New Haven Independent

Can He Work Education Magic?

by Melissa Bailey | June 9, 2009 7:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (37)

(Updated) Though he has but one year of classroom experience teaching in a prep school, Garth Harries was welcomed as the man New Haven can count on to turn around public education.

The 36-year-old Wunderkind made his debut performance at Monday night’s full Board of Education meeting. He was roundly welcomed and officially hired as the man who’ll usher in a new era of school reform.

In a two-minute speech, Harries explained why he’s leaving a high-powered post with the NYC school system, where he oversaw an extensive school-building initiative, for New Haven.

“There is a great foundation in this district,” said Harries, “and there is also a leadership that’s setting ambitious goals.” (Click on the play arrow to watch his speech.)

Harries’ official title will be the assistant superintendent for portfolio and performance management. The job was created last month to oversee plans for far-reaching school reform, including closing the achievement gap in five years. Mayor John DeStefano has made school reform a centerpiece of his reelection campaign; the school system recently revealed the broad outline of a three-tiered “Portfolio School Initiative”, which would shift accountability onto individual schools. All the reforms the school system is talking about, including merit-based pay and closing failing schools, are still proposals, and must be agreed to first by a skeptical teacher’s union.

Schools chief Reggie Mayo said now that the “bare bones,” the “broad overview” of reform have been laid out, Harries will flesh out and implement the details.

The board promptly approved Harries’ appointment with a 5-0 vote with little discussion.

“This is the first piece of meat that we’re putting on the bones,” said board member Michael Nast, continuing Mayo’s metaphor.

In his brief speech, Harries quipped that he wouldn’t take offense to being called “meat” on bones.

Harries said he was drawn to New Haven by what he called the district’s strong foundation, built on the city’s “state of the art buildings” and data-driven learning, and by the school system’s vision for reform. He said he was convinced that the New Haven Public Schools are committed to making changes, and that the broad outline of those changes coincides with the work he’s done in New York.

“The structure of that is so consistent with my first idea of what needs to happen in public schools,” he said. “That is, that the school is the unit that matters, for teachers and kids, that’s the place that people learn. What every parent wants is a good school to send their kids. That doesn’t mean every school needs to be the same; it does mean every school needs to be good.”

Harries will begin work on July 6. He’ll make a $140,000 salary; a significant cut from his last post, where he acted as a cabinet member to the New York City chancellor of schools. In his six years at the NYC education department, Harries focused on an effort to build small schools in poorer neighborhoods. He said he oversaw the creation of over 330 district public schools and over 60 charter schools.

Harries will be returning to New Haven after getting his undergraduate degree from Yale University. He later earned a law degree from Stanford Law School; worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company; and directed economic development projects in poor neighborhoods in Philadelphia. He also did a stint in politics, coordinating a Democratic field operation in Pennsylvania during the 1996 presidential campaign.

Classroom Time

He has one year of teaching experience, as a high school history and math teacher at the Vail Mountain School in Colorado.

When the New Haven post was created, Mayo elicited some concern by saying he wouldn’t require the new school reform czar to have teaching experience.

“If the reform plan is all about accountability, how can you ask this person to evaluate teachers if he or she hasn’t done any teaching?” asked Dave Cicarella, president of the teacher’s union at that meeting. Board member M. Ann Levett agreed with him that a person would be best qualified if they had walked in a teacher’s “moccasins.”

Harries defended his skill set Monday.

“It’s absolutely right that in doing this work, you have to experience the role of teachers,” he said. He conceded he has little comparable classroom experience — his one-year teaching gig at the elite prep school was a far cry from the New York or New Haven school districts.

“I don’t compare it to the experience that urban teachers have,” he said. However, “what’s important is the degree of empathy and understanding of teachers,” he said. He said his wife is a former schoolteacher, and he’ll be surrounded by top staff on Mayo’s team who have a lot of experience teaching in city schools. The new post, he said, will rely upon an understanding of how school “systems” work, something he’s got six years of experience with.

“Frankly, an external perspective to New Haven and its schools is an opportunity for innovation,” he said.

