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Will There Be An ATR Incentive For The 2017-18 School Year?
In the new ATR Agreement there is no mention of continuing the ATR incentive of the 2016-17 school year and the DOE is tight lipped about their plans to offer one. Just to jog your memory, the ATR...
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Michael Mulgrew's Danielson Rating Sheet.
Since our UFT President, Michael Mulgrew, believes the Charlotte Danielson rubric is a good evaluation tool for teachers. Therefore, its only fair if we rate Michael Mulgrew the same way, using the...
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Why Renewal High Schools Continue To Fail.
An admittedly biased study done by the pro-charter group, Families For Excellent Schools. have shown that the Renewal Schools have continued to under preform, despite the massive amount of money that...
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Academic Fraud Cointinues As The Common Core Algebra I Regents Cut Scores Are...
New York State Education Department, instead of making the Regents exam a test that measures a student's academic proficiency, has made the gateway Math test easier to pass by artificially lowering...
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Here Today, Gone Tomorrow - Teacher Turnover At Charter Schools, The Fatal Flaw.
One of the fatal flaws the charter schools and their media allies try to hide is the extremely high teacher turnover they experience. The charter schools average a 41% teacher turnover rate from one...
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TRS Is Converting Our Bond Fund To A Balanced Fund On January 1, 2018. Should...
My sources tell me that the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) is finally throwing in the towel and eliminating the poorly subscribed Bond Fund that has been associated with anemic investment returns of...
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What Will The Next Contract Contain?
Sometime in 2019 the City and the UFT will start to negotiate a new contract. By law the next contract should be for two years, unless the contract is delayed or both sides agree on a longer contract....
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District 75 Schools Force Teachers To Teach Academics Rather Than The Life...
District 75 have the most disabled and behaviorally challenged students in the public school system. These schools have self-contained classrooms with 6 to 8 students per class, along with a para or...
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Don't Hold Your Breath In Expecting SCI To Investigate Administrative...
Most knowledgeable educators know that the investigative units of SCI, OSI, and OEO are not fair and impartial. If a teacher is charged with a potentially serious accusation you can bet the three...
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I Support Lower Class Sizes And A Certified Teacher In The Subject Area Being...
I'm glad to see that a group of parents, along with Class Size Matters, Alliance Of Quality Education and Public Advocate Letitcia James has filed a complaint that the DOE is violating the 2007 CFE...
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Charter Schools Hoping That SUNY's Proposed Rules Will Allow Them To Hire...
Because of the increasing difficulty that charter schools are having in hiring certified teachers and the high teacher turnover, SUNY has proposed to lower teacher standards for their charter schools....
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Few ATRs Will Be Rated Effective By Principals Under The New DOE Policy.
Over the years, many ATRs were rated "effective" or "highly effective" by school principals who appreciated the ATRs ability to lead the students to a passing grade. These principals also knew that...
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The New York Post Editorial Board Are A Bunch Of Hypocrites.
In today's New York Post, the paper's Editorial Board made it seem that all ATRs are"bad" or unwanted teachers. If you were unaware of how the DOE operates, the reader would think that the ATR pool...
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Here's How The DOE Policy Changed On ATR Hiring.
I have received and digested Randy Asher's webinar and I believe this is how the DOE policy on ATRs changed. According to the webinar, there will be no ATR incentive for the 2017-18 school year. In...
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Why It Made No Financial Sense To Take The ATR Incentive.
In the last two months at least three UFT leadership officials tried to convince me that the ATR incentive was a good deal and if I am planning to retire in June of 2018, I should jump at the chance to...
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The Truth Why ATRs Are Not Being Picked Up By Schools.
I was disgusted by the self-serving ATR bashing article by non-educator Daniel Weisberg who, once again, falsely claimed that ATRs were "unwanted",":bad", or had :discipline issues. Mr. Weisberg...
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From Reaching For The Stars To Back To Basics.
Over the last few years, many schools were pushing their students into higher level Math and Science courses. This was known as "reaching for the stars". It also didn't hurt that the DOE gave high...
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How To Really Drain The ATR Pool.
Over the decade, the DOE has tried many different ways to reduce the ATR pool and has utterly failed as the total number of ATRs has remained relatively steady, despite the DOE's claim otherwise. The...
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The Difference Between The Typical Urban And Suburban School.
There are stark differences between the typical urban and suburban public school and these inequalities are the major reason that urban schools consistently fall behind their suburban counterparts when...
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My Response To The Bronx Principal.
In a previous post on the hiring of ATRs, a Principal from a Bronx school commented why he wouldn't want to hire an ATR, unless he properly vetted him or her (I bet he doesn't do it for his "newbie"...
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