The Education Reform Organizations Are Losing Control Of Our Education System

Since the beginning of the new millennium, the education reform organizations nave been chasing the holy grail that would eliminate the student academic achievement gap,  The education reformers  came up with many ideas on how to eliminate the student achievement gap.  At first they proposed smaller class sizes, more resources, and quality teachers, even if that meant paying them more.   However, these ideas failed to significantly narrow the student academic achievement gap.  Therefore, the education deformer started to blame the public school system, especially the unionized teachers for the student academic achievement gap.

The education deformer organizations were led by the likes of Bill Gates, Eli Board, and Sam Walton who bribed pseudo-educators like Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, and  Arnie Duncan to implement programs that put the blame on teachers when they failed

For example the Obama-Duncan Race to the Top program forced States to implement a teacher evaluation  system that linked student growth to teacher effectiveness.  It hardly mattered that  a study by the American Statistical Society showed that any one teacher had only between 1% to 14% impact on their student's growth,  Many states used a percentage of between 40% and 50%,  In fact, the student growth formula used was "junk Science" and in New York State a court found it to be true.

As the education deformer organizations could not close the student academic achievement gap, they proposed merit pay, elimination of tenure, limited collective bargaining rights, and the right to fire "ineffective" teachers.by weakening their due process rights.  Instead of being allies to the public school system the education deformer groups became the enemy by supporting and funding charter schools, online schools, as well as private and parochial schools.  They supported the school choice program that allowed any child to get a voucher and apply to any school.

The heyday of the education deformer movement was betweent 2006-15, when Arnie Duncan headed the Federal Department of Education and most States had education deformers  in charge of the State education systems.  Because President Barack Obama supported the education deformer education policy and the States desperately needed the Race to the top funds during the great recession, quite a few states implemented an education reform agenda,  The result was vastly disappointing.  The student academic achievement gap was as wide as ever,  Moreover, the unrelenting attack on teachers throughout the nation made college graduates flee the profession and widespread teacher shortages are a  contining problem.nationwide resulted from the unrelenting attacks on teachers.

I believe the pendulum is starting to swing the other wayas the education deformer orgabnizations are slowlly losing power and teachers are  standing up for a livable wage.  Example West Virgina.

The day of the education deformer organizations controlling the public schools have come and passed and even more of these deformer organizations will dissappear as many of the educatin deformer groups have become anti-public education and care more about saving money then giving the child a good education,

Bloomberg & Wallcott Take Credit For the Bogus 61% Graduation Rate. However, The State Questions The Real Academic Achievement Of These Students.

The State published the New York City graduation rate for 2010 and found that it rose 2% to 61%. That;s the good news but there was bad news as well. The bad news? New York State voiced concern that only 21% of the high school graduates were "college & career ready". This very disappointing statistic of "college & career readiness" has shown little change since 2008. Furthermore, only 16.4% of New York City high school graduates achieved the academically coveted "Advanced Regents Diploma". Moreover, the racial/income academic achievement gap stayed stubbornly wide. While the rise in the New York City graduation rate was hailed by Mayor Bloomberg and his poodle Chancellor Dennis Walcott, the underlying statistics is of greater concern to the State and educators.

First, lets put the graduation rate in perspective. Principals are increasingly relying on the bogus "credit recovery programs" that make educational progress a sham and academic achievement laughable. The "credit recovery programs" have literally exploded in even the best high schools in the last year or two and in some schools result in a significant jump in the graduation rate. How significant? So far these statistics are unavailable as they are a closely held secret by the DOE as not to embarrass the schools or the principals. Privately, people who are in the know believe that it may average as much as 8% throughout the high schools. What is the real number? Ask Tweed, they probably know but don't expect them to publish it.

Second, anecdotal evidence from teachers suggest that the principals are now demanding up to a 80% passing rate from them or else. We all know what "or else" means. This pressure as well as teacher scrubbing to increase the Regents passing rate is cheapening the academic process and further diluting the quality of the high school diploma. The result is that students are graduating high school while being barely literate and cannot fill out a job application properly. Even the New York Post's Michael Goodwin dismissed the graduation rate as being useless with all the "malfeasance and cheating" associated with it.