Harries faced a similar line of questioning when he took over his most recent NYC post, tasked with reforming special education. Special education advocates fought his appointment because he didn’t have experience in special ed.

Reached Tuesday morning, Cicarella still had reservations.

“Basically, he has no teaching experience,” said Cicarella. “This seems to be kind of the trend, that they use more management-type people” in top administrative roles, people who “want to run school systems like a business.” Sometimes those people do a good job; sometimes they don’t, he said.

Cicarella said he understands that Harries won’t directly evaluate the teachers or the principals, but “there’s still some concern” that he’ll oversee those reforms “without having any knowledge of what the teachers do.”

Levett, however, said her concerns were allayed. She said while a candidate with more teaching experience would be “desirable,” “my preference is that he has the kind of experience doing what he will be doing,” which is “moving schools to a new level of accountability.”

“I feel very comfortable with that,” she said.

Harries was also welcomed by the Wilbur Cross PTO and the parent activist group Teach Our Children.

“Mr. Harries has a reputation of building strong partnerships with parents and community organizations,” said Claudia Bosch, a TOC leader, in a statement distributed Monday night. The group asked for input in creating the “map” for reform.

Harries’ first task will be to focus on boosting test scores above state averages, according to schools spokeswoman Michelle Wade. “This will require honest assessment and tough decisions about how to implement a school-based management model, achieve and maintain the highest quality of teachers, and determination how best to address the lowest performing schools, be it closing them and reopening them as local charter schools or implementing other improvements to enhance educational opportunities for its students.”

Harries said he’s up to the task.

“New Haven has a shot at being the first district [in the nation] to close the achievement gap,” he said. He plans to flesh out the details of a school reform plan and have it ready to be implemented in September, 2010.

He said he intends to stick with New Haven for the long haul.

“School reform is a long-term endeavor,” he said. “My intention is to live a career here.”

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Comments

Posted by: City Hall | June 9, 2009 10:04 AM

What a brilliant way for City Hall to take the heat off Dr. Mayo and the Mayor. Mr. Harries your a pawn in a cruel game of chess that has allowed a generation of youths not to be educated, you won't be able to make a change since downtown has no interested in educating our inner city kids.

Posted by: Pedro d'Ibazo | June 9, 2009 10:08 AM

Welcome, Mr. Harries, and best of luck to you in your new job. New Haven has tons of potential--let's bring it out!

Posted by: Reform! | June 9, 2009 10:10 AM

1) Promote this guy on spec;
2) Fire Mayo and his entire staff;
3) Promote charter schools and school vouchers;
4) Vote King Johnny out.

Posted by: Melissa Bailey | June 9, 2009 10:39 AM

I updated the story to include Dave Cicarella's comments.

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | June 9, 2009 11:29 AM

This is a great choice.

To City Hall: Its ok to be sceptical. The mayor and Supt. have earned our scepticism. But we must give them credit when they take positive steps for school quality. This move is a good one. If later they pull the rug out from under him, THEN we can hammer away. But lets show our support for this bold hire. Harries is not some wet-behind-the-ears kid with no experience, and he is certainly not a crony.

To Cicarella: Harries' proven track record in NYC and the accolades that he has received from his former boss, Joel Klein are pretty good proof points.

As for the role of the union, I sincerely hope that the NHFT does not intend to be obstructionist with the mayor on these and other reforms.

We need:

- A longer school day;
- A longer school year;
- Teacher and administrator compensation based on merit and not longevity;
- The creation of more state and local charter schools to take up the slack until district schools can produce consistently great results;
- The closure and reconstitution of hopelessly performing schools.

I truly hope the union embraces these changes. It would be good for children and good for the teaching profession.

Lastly, is anyone aware that when a child transfers from the district to a charter school, that the money does not transfer with the child? Thats right, the district actually gets to KEEP the funding for that pupil as if he or she were still in the district! And the charter school only gets 75% of the cost of that child from the state resulting in the taxpayers paying 175% of actual cost for each charter school student in the state. Talk about low hanging fruit for the budget hawks. Where are Harry David and Jeffrey Kerekes when you need them?

