a momentous moment in history from your easy chair is  CONTINUE READING: Teachable Moments – The Insurrection on the Capitol: How can we “teach” students to be warriors of Democracy? | Ed In The Apple

Who is Miguel Cardona? [Why was he nominated for Secretary of Education?] | Ed In The Apple

Who is Miguel Cardona? [Why was he nominated for Secretary of Education?] | Ed In The Apple

Who is Miguel Cardona? [Why was he nominated for Secretary of Education?]

For sports fans a highly anticipated event is the draft: the commissioner walks to the podium and announces, “In the 2020 draft the Biden Team selects, [hesitates] Miguel Cardona” – who?

For weeks speculation circulated among the self-styled educational intelligentsia, would Biden nominate Linda Darling-Hammond, the leader of the education transition team, how about one of the teacher union leaders, Lilly Eckelson Garcia or Randi Weingarten, an urban superintendent, and on and on.

On the evening of December 22nd the Wall Street Journal wrote,

WASHINGTON—President-elect Joe Biden said he would nominate Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona as education secretary, tapping a third Latino for a role in his cabinet.

If confirmed, Dr. Cardona would be tasked with implementing Mr. Biden’s pledge to expand resources for public schools, make public college tuition-free for families making less than $125,000 annually and restore  CONTINUE READING: Who is Miguel Cardona? [Why was he nominated for Secretary of Education?] | Ed In The Apple

Will Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Change the Political Power Structure in New York City? Should We Use RCV in State and Congressional Elections? | Ed In The Apple

Will Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Change the Political Power Structure in New York City? Should We Use RCV in State and Congressional Elections? | Ed In The Apple

Will Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Change the Political Power Structure in New York City? Should We Use RCV in State and Congressional Elections?

The ballots in New York City elections commonly ask voters to vote on “ballot proposals” as  well as candidates, in 2019, an off year, no one was running for citywide or state office, the ballot contained four proposals, one of the proposals changed the method of voting in city elections: Ranked Choice Voting.

What is Ranked Choice Voting? How does it Work?

  Ranked-choice, or instant-runoff voting, allows voters to choose multiple candidates and rank them by order of preference. In New York City, primary and special-election voters will have the choice to rank up to five … You don’t have to rank all five – in fact, you can just choose one candidate. But the option is there for you to voice your support for multiple candidates. For the voter, that’s basically all they have to think about when going to the ballot box – which candidates to choose and how to rank them.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) replaces run-offs for citywide elections. If a candidate did not reach 40% of the vote in a primary or general election for Mayor, Comptroller or Public Advocate the two leading candidates formerly would contest in a run-off election.

Run-offs were not required in City Council elections, three, four, five or more CONTINUE READING: Will Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Change the Political Power Structure in New York City? Should We Use RCV in State and Congressional Elections? | Ed In The Apple

Will Civics Education Help Students Make Better Decisions? [It’s complicated] | Ed In The Apple

Will Civics Education Help Students Make Better Decisions? [It’s complicated] | Ed In The Apple

Will Civics Education Help Students Make Better Decisions? [It’s complicated]

In my role as President of the Education Alumni Association at a local college I host a “Principal and Community Breakfast” every February. We invite a policy maker, a researcher, or a scholar to make a presentation to local principals and activists. This year we invited a speaker from the US Census; she made an excellent present – the Census and Schools.  In addition to the adults I invited the leadership class from a local high school. After the presentation I met with the kids and asked what they “learned.”  One student said if there was an undercount New York State could lose one or two members of the House of Representatives, another student was clearly “discomforted.”

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Today electors representing the winning candidate in the fifty states and the District of Columbia will cast their ballots, on January 6th, before a joint session of Congress the ballots will be counted: Biden 306, Trump 232.

