Nothing To Brag About

Today's Daily News praises the city's 70% Graduation rate.  What a joke.  It is a mystery to me and every other teacher why none of the so called reporters never bother to investigate why this graduation rate keeps going up.  And, since they never report the truth behind these rates I will do so here.

Increased graduation rates work on the see saw principle, one side goes up while the other goes down.  Put a heavy weight on the down side to keep the other rates up.   Heavy cheating raises rates.  Education in NYC high schools is becoming non existent. When a special education student with a kindergarten reading and math levels suddenly scores 80's on regents exams something is very wrong.  A look into any community college will see too many classrooms filled with remedial students.

Cheating is rampant, not only in special education, but everywhere.  Credit recover programs, boot camps and other nonsense programs raise percentages but do nothing for education. It is time for newspapers to look at why graduation rates are going up instead of praising meaningless numbers.

Newsflash

The grade fixing at John Dewey HS is not local to that school.  It is epidemic to all schools in the city.

Years ago, before I retired, I ran a credit recovery program.  I wanted standards and insisted on it.  I carefully chose 300 problems of varying difficulty and set up two online assignments.  After several weeks it became obvious that the students were not doing them.  Administration changed the two assignments adfsto one and then instead of 150 questions, only 75 were required.  Still, many kids did not do the assignments.    Those who did often had help.  Several students told me they paid others to do assignments for them.  I watched a teacher (an Assistant Principal) doing one of her student's assignments on a smart board with the entire class.  Other teachers set aside class time to let students work on these assignments instead of doing their own class work.  Students got credit for two classes in one.

John Dewey is under the microscope now but the inspection should extend throughout the city.  With the push to pass everyone, for schools to stay open and for Principals to get their big bonuses, cheating is epidemic.  It will continue until things change.  It is about time schools are getting caught.  Maybe now education will get back to the way it should be.

Inside Credit Recovery Story



The city graduation rates has gone up because of credit recovery.  I know the real scoop. The story was told to me by a teacher I met at a UFT retirement class.  Here is her story.

Before I retired, I was in charge of the global portion of a program like this.  Morally, it bothered me but I knew if I didn't do it, someone else would.  And, my only responsibility was to assign questions and to check which kids did them.

 I tried to introduce accountability.  Originally, kids were supposed to come in and take a test when the questions were done.  When the administrators saw the huge number of students involved, this was given up on.  Originally, the kids were supposed to complete two sets of questions, 150 in each set.  I spent hours picking out a variety of questions that varied in degrees of difficulty and tested all the concepts of the course.  When the assignment was due, only a handful of kids completed the assignment.  It was then cut down to 75 questions and only one set had to be completed. The program was a joke.   I saw kids who could barely complete daily homework assigned credit recovery questions in 3 subjects.  I saw an AP doing credit recovery questions on a smart board with all the students in the class giving answers and one young man entering them in.  I heard about the AP who paid teachers per session money to complete assignments with some students. I asked a boy who I knew was not a particularly good student how he finished his assignment so quickly and so well.  He smiled and I then asked who did it for him.  He told me he paid an honor student to complete work.  When administration realized the deadline was approaching and there were still too many assignments incomplete, they opened a computer room after school where the kids could get help while completing the assignment.  There were afternoons no one showed up.  One afternoon, a teacher who was already teaching late afternoon classes to kids who had completed few credits toward graduation brought her entire class to the computer room to work on this assignment.  The kids were earning double credits for no work and no education.  Needless to say, very little got done that day either.

This school, along with others have kept their graduation rates up and kept their A ratings.  The hoax is on the children and parents in New York.

New DOE

 

Thanks to Alice for sharing this on Facebook.

Maybe this is the reason so many kids are not prepared for college work.

 

Cartoon Credit



 



I had a dream that I was at a school function, enjoying a very nice meal and having a nice time.  As I got up to get a drink, I crossed paths with the Principal and the AP in charge of student affairs.  She was telling him about a student who needed credits to graduate.  The Principal gave her the okay for giving the boy 10 credits for watching Dora the Explorer.  When they saw me, they got nervous.  They asked me not to post  anything I heard and I agreed.  But, I was concerned.  I tried to think of a way to do this without breaking a promise.  Of course, there was no way and I let the matter drop.

I clearly remembered the dream when I woke up.  And, because it was only a dream, I can certainly post it here.  I post it because while no school administrators give credits for watching cartoons, they give credit for equally ridiculous things, things which have no educational value.  There are credit recovery assignments on line which kids readily admit to getting or paying others to do for them.  I watched an assistant principal doing one students assignment on a smart board while the whole class  and the teacher told him the answers to submit.  I watched a late afternoon teacher bring her class to do credit recovery while they were supposed to be with her making up other subjects.  I've heard of an AP who told kids to come to Saturday gym, sign in and then go do other assignments with tutors.  The lists go on and on.  It is comic, cartoon like, hence the Dora The Explorer dream.