Posted by: stptia | June 9, 2009 1:17 PM

#1
"focused on an effort to build small schools in poorer neighborhoods. He said he oversaw the creation of over 330 district public schools and over 60 charter schools."

ummm. hello - we already have the school building thing down pat. His "proven track record" has nothing to do with what his new job decription entails. He's here to fix academics not leaky roofs!

#2
"he'll be surrounded by top staff on Mayo's team who have a lot of experience teaching in city schools."

ummm. hello - Mayo and his top staff can't figure out what to do - that's why they're bringing in Mr. Harris. Don't look for any help there.

Until we cut loose Mayo the situation will never get any better in New Haven.

Good luck Mr. Harris. Welcome to the suck!

Posted by: NHPS Teacher | June 9, 2009 2:20 PM

STPTIA: #1 The smaller schools "built" in NYC did not necessarily go into new buildings. In many/most cases, large comprehensive schools were split up into smaller schools, within the same building. Mr. Harries' previous job was not part of a construction program.

#2 I agree completely.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | June 9, 2009 3:41 PM

He was a puppet for Gloomberg,Now He will be a puppet for King John!!!!

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | June 9, 2009 3:56 PM

Check this out Pro or Con charter schools http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/video-pros-and-cons-of-charter-schools

Posted by: Been Called Worse | June 9, 2009 7:38 PM

Having worked for both DeStefano and Bloomberg (although not in any Education-related capacity), I will be reading with great interest how Mr. Harris adapts to New Haven's style of government management.

In my experience, the Bloomberg administration sets goals/milestones/desired outcomes, and lets each agency head manage (priorities, personel, budget, etc) as they see fit to achieve those outcomes. Statistics and metrics weigh in heavily on executive management's success.

New Haven is a different animal, for better or worse. BOE is somewhat of an anomaly amongst city agencies, but I would assume there is still more hands-on direction from the Mayor as in other departments.

I disagree for the most part with Mr. Cicarella's opinion that Harris need a teacher's background to manage this new initiative. Of course it would be a good frame of reference to have, but the skillset and leadership required to implement this ambitious of a plan is far greater in scope than one would receive from a teacher's experience.

In any case, best of luck to Mr. Harris and NHPS on this burgeoning initiative.

Posted by: Disgruntled Yalie Parent | June 9, 2009 8:43 PM

Some Observations.

At 36 this guy is a geriatric compared to DeStefano's usual wunderkind, average age 26, 5 months, 23 days, 2 hours, 12 minutes and 5.2 seconds. Gotta keep competitive, ya know.

When I heard his name, Garth Harries, I immediately thought of Darth Vader.

Has taken a significant salary cut from his last post to $140,000. He was on the way out in NYC and was desperate for anything he could get.

'My intention is to live a career here'. Johnny Boy is Mayor for life. He got that one right.

'New Haven has a shot at being the first district in the nation to close the achievement gap'. Real easy, just dumb the smart kids down.

Thank you. I'll pay for Hopkins.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | June 10, 2009 7:21 AM

A friend send this site to me from New York On Mr.Harries.http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2009/06/garth-harries-leaves-doe-as-ed-notes.html

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | June 10, 2009 9:05 AM

Three-fifths, I read your link to "Norm @ Ednotes". The writer seems to think that ALL of Klein's disciples are "lemons". The blogger clearly has a thing against Joel Klein's version of ed reform. His observations are nonsense. Under Klein (and due to folks like Harries) NYC has cut its own achievement gap in half.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | June 10, 2009 6:07 PM

Fix The Schools
If you think that his observations are nonsense than you can hear him on 6/11/2009 at 7:00P.M.
on WWW.WBAI.ORG On a show called Education at the cross road.Check it out and let me know what you think about him then.

