Improved Test Scores Don’t Mean Mayoral Control Works

Assessments work when the results from them are used to evaluate the tools that worked, and the resources that are lacking.  Unfortunately, many public schools train students to be test takers and not analytical thinkers, not to mention the fact that many of these tests are watered down.  Merryl Tisch points out in the NYTimes article that 74% of the city’s students need remedial English and math classes when they enter C.U.N.Y. schools.  Where does the breakdown happen and why doesn’t the knowledge and skills used to pass these tests transfer when kids reach the upper grades?  What do these exams really prove?

While an improvement in test scores is something to smile about, it doesn’t mean that mayoral control helped and shouldn’t be used as a example that mayoral control works.  Mayoral control needs to be less about treating students/schools like a company and more like future citizens of society.  Educators, not businessmen and lawyers, need to be in control of the city’s schools.

“New York City Shows Gains in Math” in New York Times on June 1, 2009

“New York City students ace state math exams, but officals say ‘no reason to celebrate’” in New York Daily News on June 1, 2009

Showing One’s True Colors Everyday – Not Just on 7/4 or 9/11

In September of 2002, I started teaching on Long Island at Ward Melville High School. A week into the school year marked the first anniversary of 9/11 and the school was having an assembly program to honor the lives that were lost. Teachers were told that only a limited number of classes would be able to attend, so I planned a lesson and informed my classes that day that we would not be attending the assembly. Not to my surprise, one of my students said out loud that my decision to not let them go was unpatriotic of me. I looked at him sideways and asked him to step outside of the classroom where I told him that his comment was uncalled for considering he didn’t know anything about me or what I experienced on 9/11. Much to my surprise, on the night of parent-teacher conferences, his mother brought up the incident and apologized to me on behalf of her son.

So when Barack Obama was criticized early in his campaign for not wearing an American flag pin, I empathized with him knowing that people show their pride in their country in the most subtle of ways and just by wearing a pin, waving a flag, or singing patriotic songs doesn’t mean that someone is any more patriotic than me.  Especially when so-called patriots do so twice a year.

Clyde Haberman’s article in the New York Times on July 4, 2008.

Bizarro World in Times Square

Only in New York would you find people climbing the New York Times building, albeit for good causes. I was watching NY1 when they interrupted their 6pm show to bring coverage of the second climber. All the networks reported that the first climber, Alain Robert, is a Frenchman who does this ‘for a living’ and the second climber, Renaldo Clarke, is a man from Brooklyn who was taken to Bellevue for a psychiatric exam prior to being booked. They were trying to bring awareness to global warming and malaria, respectively, and they were arrested on the same charges.

I might be reading a little too deeply into this, but why does James Barron’s New York Times article almost paint the Frenchman in an almost Indiana Jones fashion, while the brotha’ from Brooklyn gets written about like he’s some kind of lunatic? I obviously don’t know the particulars about the police bringing him to Bellevue, but the tone of the article is getting under my skin.

‘The Real World’: Where Brooklyn At? Downtown, Maybe

Some of the people interviewed by Michael Wilson for his New York Times article feared for the lives of the contestants. Of course anything can happen in New York, but come on people. I doubt if the producers of ‘The Real World’ would cast this season in any ‘hood where any of the cast members would get robbed or worse. And if they did, that’s reality, right? In Brooklyn or any part of the country where the show would be filmed.

Apparently, it’s not going to be shot in Williamsburg like I would have guessed too, but it might be closer to the federal courthouses in the new BellTel Lofts. I would like to see the show shot in Fort Greene where it’s still pretty racially diverse and there are so many stores in the area. And so what if people have to commute to the city to get the ‘real’ flavor of New York City.

I wonder if any of the cast members will highlight the issues surrounding gentrification in downtown Brooklyn. A spokesperson for the building said it would help to gentrify the neighborhood: the apartments in the building go for $500,000 to $2 million!  UPDATE 6/1/08 – There’s no quote from an MTV rep in this Daily News article, but the reporters say that it will be filmed there for sure.

Either way, I’m glad they are letting Brooklyn shine.