Last week Newsday ran an article on low graduation rates at certain colleges around Long Island.  It was no surprise.  The schools with this extremely low rates took in the kids who graduated with cartoon diplomas and they are just not up to the work.

Farce Exposed

The Post finally printed an op ed piece that got it right.  Improved graduation rates are nothing to be proud of.  The majority of students getting diplomas today are not ready for college or career.

My remedial class in the college started with 28 students.  We are down to 20.  Out of he 20, six own books and seven hand in homework.  Many come in late and leave early.  Attendance is atrocious.  They don't know multiplication tables and tell me they" don't do fractions or decimals."  They certainly don't study.  The last test I gave had grades ranging from 0 to 71 and 0 was not even an outlier.  The majority of the grades were below 50.  It is impossible to remediate in 4 months topics that should have been studied and learned in 12 years.  It is impossible to get through to kids who see no reason to ever open a book.

The college is trying to help these kids through a special mentoring program.  They are offered extra help and counselors.  At a recent pizza lunch, the students were asked how many hours a week outside of class were spent on school work.  The majority answered two to three hours.  Homework interefered with jobs, televison, Facebook and friends.  Most are taking 12 credits, some more.  The "freak" of this group admitted to studying eight hours had close to a 4.0 index.  The mentors tried to explain why studying worked.  The students either didn't get it or didn't care.  They survived elementary school, middle school and high school without doing any work and saw no reason to start now.  Most will be gone as soon as their financial aid is used up.

This editorial in the Post is only a small start, but it is a start.  If it is truly the goal of the government to keep our country strong, something has got to give.  We did better as a nation when not everyone was pushed into college.  Even drop outs did better than the kids we are turning out today.  At least they knew they didn't get something for nothing.

Bummer



I was supposed to teach a pre-calculus class this term but after registration, I was given a remedial class. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the lower end work and I definitely don't have anything against the students but teaching this class is sometimes so depressing.

A remedy should heal, and should right a wrong.  But, how do you fix wrongs wrought by twelve years of inadequate education in just four months?  These students don't need a fix, they need an education.  They have been deprived of one for almost their entire lives. This emphasis on NCLB and teaching to the test has not taught them basic facts and it has not taught them how to think and process material.  To keep their schools afloat, Principals have instituted so many credit recovery programs that failing kids know they don't need to do a thing, or even show up for class for years and then, at the end, they will have a chance to get four years worth of credits in one year.  Believe me, I have seen it and, I am embarrassed to say, have been a party to it. (If I didn't do it, someone else would have.)  Several years ago, I had a class of seniors who had passed exactly one math class before they got to me.  I had them in a double period.  At the same time, many were going to night school and getting credit for the exact same class with a different code attached.  Kids would sleep through day school because they were tired from night time classes.  Then they would do their day time homework in night time classes.  The biggest farce was 27 out of 28 passed the regents that year.  I warned them that although they would graduate, they still had no math knowledge.  Six years later, there are some still floating around the community college trying to get though the remedial class.  Most have dropped out.

Another problem is that the kids come in expecting everything to be handed to them on a silver platter, like it was done in high school.  They miss exams and expect make ups.  They do not work without review sheets and other hand outs.  They are excessively late and absent.  They don't do homework.  And, they always expect to be given a second chance.  Last time I taught the class a young woman handed in a blank final and didn't understand why I wouldn't give her an incomplete instead of an F in the class.  High school has trained her to expect second, third, fourth,..., hundred,....thousand chance.

Then there are the ones who don't belong in remedial but screwed up the entrance exam.  Everything is so easy for them and I always feel bad about wasting their time and money (financial aid iis their money) on a course they don't need.  It is sad that there is no way out.

Lastly, the ones that break my heart are the good students who just can't get the work no matter how hard they work or how many hours of tutoring they sit through.  Face it, people are different, have different abilities and not everyone is meant to pursue academics.

The hardest thing is passing the borderline student.  Once they get through remedial, they move on to a class where they are expected to have basic algebraic skills.  Like a fish out of water, they can't survive and many don't.  I see this happening all the time.

Arthur Goldstein wrote a great opinion piece in today's Daily News about the demise of education under Bloomberg's reign of terror.  It will take at least an entire generation to repair the damage he has done to the students of NYC.

Media Is Finally Seeing The Truth Behind Credit Recovery



The media has finally woken up to the sham of credit recovery.  Oh, the stories I could tell...I've seen kids pay others to do courses for them and I've seen teachers dedicate their own classrooms to credit recovery.

How can any intelligent person believe that a child who could not do the work for while sitting in class will be able to take the next class, take a full load of classes and then complete credit recovery for 4 additional classes at the same time is beyond me. I've seen course loads of credit recovery that alone would take at least 20 hours a week and that 20 hours is beyond the regular school day.  If anyone bothered to look at the crazy assignments we hand kids, they would see what a farce this is.