Posted by: Concerned | June 10, 2009 10:18 PM

I think you all should read the article at the other end of threefifths link. Copy it and then paste it into your explorer address bar. It sheds some light on what I've already said: "Nothing Changes in New Haven." To get rid of Mayo you'll have to get rid of the Mayor at the next election. DeStephano will pull every homebound invalid out of bed, every mentally disabled adult will be bullied or conjolled to the polls to pull a lever for him. You have to show up at the polls en mass and get it done. He's lost touch with reality.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | June 11, 2009 4:01 AM

Concerned
I am glad that you took a good look at that link my friend had send to me.If fact for those of you
who talk about more charter schools,Here are some
more links on the dark side of Charter School. Read the one on Charter School Admissions As Hard as Harvard,Also Charter Schools Who Gets To Count The Money. And Charters Leave Many High Needs Public School Students Behind.

http://coveringeducation.org/schoolstories09/?p=1291

http://coveringeducation.org/schoolstories09/?p=1902

http://coveringeducation.org/schoolstories09/?p=1951

Please fell free to paste this on to your explorer
address bar and check this.Also my friend said that if he finds the time,He will come up here and debate Mr.Harries.

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | June 11, 2009 10:17 AM

ThreeFifths,

I have to address your characterization of charters' "dark side".

First, the articles that you have cited ARE fairly balanced and are accurate. To be clear though, they are all about the charter growth in NYC which is a different situation then in New Haven. But, they are fair nonetheless. And because they are portraying some of the situations in a fair way, people can decide whether charters are a good thing or a bad thing. I happen to think that they are a good development. Here are some of my reasons using reference to the linked articles.

The first article points out how difficult and anxiety-producing it is for parents to win a lottery selection into a public charter. Demand for charter enrollment exceeds capacity by a significant factor and so at lottery time there are a good many parents nervously waiting to see whether or not their child has won "a golden ticket". This is all true, and in CT., the public charter lotteries reflect this same unsettling dynamic.

Having been to several lottery drawings myself, I can tell you that there is nothing more depressing than to see 5 out of every 6 parents walking out of a gymnasium with tears in their eyes having been "unlucky". That a low income parent has to rely on long odds to send their child to a good school is a terrible shame on our country, our state and our city.

But what I find incomprehensible is that while everyone agrees that no child should have to depend on luck to receive a good education in our country, there are some folks who actually think the solution is to GET RID of high performing, gap-closing charter schools altogether so that everyone is treated the same. In other words, if we all can't have high quality education NOW and TOGETHER, everyone has to continue to live with crappy education! This is distressing logic. Let me suggest that instead of rolling back the clock, lets all work hard to create MORE high quality schools, not less. That is what Mr. Harries has done in NYC, and what I believe he intends to do in New Haven.

The second article questions the financial accountability of charters. The problem with this part of the debate is that the people who yell most loudly that charters should "play by the same rules" as government schools do, are either the same bureaucrats who are in charge of compliance or, are union folks who would like to put any obstacle or a barrier in the way of the growth of the charter school model.

Suffice it to say that a focus on bureaucratic compliance is not the same thing as a focus on true public accountability. In fact, it is clear that charters are MORE accountable to the public without having to live with some of the same "rules" as government run schools. In the end with all of the process and red tape that government run schools have to live with, very few public schools in New Haven have ever been shut down due to poor fiscal or academic performance. And as we all know, if charters don't do what they are supposed to do, they very quickly can be placed on probation and then even closed down. This is as it should and will be.

The third article is kind of a different version of the first article; the age-old question of whether offering higher quality choices to some is good for society, or whether it is more important ("fairer") to seek to have no differentiation at all. In other words set the bar low for everyone.

I believe in the power of regulated competition in the academic arena. In New Haven for instance, the mayor has said that if not for the example of Achievement First, we wouldn't be embracing the kinds of reforms that are on the table today. So although only a relatively small group of very fortunate students have been able to attend high performing charters, our city is now on the precipice of radical systemic reform so that ALL children will be given the opportunity to attend high quality schools. This is the power of the charter school model. It has created change by creating innovation and competition.

So I guess it comes down to whether you are in favor of creating as many high quality educational options for parents, or whether you want to keep the system just the way it is - only pour more money into it in order to achieve incremental gains.

