Friday, September 11, 2015

Where Are The Effective Teachers That Carmen Farina Claimed The Renewal Schools Were Hiring?

























With much fanfare the disappointing Chancellor, Carmen Farina, claimed that she was going to turn around the floundering renewal schools by getting the schools to hire "effective teachers".  However, anecdotal evidence appears to show a very different hiring process for the renewal schools.   The schools in the renewal program ended up hiring many inexperienced teachers and quite a few "newbies".  Under no stretch of the imagination can these teachers be "effective", yet these renewal schools hiring practice appear to remain unchanged when ex Chancellor Joel Klein encouraged schools to hire the "cheapest" teachers they could.

Interestingly, now that the Superintendents have replaced the useless and money sucking Children First Networks, principals must get a Superintendent's approval to hire.  The result has been that principals cannot simply hire teachers who are not certified in the subject they are hired to teach as the Superintendent does not want bad publicity of hiring unqualified teachers laid at their door and exposed to media scrutiny. This is evident when it comes to Earth Science as principals are scrambling to find certified Earth Science teachers and have found none available in their borough, In fact, one Bronx Earth Science teacher who was suspended and will not be available until the second semester, received calls from schools to see if he would commit to their school for the Spring semester!  I personally received 16 inquiries, most from the Bronx, some from Manhattan and a few from Brooklyn, despite the unfair "red flag" on my file that would normally scare off principals who are ignorant of the facts in my case. Compare that to the last three years where I received a grand total of 5 inquiries.

However, there is one glaring exception, the renewal schools under Superintendent Amiee Horowitz where schools like Richmond Hill and August Martin who have no certified Earth Science teachers and other renewal schools like Long Island City, John Adams, William Cullen Bryant, and Newtown with many Earth Science classes being taught by a teacher not certified Earth Science.  Who in their right mind believe having teachers not certified to teach a Regents subject will improve student academic results?  How does Chancellor Farina justify using uncertified teachers in schools where students already academically struggle and now are forced to learn from inexperienced or uncertified teachers?

I guess when it comes to the renewal schools Chancellor Carmen Farina talks the talk but fails to walk the walk and its still "children last"...Always!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

In Newark renew schools specialize in hiring TFA, uncertified teachers and teachers teaching outside of their certifications. The reformers will be able to single handedly take credit for the dumbing down of a generation of poor urban youth. The narrowing of the curriculum serves this purpose as well.

Abigail Shure

Anonymous said...

This is true Chaz. In one of the "out of time" schools, there are new hires that aren't even certified by the state (I looked up their names). What teacher would go to a school that is going to close? I'm so happy I was able to transfer this summer.

Anonymous said...

First week,back. Another year as an ATR, open hostility from most of the staff members, no staff room, no library, and then they sent me to a renewal school inside the building to cover their classes. Come spring I'm voting for Portelos. The pie in sky types that hate him have not as of yet been struck with the ATR ugly stick. MORE and New Action has never done jack for me anyway.

Anonymous said...

A vote for portelos is a waste...you should make more take action

Anonymous said...

Um. . . Earth Science is not a real subject. College prep schools don't even teach it. So, I wouldn't stress. Physics, Chemistry, Biology, that's what I'd worry about.

Chaz said...

Anon 2:45

You must be one of those ignorant Leadership Academy Principals who think every student can leap from the easy Living Environment right to the higher level Chemistry only to realize that they cannot.

Earth Science is the transitional Science that bridges the gap and as a Regents Science is given throughout the State.

Its short-sighted thinking like yours that is the problem with the nyc schools.

Anonymous said...

12:18,
Why is vote for Portelos a waste? What are the alternatives? How would you make MORE take action?

Anonymous said...

Hey 2:45

How can you expect the majority of nyc students to leap from the really easy Biology to the hard Chemistry? Chaz is correct to think that most of the students can conquer Chemistry is a dream.

Chaz said...

Anon 2:45

Schools with your mindset have tried eliminating Earth Science and found it unsuccessful. The latest is Bayside high school which tried to eliminate Earth Science for most of the students and failed as the majority of the students struggled in Chemistry.

This year the Principal reintroduced Regents Earth Science and admitted failure. Just one of the many schools who want their students to reach for the stars but don't have the tools to build a spaceship to get there.

retired teacher said...

Newtown Hs is not a renewal school.

As for Earth Science - the subject matter is deadly boring. The problem with the failure rate is that the test requires two things - one is an understanding how to use the booklet with all the dumb charts and poorly drawn diagrams and, most important, it requires READING!

Anonymous said...

I know that Automotive High School last year had NO Earth Science teacher. In fact, they used a curriculum that Charter School use. According to a senior science teacher it is similar but not the actual content that has been taught in high school. Why the change? Who knows what reason perhaps another financial decision predicated on the publisher.

Anonymous said...

Earth Science may be poised for a comeback in a lot of schools now that the Regents have their four plus one option. Students who can pass only the Global or the US but not both can still graduate if they have a second science or second math Regents. My guess is that this will probably benefit ESL kids the most who get killed on the essay parts of the Global and US Regents. Teachers of Earth Science- specially those with ESL extensions- should be sitting pretty in demand for a while. Of course if the Regents ever decides to allow the LOTE tests to count in the four plus one option, that's where all the ESL kids will be directed.

ed notes online said...

How many of the schools you name have Unity Caucus chapter leaders? That is important because it shows how people part of the ruling caucus in the UFT are complicit.