“The State of New York’s Failing Schools” is the title of a
report recently released by Governor Cuomo.
As the title implies, this report is a compilation of selected data on
176 “failing” schools throughout the State.
The schools are primarily located in urban districts like Buffalo, New
York City, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers, Utica and several others. Buffalo has 27 schools in the Report;
Rochester has 15 and Syracuse has 18.
The schools were identified using the criteria that they are schools “among
the lowest 5% in the State in terms of combined English Language Arts and
Mathematics performance that are not making progress, as well as those schools
that have graduation rates below 60% for the last several years.”
The Report provides a school by school snap shot of each school’s
rating on the State ELA and Math standardized tests, enrollment numbers and the
number of years the school has been “failing”.
Other relevant data includes descriptions of the makeup of the student
body citing the percentage of students who are minority and those who receive
free or reduced lunch (a measure of poverty).
The Report also tallies the amount of state funding provided to these
schools as an indication of how much the State has invested in these “failing”
schools with little to no successful outcomes, a point stressed by the Governor. The per-pupil expenditure is compared to the
2012-2013 national average and the difference, in almost every school,
reinforces the claim that these schools have not only been amply funded but
over-funded.
As for outcomes, the Report suggests that teachers have the
greatest accountability for the failures in the system. Since 2012 a new State initiated evaluation
system has focused on measurements that purport to establish a direct link
between teacher competency and student achievement. The Governor laments that it is a flawed
system since more than 90 percent of teachers have been rated highly effective
or effective. He cites these ratings as
“incongruous” with student proficiency ratings. The Report prints the teacher ratings for each
school as well to reinforce this deficiency.
Another interesting, if superfluous bit of information in the report is the
Assembly and Senate Districts for each school and their respective Legislators.
To make sense of this Report, I think that one has to look beyond
the specific information to the overall intent of the piece. As a result the Report can be viewed for what
it truly is….a piece of propaganda that the Governor is using to bolster his
Educational Reform Agenda and what some have described as its “draconian”
solutions for the problems in our educational system. This Report is biased and slanted but offers
just enough credible information to make the reader believe that it’s valid. It’s also difficult to refute statistics,
especially if as a layman you have no extensive knowledge of the subject. Even the format -- tables, charts,
documentation etc. can be intimidating and difficult to argue with. Propaganda is intended to present a compelling
argument to support the maker’s claims while omitting alternative conclusions
in the analyses of the problem.
For example, the Report posts numbers on the breakdown of
the minority status and poverty of the student population in the “failing”
schools. What’s striking about these
statistics is that in the vast majority of the schools, the percentage of minority
students ranges from 90 to 98% and the percentage of free lunch recipients ranges
from high 80% to low 90%. These
statistics are important as they confirm recent reports about the high
incidence of segregation in New York’s public schools and the high poverty
rate. The Governor’s plan does little to
address these disparities, however, or consider the known relationship between
poverty and achievement. Further, far
from being a question of spending too much money in our schools, a recent
report has raised the question of the lack of equity in State educational
funding.
The ELA and Math scores are another example of how “some”
information is used to make a point about the dismal proficiency scores. There is no analysis of the changes in
testing tools or cut scores (the passing grade) that have occurred repeatedly
over the last ten years. Nor is there
any discussion about the most recent changes in the ELA and Math tests due to
the adoption of the Common CORE Standards.
In fact, the State Education Department predicted in 2013 that there
would be a high failure rate on the new Common CORE ELA and Math tests because
of these changes. The result was that
the statewide passing rate was 31.3% for ELA and 31.2% for math. And guess what? The 2014 statewide test scores showed a
minuscule increase, 31.4% and 35.8% respectively. The over-reliance on standardized tests as THE
measure of achievement has ignited a test-refusal/save public education movement
-- of parents, educators, politicians, school board members and others -- across
this state and across this nation. The
Report doesn't examine this backlash nor does it explain that ALL children,
regardless of learning ability or English language capability, take the same
test! Is this truly a measure of student
achievement for all students?
There are other examples of why we should look at this
report with skepticism. But, the moral
of this story is that the art of propagandizing is alive and well. “The State
of New York’s Failing Schools” is propaganda that distorts information for the
purpose of promoting the Governor’s educational reform agenda. I urge readers to learn about this agenda,
which advocates legislative authority for the appointment of a Receiver to take
over “failing schools and districts; the creation of more charters; an even
more restrictive teacher evaluations process and other tactics designed to
weaken the teaching profession; continued excessive administration of
standardized tests and the ultimate dismantling of public education. Make your own conclusions but get the full
information so you can make informed decisions.
Don’t settle for the propaganda!
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