When Michael Bloomberg became Mayor of New York City there were only 15.8% of the high schools who screened their students. By 2009, at the beginning of the Mayor's third term, screened schools almost doubled to 28.4% and rose even further by the end of his third term in 2013 to 33%. The Mayor's "school choice" program led to a further segregation of the high schools, both racially and academically, as it gave the high achieving students greater choice to pick high schools that only admitted students like them. In fact, as Mayor Bloomberg further exacerbated the segregation by closing down almost all the large comprehensive high schools that had a somewhat diverse student racial composition and ability called "educational options". Approximately 55% of the high schools were in this category. By the time Mayor Bloomberg left office the schools that had an "educational option" feel dramatically to only 27%!. Regardless, the abundance of screened schools make the "ed-opt" model a failed method to attract high achieving students since the multitude of screened schools could out compete them and this was encouraged by the DOE's school choice program.
Various studies have shown what is needed to make schools diverse and attract high achieving students is. One, sharply reduce screened schools. Two, bring back the large comprehensive high schools in the community and offer programs and staff that can attract high achieving students like Mandarin, Computer Science, and Advanced Placement courses. Three, have a stable and experienced teaching staff. Unfortunately, Deputy Chancellor Phil Weinberg has already said that school choice will not change and that few, if any, screened schools will be eliminated. Moreover, the DOE policy of school-based fair student funding, which is funded at only 89% of what it should be, discourages schools from hiring experienced teachers by penalizes them in their budget. Therefore, while the City talks desegregation, their very policies actually encourages segregation.
While the DOE talks about desegregating the high schools, just look at how the DOE allows screened schools to grab the high achieving students and are relatively diverse racially while the remaining schools are left to fight over the low performing students that are age appropriate, have good attendance, and have no behavior issues. Oh, by the way, is it any wonder that the schools that are not screened are 86% minority with few East Asians or Whites? The DOE may claim they are looking at desegregating the high schools but the reality is their very policies will make this virtually impossible to achieve.
The DOE doesn't give a crap about students,segregation or the educational quality of anything. That's why charters will take over, which will save the city tons of money, $10,000 per student (voucher or charter) vs. $23,000 per student (public school). Simple math that even Trump can do.
ReplyDeleteI am in an elementary school (NYCDOE). We just won a Magnet grant (narrows down where I work). It has been explained to us that a primary purpose of giving out a Magnet grant is to help with diversity???? We have to hit all kinds of targets to improve the racial division of our student population. For my school that essentially means attract white students to come to our very ethnic school and community. What a joke. We have to develop brochures and advertising in order to attract these students to commute to our school. We are not allowed to have any open seats and must fill them with open enrollment from any where. The backward logic really astounds me.
ReplyDeleteChaz:
ReplyDeleteAnother great post about how the DOE speaks one way and does the exact opposite,
Lets make it simple, white and asian schools do well, black schools fail.
ReplyDeleteif you were not a racist before you became a teacher, you probably will be by the time you retire. To clarify, the data, the experience of teaching and observing different ethnic groups, being required to analyzing testing data by racial and gender-based sub-groups will result in racialized thinking. Those who still value humanity will have to consciously approach every human interaction without a stereotypical mindset that is determined to disprove the foregone data-driven conclusions about human beings. I remember at one BRONX school we had to reflect on how we teach each group - Black Male, Black Female, Latino, Latina. I remember having to prepare my answers for the "Quality Reviewer" and/or the Joint Intervention Team. Twisted system.
ReplyDeleteLets not let the debutante Betsy Devos turn NYC into Detroit. No way will we allow Betsy Devos turn NYC into DEtroit!!!! Detroit is a complete mess and the Devos family is responsible. The Devos family is only interested in destroying unions and working families abilities to earn a decent pay. That is why the city of Detroit and many other cities in the once great state of Michigan are slums including nearby Dearborn, a once great city destroyed by Devos family. We must not allow this crud to enter NYC and try to turn NYC into Detroit this must be our slogan. The schools in the inner cities of Michigan are the LOWEST performing schools in the country!!!!!!!!!! Devos is poison and will not last the term.
ReplyDeleteAnd dont forget who is the most disrespectful, causes most of the problems, etc...same as you see on the news every night.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like one of the convenient answers as to why the schools are segregated is to blame white teachers (surprise surprise).
ReplyDeleteI laugh every time I read this, as if a 24 year old girl from Vermont or Connecticut is the reason behind NYCDOE woes.
Not too worry, since anyone with other career options (nursing, speech therapy, computer programming, early intervention) won't be majoring in education or teaching in the very near future, (black/white/Asian/really anyone with a brain).
Why is 'integration' only 'more white students in a school?'
ReplyDeleteWhy is a school not integrated if, say it has lots of blacks and latino students? Those are two different racial groups who normally don't mingle socially. Or what about Asian students and black students? Asians outperform whites! Oh, Asians do NOT want to go to school with blacks or latinos, and they can get it away with it!
Stupid double-standards like this in society got Trump elected by angry people who see the B.S. and anti-white agenda. We need to expand our racial definitions of integration or be doomed. There' already a shortage of white kids to go around. Even in 'white' neighborhoods, the schools are mostly non-white. Ever notice that?
All white schools strive for integration also, sometimes at the dismay of staff and administration. Racism grows in segregated schools no matter what the predominant race of that school happens to be. Teachers should strive to be 'color blind', especially when faced with racism direct at them. Not an easy thing to do. The most discriminated group in the DOE are middle aged white men.
ReplyDeleteTo 8:53. I am a middle aged white man. I have felt the discrimination from my latino and black bosses in three different schools. I have worked in NYC for over 11 years and have never had a white traditional American as a boss. I have little respect for the affirmative action bosses placed above me. They are mostly incompetent and work only for 'their people.' At one school I have seen the admins hiring almost all latinos 'to better reflect the student body.'
ReplyDeleteBut if it's a majority white school, no one says white kids need teachers who look like them to learn. Everyone says bring in more 'diverse' teachers to 'expose' white kids to the 'new multicultural realty' which was engineered by the Democratic party over the last 30-40 years. When immigrants and their kids outnumber whites in an area after decades of surging population growth, how can you even talk about integrated schools. Whites are literally going extinct in large parts of the nation.
I live in Queens. I almost NEVER EVER see any white children at all in most places I go. Who will blacks, Latinos and Asians 'integrate' with? They need to start integrating with each other. Instead they are all doing territorial outmaneuvering. One day they will really fight each other when we are all gone and no longer hold the empire together.
It's the same for every White middle aged man in the DOE.
ReplyDeleteI fail to understand why some schools can segregate and some can not. Still, none of this makes any sense to me.
ReplyDelete