And then these kids go to college and expect the same kind of treatment. 

Sleepers Who Woke Up



These two kids slept their weight their way through high school, occasionally failing classes and then making them up the following term.  Luckily for them, no one said, "Poor baby.  Do these 75 problems online and you can make up the credit" or "Go to summer school for two weeks, just show up and the credit will be yours."  These kids were forced to take real classes and to do something that would probably be considered capital punishment today--they were forced to show competence in the subjects they failed.

I said these two kids were lucky and they were.  Both sleepers made it through high school and graduated with a diploma that meant something.  Both went on to college.  One is now a doctor, doing her residency at a major hospital in Queens.  The other is an aeronautical engineer, working for NASA.  Both of these kids are close to 30 years old, one of the last generation to get a real high school education.

We might have higher graduation rates today, but the late bloomers, like these kids, will not be so successful.  (Even kids who did the right thing will have a hard time do to the lack of education they received in high school.)  Pursuing a college education without the proper foundation will insure their failure, something I see every day.  How long will it take for the powers that be to realize this?  How many generations will be lost until things change?

More Credit Recover Thoughts



There was a question on this year's algebra regents that asked what would happen to the median and the mode of a group of test scores if year grade was increased by three points.

A young man who scored a 92 on his credit recovery assignment answered:

"The mean becomes the median and the median becomes the mode."

Yep, let's pass him.  This kid has a real understanding of mathematics.

Credit recovery thoughts

Janice was one of last year's algebra kids.  She wasn't in class very often and when she did show up, she didn't do much. Calls home and to her guidance counselor did nothing to get her to do what was required to get her to pass.

On the very last day of school Janice came to me and told me the reason for her poor attendance.  Her mom was very sick and Janice thought she might die.  To a fourteen year old, on the verge of losing her beloved, solving algebraic equations was about as meaningful as a thermal underwear in Caribbean.

Fast forward to today.  Janice came to see me and told me her mom is doing much better.  Janice too, is doing much better.  She is passing all her classes and is even talking about becoming a pediatrician, a pretty good ambition for a kid who washed out during her freshman year! 

I hope and pray Janice will be able to follow her dream.. The biggest obstacle in her path will be credit recovery.  Instead of giving Janice the courses she needs, she will be allowed to do a series of questions on the computer and then will be awarded credit for everything she failed in the past.  Notice, I said credit and nothing about knowledge. With this sort of education how can she be prepared for college?  And, if she can't do college, she certainly can't go to medical school and the closest she will

Credit Recovery Success Story (I hope)

I had my doubts when this young man walked in for credit recovery help.  His tattooed arms and his demeanor didn't strike me as someone who wanted help, but someone who wanted answers.  But, I didn't judge and sat down next to him and offered help.

He was clueless for the first few problems.  But, instead of just wanting answers, he politely listened to me explaining all the choices and how to eliminate wrong answers.  I realized that math was not his subject and his background was weak.  I spent several minutes talking to him, finding out that he likes sports.  I told him that gym was my weakest class and that gym intimidated me more than math scared him.  I let him know straight out that I respected his ability to succeed in an area that was out of my reach.  We continued doing problems and before I knew what was going on, he was answering them on his own.  He worked steadily for two hours and when he left, he promised to return to complete the assignment.

I'm not a credit recovery fan, in fact, I don't even believe it should be done.  But, by giving him credit, this boy was sitting and learning.  We both felt good when he left.  I just hope some of the knowledge stays with him and he passes the regents on June 16.

Do It Right In The First Place

James came to me and asked why he still had a credit recovery assignment.  He said he did the last one and was sure he passed.  I checked and found it was incomplete.  When I told him, he said, "Ms, I stopped when I answered enough questions to pass."  I told him that wasn't good enough, he had to complete the assignment and since he didn't, he will have to start again.  He didn't think that was fair since he only had about 6 or 7 left on the original.  "Too bad", I said, "you should have done it right in the first place."  He left angry.  I don't know whether he will do it or not and frankly, I don't care.  These kids expect the world handed to them on a silver platter and I'm not serving.

(pcture is from fireworks 2011 Sea Cliff)

Doing My Best



I am not a big fan of credit recovery but I have a soft spot in my heart for kids who are taking it seriously and are really trying to earn back the credits they need.  I've been talking to kids who need and want the help and have been giving as much as I can.

Maybe these kids should have done things differently in the beginning or maybe they just couldn't grasp the material.  Either way, I'm doing my best to turn this job I took for money into a meaningful experience for them and me.