Sorry for the long response, but you threw out some fairly provocative commentary. BTW, with all the "dark side" info. you overlooked some of the POSITIVE charter school stories on the same site. Here is one you missed.

http://coveringeducation.org/schoolstories09/?p=570

Posted by: Hood Rebel | June 11, 2009 11:48 PM

Slick Fix you make me laugh out loud.

Seriously, your skin is a little too thin. It appears like you're having a hard time sipping your own medicine of criticism, after all of these months of your ripping into Mayo.But I do understand your passion.

Just know that those of us in the hood who are serious about improving the performance of ALL kids want to make sure that all low performing schools are reconstituted King/Robinson style.

That there is zero ZERO tolerance of charters backdooring a certain population of our Newhallville kids out of charters IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCHOOL YEAR back into Bassett, Clemente, Celentano and Wexler-Grant; then charters sneakily compare themselves to these very schools where they dump their unwanted, when the test scores come out. That's just WRONG!

Also, we in the hood want to make sure that the performance bar of expectations is set high, and that students are measured based on growth toward that bar (New York City style) and not just one damn test that Charters love to brag about!

And another thing, us "hoodies" (lol) want to make sure that there is enough competition among high performing reconstituted schools and other innovations so that AF and company do not greedily monopolize the new portfolio system regardless of who your elitist high-powered backers are!

We already know that will some doing!

That's all.. Rant on!

Posted by: Tom Burns | June 12, 2009 12:11 AM

What has Mr. Harries accomplished? I hope he does more for us than he did in New York. No charter school in the US serves the same children as the public schools--sped, ell's, sociopaths, etc--once they do they are done--they send their failures back to us and they will admit it---but FIX won't---there is no doubt that this scared man who will not state who he is or how is connected to charters will continue to rant on with no evidence how charter schools are the answer----what do the charters do with the 504 kids the mentally retarded kids the special ed kids the behaviorally challenged kids the non-english speaking kids---come on --grow up fix---there is no doubt in my mind that you benefit in someway from charters---see if I believed in them --I would start my own and pay myself $300,000 a year as the CEO and show how successful my school is by not having to deal with the same issues in the public schools and getting great test scores which are the only variable that should be counted when considering the success of a school(right?)---come stand in my shoes for a month and then tell me what we should do----you are just a scared shill for charters and you blather on about nothing---Tom

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | June 12, 2009 10:24 AM

Hoodie,

Your constant claim about kicking kids out needs to be backed up with data, or else it is just BS. ...

You might want to do your own homework instead of making it up as you go along, or relying on second-hand stories and myths. I don't know what you're talking about re: "one damn test". All charters that I know focus on and talk about growth as well as absolute numbers. But the academic improvement should come over a few years and not over decades. Up until recently, that was the timeframe for the district; "30 years" of incremental improvement.

Of course it is not just about absolute numbers and test results. Ultimately it is about sending kids to college and then having them return after 4 years prepared to be a healthy and productive citizen. Tough to measure that in a test. So while I agree that our society is putting lots of reliance on testing, until colleges drop their big reliance on SAT and ACT scores, GPA and AP testing, kids need to be be able to play by the rules. If you don't, you get left behind.

Agree with you on King/Robinson. In fact, if King/Robinson continues to show dramatic gains over time, it will be even MORE of an exciting story than Amistad. Why? Because any dramatic gains in student outcomes that occur despite the constraints of the unions within the traditional system is HUGE. Principal Tracy seems like the kind of principal that really gets it. I would LOVE more King/Robinson stories. I hope she and other district principals can close the gap. We are not going to have an "all-charter" district despite your fears. Hopefully Garth Harries will help people like Ms. Tracy flourish and spread their success.

Your comment about greed and monopoly underscores your ignorance of charter finance in the state of CT. Anyone who wants to open a charter school in CT. should have their head examined because it is not a sustainable financial model. Why do you think there are only 16 charter schools in CT. after having created the charter law 15 years ago? Because the state systematically underfunds charters. But perhaps you or Burns can explain to all the "elitists" who are just looking to make a quick buck off the backs of poor students, just how concepts like "monopoly" and "greed" apply. (insert Dr. Evil style laugh here: Boooo haa-haa!)