Finally, any statistics that have the DOE imprint on it is highly suspect. "Fuzzy Math" is what I have called it but a Chapter Leader had a better analogy "the Enron Annual Report" with regard to the validity of data that comes out of Tweed. Unless the statistics are independently verified nobody should take them seriously.

While the graduation rate is suspect, the underlying lack of academic achievement is not. Back in 2008 a similar percentage of students were forced to take remedial courses as they were deemed not "college ready"when they entered college and nothing seemed to have changed since then. This shows that the New York City high schools have not prepared 80% of their graduates for college. What is worse is that only 16.4% of the high school graduates received an "advanced Regents Diploma" and that terrible percentage includes the many specialized high schools throughout the City where it is nearly 100%.

To me, real academic achievement is a rise in "Advanced Regents Diplomas", a narrowing of the income/racial student achievement gap, and students who no longer rely on "credit recovery programs" to graduate. That is what I consider real academic achievement.

Why Is Al Sharpton Quiet About Klein & Bloomberg's Documented Failure To Close The Racial Achievement Gap Despite Their Bogus Claims To Have Done So?

I am very interested to hear from Al Sharpton on the failure of Chancellor Joel Klein & Mayor Michael Bloomberg's claim to have narrowed the racial achievement gap since they took over the running of the NYC Public Schools in 2002. Presently, the usually outspoken Al Sharpton has been strangely quiet about the disastrous conclusions coming out of the New York State tests for 2010 and the NAEP results. Could it be about the apparently close interaction between Al Sharpton and the DOE as identified in the New York City Public School Parents blog? It was back in the Spring of 2009 that the same blog question the motives of the man when Al Sharpton joined forces with Joel Klein to form the Education Equity Project. This project was to further narrow the achievement gap, instead the latest numbers have found that the narrowing of the achievement gap is simply "smoke and mirrors". If anything the racial achievement gap has widened! Al Sharpton should be outraged, instead there is just deafening silence from him, why?

Black Males Graduation Rates and 8th Grade Reading Levels:

First, let's look at what has happened to black males, an alleged top priority for Al Sharpton in the New York City Public Schools. According to the Schott Foundation Of Public Education report, the graduation rate for Black males was a dismal 28% (Whites had a 50% graduation rate). This put New York City near the bottom of the lowest preforming large metropolitan areas for black male graduation rates. The black male graduation rate for New York City was the same as the troubled public school systems as Philadelphia, and New Orleans. While only 9% of the black males read at grade level which is actually less than a 10% rate back in 2003. The article about the report was summarized by the New York daily News and can be found here.

Racial Achievement Gap Fails To Narrow:

The latest information shows that under Bloomberg & Klein the racial achievement gap has failed to narrow since they took over. The composite reading scores of third to eighth grades, Blacks were 30% below their White counterparts and in Math 35% below. The New York Times reported these terrible results here. According to NY1, the racial achievement gap is as wide as back in 2002, when Bloomberg & Klein took control of the New York City schools. In fact The Daily News claimed the achievement gap actually widened between the rich and poor students.

New York State Test Scores Showed The Greatest Declines Among Minority Students & Schools:

Gotham Schools printed the top and bottom 15 middle schools, based upon the New York State tests and one thing was very obvious. The top schools had a substantial population of White and Asian students while the bottom 15 was made up of Black and Hispanic students. Furthermore, the minority based schools like PS 85 in the Bronx saw one of the more dramatic reversals seeing their third grade passing rate going from 81% passing in Math to 18% passing.

Klein Starves The Schools Of Funds While Increasing The Headcount At Tweed:

Finally, Al Sharpton has not commented on how the schools have been starved for funds (a 12% cutback in the last two years) while Tweed just increases their headcount of non-educators. Furthermore, where is Al Sharpton's outrage when Joe Klein tried an ill-advised and immoral procedure to get rid of an Autistic program to help one of Bloomberg's hedge fund founders to expand the exclusive Charter School that shares the building.


Then again Al Sharpton is really a politician and wants what is best for him and not what is best for the community he is supposed to represent.