Clueless Cathie



Clueless Cathie is opening her mouth again.  This time she is visiting schools and making observations and comments about things she knows nothing about.  She is still spouting that nonsense about how class size doesn't make a difference.  She has never compared learning in a room of 20 to a room of 34, so how can she possibly know what works best?  She claimed a five page research paper is not much of a research paper but I wonder if she spent any time speaking to the teacher and finding out exactly what went into the paper.   And she talked about principal leadership, saying "I mean, it sounds silly, but occasionally I’ll see a principal walk by some, like, crunched up piece of paper," she said. "Ninety-nine percent of the time they lean down and pick it up. For me it’s about leadership at the top."  I can't figure out whether she things picking up the paper is a good thing or not.  (Probably excepts the teachers to do garbage patrol.)

Clueless is worried about the number of high school students that are not prepared for college.  She doesn't talk about fudged scores, credit recovery, seat time or boot camps.  Her big issue is the teacher.  "What are we going to do with teacher effectiveness, teacher evaluations, having the best teachers in every single class?"   She's  the boss.  She should walk into my algebra class, see kids who can barely sit still for 30 minutes, don't do homework, don't pay attention and show me how to be more effective.  She should be able to come up with a solution that will bring these kids up to par in a few short months.

Packemin is a great high school.  Today I found out one of my former students got in to Princeton, Yale, U Penn, Cornell and Columbia.  Two of my AP calculus girls got into Sophie Davis Medical Program.  Another won the Science Fair Competition and will be going California to represent NYC in the next round.  About 400 students were inducted into ARISTA tonight.  We have effective teachers but we are only this effective because we have fantastic kids.  Put the same teachers in some of these failing schools and I guarantee you the results will not be the same.  And, many of us are not effective with the kids we teach at Packemin.  (I couldn't do a thing to help New Boy.)  But Clueless Cathie doesn't know about these things.  She paid a visit to Packemin, arrived an hour late and spent a short time in the Principal's office talking to a select group of students.  Clueless Cathie didn't walk around and see Packemin.  She didn't see the kids falling through the cracks because the guidance counselors have caseloads so large they cannot get to know them.  She didn't see the kids the teachers can't help because there are just too many around.  Clueless Cathie needs to stop talking about teacher effectiveness and look for some other ways to help the children of New York if she is sincere in her desire to leave a legacy of real education reform.

We Are Graduating Illiterates

Finally, what I and thousands of others have been saying for years. Anyone who doubts the validity of this should just pay a visit to any community college math class. And, it does not have to be a remedial one, although I will begin this post with a few thoughts on some of these.

Last semester I taught a second term remedial class at the college. We began with close to 30 students. From the 30, I managed to hold on to about 20 (and this took great effort). Out of the 20, approximately 8 got through and this was better than average. Many of the students had no idea as to what was expected. They were used to make up exams, extra credit, calculators and being allowed to be out as much as they wanted. They were used to not doing homework. In other words, they got used to being passed for doing nothing and they expected this to continue.

Now, the first real class for credit, the one that comes right after the remedial course, the course taken if the student scored at least a 75 on the algebra regents. Those students coming from the remedial class usually do okay in this class, not great but they manage to get through. Those coming from high school are usually not so fortunate. More often than not, this class is taken at least twice, sometimes more. The students cannot factor, or graph. They cannot even handle signed numbers, yet the high schools have determined they are competent enough to graduate. Even the pre-calculus course that comes next finds these students struggling. The foundation they needed in high school and earlier was never built. Like the buildings built on swamps, these students are tumbling down.

The high schools had to do this. If not, they would have had lower graduation rates and the city would have shut them down. Luckily, the colleges still have standards.

So now more money is being spent to generate reports showing what every high school and every college teacher has known for years. What a joke! What a travesty! What a waste! There will still be no real plan in place to help. Yes, there will be a change in curriculum and there will be something else to hold teachers accountable for but there will be nothing else. Nothing changes but the name of the game.

When Graduation Meant Something Great Things Happened

From an article about Bill Cosby in Today's Newsday:

5. He's sometimes credited as Dr. William H. Cosby Jr., Ed.D., referring to the doctorate in education he received in 1976 from the University of Massachusetts. But his father's brother, classical-music teacher Samuel Russell Cosby, preceded him in doctoral distinction. "He has his doctorate from Columbia University," Cosby told Newsday in 1995.

10. He flunked 10th grade twice at an advanced school, and returned to a regular school where he flunked again and then dropped out. He completed work for his diploma while serving in the U.S. Navy.

And, for all you people out there that think failure is not an option, think again. Imagine what would happened if Cosby had just been pushed along? He would have gotten that meaningless high school diploma and gone on to do nothing with his life. Instead, he joined the navy, finished the credits needed to graduate high school, then went on to college, received a doctorate and became the great man he is today. He probably is very grateful that credit recovery, boot camp and seat time were not options for graduation in his day.

Teachers, just because the child is not performing now doesn't mean he will never perform. There is always hope.