Clik here to view.
How Some Schools Manipulate The Graduation Rate.
During the Bloomberg era, high schools quickly realized that it was politically important for the administration to show improved graduation rates and in fact the graduation rates did improve....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Its Time For ATRs To Have Their Own Chapter.
Before the signing of the new contract, the UFT said the reason there was no need for a Chapter for ATRs was that the ATR was transitional and temporary and that once Mayor Bloomberg was gone the ATR...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The DOE Bureaucratic Machine Is Broken And Only A Complete Overhaul Will Fix It.
Educators have known for years that the DOE is dysfunctional and broken and is need of a complete overhaul. There was a momentary hope that the new De Blasio administration would appoint a Chancellor...
View ArticleClik here to view.
South Bronx School Will Be On The Radio Tomorrow.
South Bronx schools, awaiting his 3020-a hearing, will be on WFAS 1230 tomorrow morning. I'm sure he will talk about his upcoming 3020-a hearing and the DOE charges they hope to terminate him...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Mutual Consent Provision Does Not Apply To ATRs.
One of the changes in the DOE hiring process was the "mutual consent" provision that our union unwisely allowed back in the infamous 2005 contract. The "mutual consent" provision allows principals to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Field Supervisor From Hell.
This is a true story that has happened this school year. I have kept the names of the teacher and field supervisor out of this post to protect the ATR from retaliation.The story starts innocently...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Small Schools That Replaced The Large Comprehensive Schools Are A Failure.
During the Bloomberg years, the city came up with the bright idea, advocated by Bill Gates and then abandoned as not the answer, that closing the large comprehensive schools in poor communities and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Family Values
During last week's cold snap an eighth grade child, I will call her Clara, did not show up to school or attend her after school program. Later that night, the coldest night of the new school year, with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Its Quantity And Not Quality When It Comes To Hiring Teachers In The NYC...
With the unexpected wave of retirements, the NYC public school system had to hire 6,000 new teachers. You would think that many schools would be thrilled to replace their retiring teachers with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Winners Of The 2014 Golden Turkey Award.
This year saw tremendous competition for the Golden Turkey Award. There's State Education commissioner John T. King, a past winner, who rolled out the Common Core and teacher evaluation requirements...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When It Comes To College Readiness, Race Matters.
One of the third rails of education policy is the inclusion of race in evaluating academic achievement. Politicians and the media will look the other way or ignore the inconvenient truth that a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
DTOE's Administrators In Need Of Improvement.
The DTOE blog, known as Don't Tread On Educators, has developed a list of school administrators that are in need of improvement. They call the list AINI. This list was developed by the DTOE group...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Many ATRs Are In The ATR Pool?
One closely held secret that the DOE and UFT don't like to share with the general public or even the employees is the number of ATRs in the ATR pool. However, thanks to a FOIL by Francesco Portelos...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Comparing Two Similar Schools With Different Academic Outcomes.
In my previous post where I compared the Queens high school's racial composition with the "college readiness scores" and found that schools with a high concentration of black students had, on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Simple Chart To Determine Your Tier 4 Pension.
Despite the many retirements in the last few years, the bulk of educators in the NYC school system are still covered under New York State's Tier 4 pension system. Therefore, I prepared a simple chart...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Queens High Schools To Avoid.
The DOE's "High School Quality Snapshot" contains some very interesting information and two categories in the report sparked my interest. They are "would teachers recommend their school to parents"...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Another Principal Acting Badly.
Yet another Principal, with a record of allegations against him, is still in charge of his school despite having two separate lawsuits filed against him by female staff in federal court who claim that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Comparing Our Pension With Other State Pension Plans.
How does our pension plan compare to other State pension plans? The answer is our pension is one of the better ones, assuming you're Tier 4 and are covered by Social Security (SS). Even Tier 5...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Common Core Is A Disaster For Special Needs Children.
Most classroom teachers know that Common Core has been a disaster and the "junk science" in the form of high stakes testing that goes with it has resulted in most students not meeting the standards....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Few New York City Teachers Found To Be Ineffective. Governor Cuomo Displeased.
Well, the final numbers are in and, despite the State imposed punitive Danielson Rubric and the "Junk Science", only 1.2% of New York City teachers were found to be " ineffective". This is slightly...
View Article