And as for "months" of ripping into Dr. Mayo, I must correct you. Its been YEARS. Having said that, if the Supt. is now prepared to deliver on the Mayor's promise of dramatic improvement I will be his biggest fan. Its not personal, its about taking action.

And as for you Tom Burns, keep posting, man! Great teacher to refer to his students as "socio-paths". The good news Tom, is that FIX is not the only one who you can now argue about charter success. You can now call the MAYOR, who has embraced the model. Why don't you take it up with him?

But Tom, one serious point you make. There are some charters which actually recruit the toughest kids (Trailblazers in Stamford for instance). But you pose a very legitimate question about how to serve the neediest. Its important that we all focus on that.

But what do you say to the majority of parents who have kids with medium to high potential, those kids that the district has been underserving for decades? These are the kids who are reflected in the achievement gap data. What do you say to those parents who have had to watch as the potential of their children has been utterly wasted by a system (controlled by a labor union) which doesn't care about them?

In the past on these pages, you have called for more "parent involvement" as the big solution. Guess what? FIX agrees! So with more and more parents joining groups like Teach Our Children and BAEO, I look forward to a lot more parent involvement in the system!

Posted by: anon | June 12, 2009 10:25 AM

Would this reform effort have a bigger impact if the dollars were instead spent on early childhood education (age 0-8), family supports and summer enrichment... rather than more education? When does the Achievement Gap begin?

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | June 12, 2009 12:47 PM

Anon,

The achievement gap starts at birth, or even before due to mom's diet and pre-natal care. Low birth-weight and failure to thrive all are symptoms of the same set of problems.

The question that you raise is how, in an educational context do we invest resources to help change a child's life trajectory?

Ideally, its not an either or question. Of course it makes sense that that lessening family stress with more social service support can help kids academically. It also makes sense to invest in early childhood ed.

The problem is that a social services are tremendously expensive and we have never delivered them well enough to reduce the rate of poverty. Social Services without the delivery of quality education is money spent on a single generation and has no lasting impact.

And with programs like Headstart, the great pre-k experience that a child may receive is wiped out by third grade if they are trapped in a failing school like so many minority children are.

There ARE some people who are investing in all three approaches simultaneously:

http://www.hcz.org/

The jury is still out - and its tremendously expensive.

But to answer your question, I like Joel Klein's view (para-phrased):

"Some people say that we will never be able to have high quality public education in our cities without first getting rid of poverty; But I think these folks have it entirely backwards. We will never get rid of poverty UNTIL we deliver high quality education first."

Posted by: Hood Rebel | June 12, 2009 4:40 PM

Nice tactic Slick Fix;
DENY, DENY, DENY. Every principal in New Haven who has received AFs unwanted students is joining in the laughter of your brazen denials.

We in the hood hope that one of the first requests Mr. Harries make is a list of those students --with respect for their confidentiality-- interview their parents and caregivers; and then immediately order that you stop that unethical practice of weeding and backdooring students out of AF schools back into New Haven Public Schools especially after October 1st. That's just not cool!

Rant on!

Posted by: Hood Rebel | June 12, 2009 5:09 PM

BTW,
Anon and anyone else if you are interested in some real dialogue surrounding the achievement please follow check out this website:

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/03.22/11-gap.html

Posted by: Tom Burns | June 13, 2009 12:19 AM

Hood Rebel--whoever you are -- you are right on!!!! Fix actually makes some good points at times but then blows it by not understanding how charters and public schools work -- hey fix --if you really want to make a difference give me a call---860-227-6668---I will be meeting with Alex Johnston (Achievement First)next week to see if we can get on the same page---accountability is of the utmost importance--for teachers, students, parents, administrators, and elected officials---and even the charter schools with transparency on their transfers---you seem like you mean what you say, yet you haven't called me and hide behind this blog--make a difference pal and give me a call---Looking forward to meeting you--Tom

Posted by: Hood Rebel | June 14, 2009 1:16 AM

If there is any honesty in this reform process and in closing the achievement gap there must be reform in the way some charters operate as well.

