From the City to the Suburbs

I've often wondered what it would be like to teach in the suburbs.  I have in my head the unsubstantiated notion that it would be easier, more pleasant, and less overwhelming.  But that's all conjecture - I have no personal friends who have made the switch.  I have, however, stumbled upon this article by Brett Rosenthal, who left Jamaica High School for a Long Island high school.
He notes differences in parent involvement, the lack of student sorting at his new school, discipline, leadership, and hiring.  His notes on leadership are interesting.  At South Side High School, leaders are experienced educators who are committed to not only education but also their school.
I think about City Prep, and I wonder how many of our staff will leave before next year.  I wonder how long our leadership will be in place.  And I wonder about the things that make people leave.  In an urban school, there's so much movement of personnel that if I were to walk into CP of three years ago I would know perhaps two people.  If I were to walk into CP three years from now, I wonder who would still be there.  CP has recently seemed to turn a corner in its ability to get teachers to stay, I think we're approaching the point where there might be some restlessness growing and turnover on the horizon.
I'll admit it:  reading Rosenthal's article makes me tempted to take my teaching to the suburbs.  If I remain in the classroom, I think there's a very good chance that's where I end up.

Starting the School Year

As the school year begins, it's been a hectic series of weeks.  I caught this piece regarding principal burnout  at charter schools just as I was recovering from an incredibly hectic week at work.
I'm fortunate to teach at a school that is, in urban education, a good school.  I'll call it "City Prep", or CP for short.  I've had enough experience at CP that I've been thinking a lot about what teachers from my former school would say about my classroom and my school if they saw it.  They would probably notice the following.

1.  Teachers are teaching rigorous and well-planned lessons.
2.  Students are paying attention.
3.  There is no inappropriate noise in the hallway.
4.  Students are generally on task in the classroom.
5.  Students are FAR more respectful to teachers and follow directions.

The big visible difference at our school is that students are doing much better than students at the school I came from.  But the students are basically the same.  They come from similar neighborhoods, face similar pressures, are distracted by the same things.  What's different is what the adults are doing.  At CP, we have a consequence system that the teacher simply has to utilize, not create.  We have consequences for student actions, and students face them every time - no student is sent to the office only to return 10 minutes later because the vice principal "spoke to them," as was frequent at my former school.  There are very clear expectations - talking back to an adult is simply not tolerated, and thus it doesn't happen.  And finally, adults are incredibly proactive in trying to build great lessons to make sure that students are engaged.  One think I'm working to improve is my proactive management - the process by which a teacher sets up small student actions that promote behavioral and academic compliance.  For example, the English teacher at CP shouts "pencils up" every time students are about to begin independent practice.  After waiting for compliance (2-3 seconds), which is easy to observe, the teacher shouts "go", and all students immediately get writing.  That's a big improvement from just saying "Okay, now we are writing independently.  Begin."  In the latter example, it's difficult to monitor student compliance, and there's no easily observable action that makes a student feel pressured to follow along (nobody wants to be the one without their pencil up.)

All of this relates to the article about principal burnout because I've been wondering how sustainable  14 and 15 hour workdays are.  14 hours is a lot, and each day is draining physically and emotionally.  And then there's always weekend work to be done.  Which reminds me, it's about 9:30 on Saturday and I need to get to work.

Bronx Charter School Illegally Reviewed Applicant Files to Determine Admission

Academic Leadership Charter School is under city investigation for allegedly reviewing the academic files of students applying for a seat in the school.  Students in charter schools are supposed to be picked randomly by lottery without an examination of their prior records.  Several former teachers and a number of parents told investigators stories of school officials reviewing files and weeding out weak performing applicants to deny them admission.  Norma Figueroa-Hurwitz, the current principal, saw success while running Public School 83 and Sisulu-Walker Charter School.

Charter Schools Use City Funds to House Schools at NYCHA Locations

Space for schools in New York City is limited, so some charter schools are turning to to the New York City Housing Authority for help.  While some schools have run into challenges as they try to share space with traditional public schools, others like the Harlem Children's Zone have paid seven figure sums to the NYCHA to develop unused space for new schools.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of this setup is the NYCHA itself.  Struggling for funds, it is now able to convert some of its holdings into cash and benefit residents.  Still, some have argued that the charters that are setting up new schools do not need additional space, and are funding their building projects with city-supported funds that are not available to traditional public schools.  Critics accuse the Bloomberg administration of playing politics with school funds, and ignoring the many public schools where overcrowding is a problem.

NYC Graduation Rates and College Readiness

Very interesting post about graduation rates in New York.

Students who were incoming freshmen in 2006 had a 61% graduation rate in 2010, which is a substantial increase from previous years.  The extent to which this is due to easy Regents exams and credit recovery is unknown, but a topic for discussion.

4% of the class of 2010 graduated by August of that year.  The additional time is useful for ELL students, whose five year graduation rate is thirteen percentage points higher than their four year graduation rate.

ELL graduation rates have doubled from 2006, though students with disabilities still struggle.

The achievement gap in New York City is twice as big as it is in other cities.  The graduation rate gap between white and blacks and white and hispanics is approximately 20%.  Other cities in New York State have much smaller gaps.

Charter school graduation rates are up but below city-wide graduation rates.

With a graduation rate of 61% and a college readiness rate of 21%, there are many, many things wrong with education in the city.  40% of students are graduating but aren't college ready, which says something about the rigor of Regents exams and the use of credit recovery tools.

Not Ready for College

A recent article by the New York Times outlines how graduates of city schools, even those that have earned an A, enter CUNY schools in need of substantial remediation.  There's a fair amount of useful information in the article, including this:

"The combined remediation rate for the 50 high schools serving the highest-achieving students, based on middle-school test scores, was 21 percent. For the 50 schools serving the lowest-achieving students, the CUNY remediation rate was 77 percent."
  
It's clear that some schools do a far better job of preparing students for college work than others.  Because we know that students who need remediation are less likely to graduate from college, it's easy to sympathize with families whose children are in underperforming schools and are looking to move them into schools with a track record of success.  As the article notes, success in college can be tied to not only high school education but also middle school education.  I'll allow that there are likely several variables at play when comparing schools, but focusing on outcomes like this is a meaningful exercise.

Williamsburg Preparatory School is an interesting case study.  Per the Times, it earned an A on the three most recent progress reports and has an 88% graduation rate.  But three quarters of the students it sends to CUNY (who comprise 39% of a graduating class) fail CUNY's readiness tests.  The school's principal, Alyce Barr, counters by explaining that because the school focuses on writing skills (students don't take Regents due to a state waiver) her students will perform better than their CUNY test scores indicate.  Her analysis seems off, however, given that CUNY's remediation tests included writing tests, and that there's still the matter of math scores.

If students at a successful school are falling so far short of college success, how many students at other schools across the city are graduating without the skills to succeed in college?  In my experience, there's an unwillingness to be honest about the fact that by the time students enter high school - even by the time they enter 7th grade - students are several years behind where they should be.  The gap of skills is talked about in a big picture sense, but most schools teach what they think they need to until they get within shouting distance of the end of the year without any sense of where students should end up at the end of a course and what next steps will be for students who do or don't meet goals.

I don't know exactly how we close that gap.  Part of it rests on having the right teachers in the classroom under the leadership of capable administrators.  Maximizing student learning time and holding students accountable are key.  There are a number of schools that do a good job of identifying shortcomings, creating a plan to address deficiencies, executing their plan, and then reviewing their progress to make adjustments if needed.  Unfortunately, too few schools do that well.