The First Joel Klein Generation

[proud2BlibKansan]

I'm an English teacher, so perhaps my math is not so great. But, if it's correct in this case, I'm thinking that current ninth graders would have been the first children to spend their entire elementary and middle school careers in schools run, ultimately, by Joel Klein. So let's look at the current ninth graders and see if we can give credence to the claim that New York City schools improved dramatically and unequivocally under Klein.

Today, during a meeting at TMS2, I listened to a ninth-grade teacher lament the state of her freshmen. Looking over some curricular goals, she said that she liked the high expectations, but expressed concern that so many of her students needed well over an hour to read a short story or needed explicit instruction in how to write a complete sentence. High expectations are all well and good, but these expectations seemed, to her, to be quite far from what her students could realistically achieve in the six or so months that remain in this school year. For some of her students, she explained, it would be quite an accomplishment to write a coherent paragraph.

Why, one might ask, is one faced with ninth-graders who can't tell a subject from a predicate or define what "plot" is? After all, if expectations had been raised, if tests had been relentlessly given to be sure that students were meeting or exceeding them, if social promotion had been ended, if teachers were being held accountable, wouldn't we, over the eight years that Klein has served, have seen an appreciable difference in our current ninth graders? What explains the state of the class of 2014?

Could it be because Balanced Literacy is at best one philosophy among many and at worst a complete sham?

more . . . http://nyceducator.com/2010/12/first-joel-klein-generation.html

[Catshrink]

1. Amazing, isn't it?

I see this too in my 9th grade students, although maybe not to this degree, and a similar situation with their math abilities. Too much teaching to the test, not teaching what kids need to know so they will be prepared for what we teach in upper grades.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. We see it in our upper elementary kids

We stopped teaching them to think a couple years ago. The change is dramatic. And it's very sad.

[Starry Messenger]

4. I know this is totally anecdotal

but it is so strange the words that are not getting taught. I'm always teaching bits of vocab that I figure would have come up before in English class, not just words that are peculiar to clay and ceramics. The other day I taught a kid the meaning and pronunciation of "opaque" and he's not the first. That's just one example.

[Catshrink]

5. I teach vocab also...

not just science vocab. One of our English teachers said this is the "unread generation" so they haven't developed their vocabularies. He teaches seniors.

True story: The day before Thanksgiving we have a half day so I usually "celebrate" a little. The kids were planning who would bring what and asked me if something was okay. I said "as long as it isn't fowl." A couple got the play on words, but most thought I meant "foul."

[txlibdem]

3. Dear Mr. Kansan... Or is it Miss Eyre?

Thank you for posting this very important topic.

The way your post is formatted it is unclear to me if those are your words or just something that you've copy and pasted from someone else's blog. The blogger, Miss Eyre, is in New York and your name here on DU is Proud2BlibKansan which makes me feel quite strongly that you are in Kansas. If those are, in fact, not your words may I recommend a quick gander through the Strunk & White for proper attribution...

I read the other lady's blog which you linked to and found it interesting, especially this:

"Could it be because teachers were forced to teach to a test that reinforced low rather than high expectations, and this test became the be-all and end-all of literacy instruction?"

http://nyceducator.com/2010/12/first-joel-klein-generation.html

Needless to say, I agree with Miss Eyre 100%. Any school or educational system that "dumbs down" the testing to make marginal or failing students appear to be doing better than they, in reality, are does a terrible disservice to its students and the community it is supposed to serve.

This is not a problem confined to New York, however, it is happening all over the nation. Even right here in Texas the neo-con ed hatchet men chopped the educational criteria to pulp and what emerged was a sham curriculum, casting Capitalism in only the most positive light, overstating or misrepresenting the importance of Christianity in the founding fathers and our founding documents, and removing one of our most important founding fathers, Jefferson, completely (he wrote and spoke frequently in favor of separation of church and state). The fact that Texas purchases nearly $1 Billion in text books annually gives these 10 neo-con whack jobs inordinate power over the fate of students in several other states, if not the nation as a whole. It sickens me that one tiny group of partisan activists can adversely affect so many children.

We need a strong national educational curriculum and strong national testing standards. I believe that more strongly with each passing day.

[Catshrink]

6. Nevermind.