In addition to reconstituting low performing schools --King/Robinson style-- we must legislate a reporting system where school districts are required to maintain and post data of students who are backdoored out of the Charter system after October 1st and during the middle of the school year.

While there is a very serious issue of student privacy and confidentiality involved here,perhaps lawmakers could develop a way to mandate that the school system blindly report the number of students over the past 5 years; and some how report these students academic achievement, behavior and attendance patterns; perhaps similar to the way free and reduced lunch is reported.

Perhaps AF and other charters will voluntarily do a blind report of the students they have transferred back to the New Haven System after Oct 1st along with blind posting these student grades attendance and behavior records.

Meanwhile the anecdotal data that is gathered from canvassing the hood, talking with families, area school leaders and students themselves tell a shocking story of the cherry picking of "kids with medium to high potential."

It is both shocking and frightening to think that decisions are made about which child has medium to high potential and which child does not have that potential. Wow!

Hope this dude, Harries, is paying attention.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | June 14, 2009 10:55 PM

Hey Check this out on Amistad High School.A parent send this to me and told me she had to put her child Back into the New Haven School System because of this.

http://nhregister.com/articles/2008/08/04/today's_stories/19885613.txt

Posted by: jim blunt | June 15, 2009 1:39 PM

New Haven has one of the worst public school systems in the country. Based on proficiency exam grades in comparison to the rest of the nation, most of New Haven's public schools rank 2 out of 10. For instance, according to www.greatschools.net, Benjamin Jepson Magnet School (supposedly one of the best schools in New Haven) ranks 2 out of 10 with virtually EVERY grade FAILING proficiency exams in EVERY single course!

What this means is that New Haven Schools present moderate to low proficiency exam scores, but when these scores are compared to the rest of the country, they are far, far worse... they are in competition for the lowest in the country.

All of this at the hands of Mayor Destephano's leadership for nearly two decades now. Does anyone else find it interesting that the second wealthiest university in the world, YALE, thrives in the same city as one of the worst school systems in our country.

Posted by: jim blunt | June 15, 2009 2:11 PM

A note on New Haven charter schools...

The Amistad Academy, along with most of the Achievement First Charter Schools in New Haven, has outstanding proficiency exam scores and is ranked 7 out of 10 based on comparison of those scores nationally.

HOWEVER, the Amistad Academy, along with most of the Achievement First Charter Schools in New Haven, is more segregated than virtually any other school in the country. All other Achievement First Charter Schools in New Haven follow this trend.

Amistad Academy demographics:
67% Black
31% Hispanic
2% White
1% Asian
1% American Indian

What century is this? 96% black and Hispanic??

I am very thankful for the educational opportunity that Achievement First is provides New Haven's less fortunate children. However, I am deeply disturbed by the culture of socio-economic and racial segregation that permeates New Haven's culture.

Posted by: jim blunt | June 15, 2009 2:16 PM

threefifths:

thanks for posting the link to the NH Register article. perhaps my previous post was a bit too optimistic about the accomplishment of Achievement First Charter Schools.

Posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS | June 15, 2009 4:09 PM

Hoodie,

I'm all for the disclosure if you can capture it somehow. BTW, I assume that you would also want to see the data on kids who are "encouraged" by their NHPS teacher, guidance counselor, or principal to apply to charter schools, or is that not as interesting to you?

If you can get the lawmakers to require that level of disclosure, perhaps you can also ask them to share the academic performance of kids who applied for a charter seat but DIDN'T get in. We've been asking for that data for years because it would help answer the age old charge against charters that they cherry-pick or cream. You see, we already know how a good many kids in charter schools zoom up the achievement ladder. What we DON'T know is how the OTHER kids did! According to you and others, since their parents applied for the lottery in the first place, these kids were self-selected and they'd be doing GREAT anywhere they went to school, right?

Threefifths,

Old news. Is that the best you got?

btw, I actually listened to your buddy Basir on the radio last week. Thank you for the link. Fascinating radio show. He had on 4 NYC teachers, all presumably had been fired for poor job performance and banished to the notorious "rubber room". All were critical of Bloomberg's control of the BOE. Basir didn't seem interested to hear even one dissenting voice or different opinion.