The presidential election seemed to mark a revival in American civic engagement. A record two-thirds of the electorate voted. …

Yet large numbers of Americans appear to believe President Donald Trump’s baseless charges of election fraud. Civic life and discourse have been eroded by the normalization of lying by elected leaders, the dissemination of CONTINUE READING: Will Civics Education Help Students Make Better Decisions? [It’s complicated] | Ed In The Apple

Should COVID vaccinations be required for students? For school staff members? | Ed In The Apple

Should COVID vaccinations be required for students? For school staff members? | Ed In The Apple

Should COVID vaccinations be required for students? For school staff members?

On Friday I stood on a COVID testing line for four hours, a lovely day, chatting with my line mates, their bosses had given them time off; they needed a negative COVID test in order to fly somewhere. The test, the nose swab, took minutes and my phone beeped with the results before I was home. (Negative). I’m staying at home for Thanksgiving.

Two vaccine developers, Pfizer and Moderna announced vaccines with 90 plus percent protection rates; at least five other companies are near competing trials and China and Russia report they’re already distributing vaccines.

The final hurtle is less than a month away, the CDC/FDA will probably approve the vaccines for use around December 10th.

The distribution procedures, called Operation Warp Speed (Read here) created a nationwide network, over 60 regions with distribution networks in each region, from hospitals down to pharmacies.

Warp Speed has been criticized by the scientific community as being too tied to big pharma and not transparent.

It will take months, perhaps many months to ramp up production, in the CONTINUE READING: Should COVID vaccinations be required for students? For school staff members? | Ed In The Apple

Who’s Whispering in Biden’s Ear? (And who is he listening too …?) | Ed In The Apple

Who’s Whispering in Biden’s Ear? (And who is he listening too …?) | Ed In The Apple

Who’s Whispering in Biden’s Ear? (And who is he listening too …?)

The late 1920’s saw seemingly everlasting increases in stock prices, the Hoover Boom Market; in September and October of 1929 the market stumbled and on October 29th, Black Tuesday the market tumbled and the nation fell into the Great Depression. President Hoover saw the “crash” as a “correction,” the “invisible hand” would intervene; the market and the economy would revive as it always had in the past; by November 1932 the nation was in a deep depression, unparalleled unemployment, and the economy continued to tumble,

On March 4th, 1933, Inauguration Day, FDR delivered his “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” speech – listen to excerpts here.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

In the inaugural address FDR also threatened Congress,

 “I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. …

And while he “hoped” Congress would work with him he made it clear,

It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority CONTINUE READING: Who’s Whispering in Biden’s Ear? (And who is he listening too …?) | Ed In The Apple

How is New York City Increasing Student Outcomes in the COVID World? How about More Standardized Tests and Evaluating/Rating Teacher Remote Instruction? | Ed In The Apple

How is New York City Increasing Student Outcomes in the COVID World? How about More Standardized Tests and Evaluating/Rating Teacher Remote Instruction? | Ed In The Apple

How is New York City Increasing Student Outcomes in the COVID World? How about More Standardized Tests and Evaluating/Rating Teacher Remote Instruction?

Why is the NYC school leader giving a standardized test in the middle of October, in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of a world wide crisis of unparalleled proportions?

COVID positive rates are inching upward, the mayor threatening parents in an attempt to force kids back to in-person instruction, the teacher union president sharply criticizing the mayor,

UFT President Michael Mulgrew on City Hall’s decision to reduce the opportunities for parents to opt-in to blended learning:

“City Hall’s decision violates the plan New York City filed with the state, and it breaks faith with parents.”

“Families were told they would have an opportunity each quarter to decide whether their child returned to the classroom or remained fully remote. Such a decision undermines parents’ trust in the system.”

Is this the time to introduce another standardized test? Teachers and students are stressed each and every day, and now you’re kids are taking a standardized test.

For decade after decade education technology entrepreneurs have touted CONTINUE READING: How is New York City Increasing Student Outcomes in the COVID World? How about More Standardized Tests and Evaluating/Rating Teacher Remote Instruction? | Ed In The Apple