"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Bloomberg Can't Wait for School Failure

Even though NCLB guarantees that the vast majority of NYC schools will fail by 2014, Bloomberg and the privatizers are not waiting for that slow ship to come in, especially since it seems now that it might sink before reaching the docks.

Bloomberg and Klein, rather, are on the fast track to privatization with Green Dot, Inc. poised to be the big recipient of taxpayer money beginning next year. With Randi Weingarten betraying the teachers of NYC with bonus pay plans for test scores and deals cut to allow Green Dot to gain a foothold in the South Bronx, Bloomberg is sitting pretty with at least 50 public schools, maybe a hundred, on the chopping block as a result of his new school "report cards."

From the NY Times:

Under a blunt new A through F rating system that judges schools not just on performance but also on progress, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg designated 50 New York City public schools as failures yesterday, saying they were so dismal that their 29,000 students would be allowed to transfer elsewhere.

A “not insignificant number” of those F schools, and even some of the 99 schools that received D’s, could be closed or have their principals removed as soon as this school year, Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference announcing the grades. He added: “Is this a wake-up call for the people who work there? You betcha.”

The grades released yesterday contained many surprises, with some schools with top-notch reputations receiving B’s, C’s, D’s — and even F’s, to the astonishment of some parents. . . .


2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:01 PM

    We really need some brilliant Blogger or researcher to do a thorough investigation of Green Dot, INC----
    Are they part of a bigger conglomerate with shares available on the stock market, and if so which one?

    What is the professional and political history/affiliations of Steve Barr and the other executives of the company?

    How much does Barr
    get payed, annually?

    How much profit is Green Dot, Inc turning right now?

    How well are Green Dot's present schools doing on achievement tests (or, do they even report them at all?)

    How many students does Green Dot, Inc EXCLUDE (i.e. kick out)?
    The bottom 5%? The bottom 10%?
    20%? More?
    This is important.

    The taxpaying Public has a right to know, since it is OUR TAX DOLLAR$ THAT ARE FUNDING GREEN DOT,Inc, AND OTHER PRIVATE INTERESTS TAKING OVER THE (formerly) PUBLIC SCHOOLS DEEMED "FAILURES" BY NCLB TESTING.

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  2. Barr gets a few hundred thou, I think. He denies vehemently cherry picking students and has some very colorful comments about those who say he does.

    The UFT pimps Green Dot schools endlessly, claims the "just cause" firing policy is better than tenure since it doesn't require a three-year waiting period (However, it seems never to have been tested and appears to be considerably inferior regardless) and doggedly ignores the fact that there are no seniority benefits at Green Dot schools.

    Pardon the self-promotion, but I wrote about Green Dot this morning:

    http://nyceducator.com/2007/11/green-dots-on-big-apple.html

    ReplyDelete