So for an hour they lambasted the mayor and the chancellor and even Mr. Harries (thanks to you!). They bitched about everything from losing "their rights as human beings", to it all being a racist conspiracy, to the need for more certification requirements, to the over-testing mania, to turning teachers into automatons. Heck they even criticized their own union for not standing up for them (Now you KNOW they've got to be crappy teachers if even Randi Weingartern wants you to go away!)

Not once was there any mention of the fact that for decades the New York city public schools has had an atrocious record educating poor and minority children; but no one provided an alternative plan for how NYC schould get better results. It was all about THEM, never about the kids. 3/5, you don't want teachers like this in front of children.

Question for you: What self-respecting, competent professional would sit in a "rubber room" for FIVE years, griping about being fired and just twiddling their thumbs? No one held these people there against their wills. They could have left at any moment and looked for new jobs. Why didn't they?

And finally Good Ol' Tom,

Hope your meeting with ConnCAN goes well. See if you two can work something out. Alex is a lot smarter and nicer than I am.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | June 15, 2009 5:37 PM

FixTheSchools
His show is about Education and he does take calls,Next Time Call In and Give your point of view.Second the reason why some of the teachers are in the rubber room for long periods of time is that the city is the one holding up there hearings on the charges that they have on them,So
why would you leave without a hearing.Last the mayor of New York needs to be lambasted due to the fact that this corporatist mayor just paid off the city council to vote on geting rid of term
limits,So he can run again.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/10/10/2008-10-10_change_to_mayor_bloombergs_term_limit_bi.html

And last who said that that was old news on Amistad Academy High School,In fact I also know some of the teachers at Amistad and i ask one of them if Amistad Academy High School is so good,Then why do you have your child in Hill Regional Career High School,All he did was crack a smile.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | June 15, 2009 5:44 PM

Fix The Schools

Here Is A copy of the movie the rubber room
Please click on the trailer rubber room.

http://www.rubberroommovie.com/

Posted by: hood rebel | June 15, 2009 8:54 PM

Slick Fix,

AF has the data on how their students do after they have been taught to the CMT then leave Amistad's 8th grade.

They go on to Amistad High then fail 9th grade!

http://nhregister.com/articles/2008/08/04/today's_stories/19885613.txt

Posted by: Concerned | June 16, 2009 3:37 AM

Uh, Hood, are saying these Amistad kids fail as opposed to these genius' out of NHPS. First of all, NHPS has a director level position dedicated to affecting 'social promotion' throughout the district. This person also strategizes in finding loopholes to keep low scoring kids from taking State mandated tests - using every ambiguity nuanced into the regulations. These are not nice people.

Mayo's response to these atrocities is to seek out more money instead of learning how to effectively use the resourses he already has. More money means good, impressive press releases which loll the cities parents into thinking that things are actually happening.

Given the clear limits on resourse, its pretty damn clear that achievement first has got their act together. Problems illustrated in the article you suggested are being figured out at comparitively low cost. Working smarter AND harder instead of hype. These kids will eventually win while your kids will plateau still far below achievement levels required to save the district from going into receivership. Does Mayo have a real concern about this - No, he laughs it off.

Posted by: Spedwatcher | June 27, 2009 11:44 AM

Tom Burns...please, it is no longer mentally retarded, but rather, intellectual disability. My child has ID. You speak very harshly about children, in your school, with disabilities. You should be ashamed of your unprofessional demeanor toward these (my) students.

Posted by: Tom Burns | October 14, 2009 3:39 AM

I was looking back through the old posts and I missed Spedwatcher------mentally retarded works for me--it is not harsh, it is just exact and it's ok---if it offends you though I will use your verbiage in the future--What say? Tom
And we do have socio-paths, psychopaths, and many other mental conditions as does the general population--I deal with them everyday as do our teachers---we care for them even more than the more able, but to think they don't exist is a fairytale--Tom

Can He Work Education Magic?

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