9486 in the collection
New York Paper Grades the Education Chancellor
Ohanian Comment: Okay, politicians are asked to grade New York City School Chancellor Joel Klein. Fine. I have no wish to protect Mr. Klein. But I do wonder: When will New York City educators get to grade New York politicians--and reporters--and have their ratings appear in the paper?
Notice who the "dozen people in the city's education scene" are. The Manhattan Institute is there. Where's the progressive equivalant? Come to think of it, IS there a progressive equivalant that cares about public schools?
With a school year in the books, Chancellor Joel Klein has earned good grades for sincerity but an "incomplete" for the impact that his reforms will have on the 1.1 million schoolchildren under his care.
The Daily News asked more than a dozen people in the city's education scene to assess Klein's performance. The reactions were as varied as the quality of each of the city's 1,200 schools.
When it comes to his vision and his willingness to take on the status quo, Klein emerged from his freshman year with a solid "A" from many, but poorer grades from others.
Because Klein has spent so much of the year preparing for the monumental changes that will be seen in schools next fall, many of our graders gave him an incomplete. The more important evaluation, they said, will be the one at the end of his second year.
Klein argues that his plans for an overhaul of the system are well underway and that the stage has been set for profound change.
In the course of one school year, Klein and his team have dismantled the patronage-heavy community school board framework, downsized the costly School Construction Authority, and set in place a citywide reading and math curriculum.
"I think he has taken the city to a new place in terms of how we deliver education," said Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz (D-Manhattan), one of many who gave Klein an "I" for incomplete.
Former CUNY President Herman Badillo congratulated Klein for "chopping the head off" bureaucracy at 110 Livingston St. - but lit into him for permitting social promotion, the practice of passing failing students.
"So long as social promotion remains in place, there will be no standards to evaluate performance," Badillo said.
"Social promotion stands for educational failure," he added. "[Klein] has done a lot of good things, but the thing that counts is having standards."
'Do right by children'
Handpicked by Mayor Bloomberg last summer, Klein left the corporate world for one of the toughest challenges the city has to offer: making a $12billion school system work.
He put together a team of privately paid consultants and set out to turn the nation's largest school system on its head.
"I think he wants to do right by the children," said Patricia Cruz of the District 75 PTA President's Council. "I think he wants to give every child a good education."
Klein's grades start slipping when you get to his management style and his ability to communicate with people in and outside the system.
"Joel Klein leads by autocracy, by command," said Jill Levy, president of the principals union. "He does not lead by vision. He does not lead by respect from the people he needs to carry out his plan."
Complaints that Klein and Bloomberg have left key people - such as parents, teachers and principals - in the dark about many important changes were widespread.
"He needs to communicate better with parents on things like the No Child Left Behind law and he needs to make better use of his Panel for Educational Policy," said Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields. "He's treated [the panel, which replaced the old Board of Education] ... like a rubber stamp."
"The chancellor has been treating teachers like antagonists, not like the most important allies he needs in the fight to improve our schools," said teachers union President Randi Weingarten.
Admitted problems
Klein concedes there were some bumps along the way in his freshman year.
The reading curriculum he originally planned was deemed incapable of meeting federal requirements and was retooled - and some deem his overall educational vision too lax.
"He had a real opportunity there that he missed the first time around. His first set of choices were unfortunate," said Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
"In my ideal world, the mayor and the chancellor would use that power to create the sort of rigorous education that is essential for poor children - and I think, as well, that politics crept into the decisions about which schools to exempt from the curricula," she said.
Ernest Clayton of the United Parents Association gave Klein an "A" for "keeping the course of the Children First initiative," the blueprint for his reforms, amid lawsuits and staunch resistance from special interest groups.
"This whole year has been a transition period," Clayton said.
Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez, president of the Hispanic Federation, commended Klein and Bloomberg for not politicizing bilingual education in their new plan to revamp education for English Language Learners.
Politically, Klein has had to battle the unions, an entrenched bureaucracy and several lawsuits over his reform plans.
One opponent Klein hasn't had to fight has been the mayor - a marked departure from what past chancellors had to endure, thanks to the law that gave power over the schools to the mayor last summer.
"I have to say that I'm impressed with how well he has led and navigated the treacherous political waters out there," said Assemblyman Steve Sanders (D-Manhattan). "I think he has been able to master the learning curve as well as anyone could have."
— Grading Klein
staff writer
New York Daily News
June 30, 2003
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/96768p-87654c.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
