Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave his State of the City speech recently and included some unexpected changes for the New York City schools that could profoundly change their current operation. Though the pre-speech release noted that his speech would focus on tax cuts, many were caught by surprise on what could be called only his second reorganization of the New York City schools.
The announcement was followed by a prepared public relations campaign of press briefings and New York City schools' chancellor Joel Klein spoke to business leaders the following day. Here are the major points of the mayor's announcement:
• The New York City schools would remain public and under the control of the Department of Education. The department will continue to be responsible for setting educational standards, allocating funds to the New York City schools, and hiring/firing New York City schools' principals.
• Principals will be empowered to control key issues within their New York City schools. They will have more autonomy, beginning with the next school year, managing their individual budgets and staffing, as well as determining the best teaching approach for their individual New York City schools. Principals will be expected to partner with a support organization.
Along with empowerment and more autonomy comes more accountability. An array of measurements will be employed to ensure the principals are succeeding in their New York City schools. Student grades will be accessible to parents, one of the most effective forms of accountability. New York City schools' principals who do well will enjoy additional funding for their schools.
Mayor Bloomberg sees this move of empowerment and accountability as a longtime corporate success tool — succeed or lose your job. Others worry he may be losing sight of the learning and teaching aspect of education.
• Support organization partnerships will be established for each of the New York City schools. Each support organization comes from a private group, such as nonprofit agencies and colleges/universities. The support organization will provide professional development support to the principal, his teachers and staff. It will help interpret test results and other statistics, as well as identify helpful teaching approaches for the individual New York City schools.
• Four years ago, when the mayor took control of the New York City schools, he created ten regions. Now that they have served their purpose and completed their work, they are being eliminated. The mayor did not address, however, what group or agency would be responsible for the administration of high schools and admissions for middle schools, previously handled by the regions.
• Chancellor Klein has long criticized the New York City schools' tenure policy of three years on the job and a teacher qualifies for tenure, making it difficult to fire ineffective teachers. Under the mayor's new proposal, the tenure standards will become more difficult but not impossible to achieve. He intends to work with the United Federation of Teachers (the teachers' union for the New York City schools), whose consent is required for any major changes in tenure policy. The mayor aims to use tenure to improve teacher quality with salary increases, develop a program for experienced “lead teachers” to mentor others, and a housing bonus for experienced teachers in teaching fields of short supply.
• Lastly, the mayor is looking at changing the New York City schools' funding formula. He wants to fund each child rather than each New York City schools, believing the current policy is extremely complex and unfair. Each of the New York City schools would receive $3,000 to $3,750 per child with additional funding for poverty-level, non-English speaking, special education, and/or low academic performance-level children. There may possibly be extra funding for the gifted and talented children.
Comments and discussions already have commenced from parents, special interest groups, and advisory councils/committees. It is difficult to see how all of the mayor's changes will benefit the New York City schools' students directly. Parents especially have an interest is seeing smaller class sizes and keeping their children from dropping out of school — none of which was mentioned in the mayor's announcement.
New York Prep School
As with all public schools across the nation, New York schools have standards in reading and mathematics that must be met by its students. Unfortunately, many students fall short of the standards and their families are not in a position financially to provide the extracurricular tutoring that is required to improve the skills of their children. The New York schools do not want to see any child at any grade left behind and provides the solution.
The New York schools have student academic intervention programs that provide the needed tutoring, counseling and teaching of skill sets. The New York schools services are a supplement to the general teaching curriculum.
New York schools students who are academically at risk and need assistance in the areas of English language arts, mathematics, social studies, and/or science are candidates for intervention. The New York schools support may address the areas of guidance, counseling, attendance and study skills, all of which affect a student's ability to perform well academically.
The New York schools academic intervention may be offered during regular school hours or during an extended school day or year, depending upon the school. New York schools educators determine the need for intervention. It is not something that may be requested or refused by parents, though their cooperation can make a difference between success and failure of the program.
If a child in the New York schools is determined to need such intervention, the parents are notified in writing, telling them of the commencement of the program for their child, what services will be provided, the reason intervention is required, and the consequences for the student of not achieving the expected performance levels. New York schools communication with the parents is ongoing and encourages their cooperation and participation in the program. There is at least one consultation a semester with the classroom teacher and other New York schools professional staff, who are assisting their child. Progress reports are given the parents at least on a quarterly basis. Additionally, information is provided to the parents on how to work with their child to improve academic achievement, how to monitor the child's progress, and how to work with New York schools educators to improve their child's achievement.
New York schools student academic intervention is determined as follows:
• Kindergarten through grade three —
1)Student lacks reading readiness, including knowledge of sounds and letters, and is based on appraisal by the New York schools; OR
2)Student is at risk of not meeting the New York schools' required performance level in English language arts and/or mathematics. This may include diagnostic screening or vision, hearing and physical disabilities; and limited English proficiency determination.
• Grades four through eight —
1) Student scores below the state required performance level on one or more New York schools elementary assessments in English language arts, mathematics, social studies or science; OR
2) Student is at risk of not achieving New York schools standards in English language arts, mathematics, social studies and/or science. This may include diagnostic screening or vision, hearing and physical disabilities; OR
3) Student is limited English proficient and at risk of not achieving New York schools standards in English language arts, mathematics, social studies and/or science by using English or their native language. This may include diagnostic screening or vision, hearing and physical disabilities.
• Grades nine through twelve —
1) Student scores below the New York schools required performance level on one or more state intermediate assessments in English language arts, mathematics, social studies or science; OR
2) Student scores below New York schools required performance level on any one of the state examinations that are required for graduation; OR
3) Student is at risk of not achieving New York schools standards in English language arts, mathematics, social studies and/or science. This may include diagnostic screening or vision, hearing and physical disabilities; OR
4) Student is limited English proficient and at risk of not achieving New York schools standards in English language arts, mathematics, social studies and/or science by using English or their native language. This may include diagnostic screening or vision, hearing and physical disabilities.
The New York schools student academic intervention is ended, when a student successfully meets the state's required performance level in the areas he or she was having difficulty. Though school standards are now the norm across the nation, the New York schools are going one step beyond to ensure students meet those standards.
Patricia Hawke has sinced written about articles on various topics from Education, Food And Drink and Education Toys. Patrica Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit. Patricia Hawke's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.
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