Wake Up NYC Dept of Ed!!! Mini-Schools Don’t Work

As wrapped up as I was during my senior year at Martin Van Buren High School (class of ’96), I couldn’t help but feel that my school had changed. The teachers were still the same (for better or worse), but the school had started admitting students that would have otherwise gone to the neighboring Andrew Jackson High School. A year before, Jackson “closed” and was converted to a “campus” of mini-schools known as Campus Magnet. I remember seeing students who didn’t care about going to class, more fights, and troublemakers getting away with nonsense.

I’ve said it before and I still believe that mini-schools will never work without a disciplined environment where students are held to higher educational and behavioral expectations. No one should be surprised about the consequences of creating mini-schools.

This isn’t a matter of us versus them because the students that went to my alma mater came from the same neighborhoods and socioeconomic backgrounds as those who would have gone to Jackson. Some schools like Jackson will always have a bad reputation for out of control behavior of students, and low academic performance, but don’t close it and think that by virtue of small class sizes that problems will disappear. I really wonder at what point educators and administrators are going to realize this.

Samuel G. Freedman’s article in the New York Times about the destructive impact Lafayette High School in Bath Beach, Brooklyn is having on its neighbor, John Dewey High School in Coney Island.

UPDATE 7/4/08 – Thanks Jonathan.  Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in Fort Greene is being seen as successful: they have a 93 percent graduation rate – the school only has 79 students….

Jennifer Medina’s article in the New York Times on June 30, 2008.

No Excuse for “Jumping White People”

School officials want higher ups to take tags that read “Jump White People” and “JWP” appearing inside of P.S. 224 and also on the playground, more seriously. In the past few weeks, four children have received in-school suspensions for tagging desks and walls in the Brooklyn elementary school.

On the Daily News blog, fellow New Yorkers shared their views on why the tags can be justified and alternately the many advantages blacks have. WHAT????? There is no excuse for this blatant call for violence regardless of the age of these kids or their race.

Carrie Melago’s article in the Daily News.

Landmarking 339 W. 29th Street

In February of 2008 I found out about Joy Chatel‘s efforts to save her downtown Brooklyn home. Her home was used as an underground railroad station and is currently in jeopardy of being foreclosed. In researching her property, I came across the plight of Fern Luskin, another New Yorker, who is trying to have the city landmark a house on her block. 339 W. 29th Street was also used as an underground railroad station.

Published on the New York City News Service on April 18, 2008.

Church Leaders’ Endorsements of Presidential Candidates

January 5, 2008 – Rev. Calvin Butts’ highly publicized endorsement of Hillary Clinton might have been enough to increase her votes, but some people called his endorsement down-right tacky. On the last Sunday before New Yorkers chose their democratic candidate, churchgoers at two of Harlem’s prominent churches spoke with me about whether or not his endorsement even mattered.

“Pulpit Pitches Rankle Some Churchgoers” on New York City News Service and Huffington Post

The Rise of Dominican Hair Salons in Black Neighborhoods

Until about 5 years ago, women who wanted to get their hair styled in a Dominican hair salon had to travel to predominantly Dominican areas like Washington Heights and certain sections of the Bronx. Today, Dominican hair salons are popping up in predominantly black neighborhoods. Black women who prefer softer hair styles like blow outs now have more options. These salons are easy to spot since on the awnings, the owners indicate that they are a Dominican salon. Some owners are even trying to lure in potential customers by advertising as a Dominican salon, but none of their stylists are Dominican.

Foster Care Success Story

I’m no different from anyone else who loves to hear success stories. Shatasia Morris’ story is one that is a true testament to will power. I don’t think some New Yorkers realize how privileged we are to have certain government resources that most other states don’t offer their residents, but Ms. Morris story is about using those resources to improve her condition, not stay in the same rut. She didn’t blame the system or anyone for that matter. Instead she realized what she needed to live an independent life and used government resources to achieve her immediate goal. For many, like Ms. Morris who became homeless while she was eight months pregnant, it’s not simple especially when all the domestic responsibilities fall on the single head of a household. I’m so proud of this young lady for defying all the social and cultural stereotypes associated with being a poor, black woman.

Sondra Wolfer’s article in the New York Daily News.