Where once they bragged about narrowing the achievement gap between minority and white and Asian students, now the test scores reveal that gap, in the words of the NY Times, "has returned to about the same level as when the mayor arrived."
So much for the Bloomberg/Klein education miracle.
Where once Bloomberg and Klein claimed the achievement gap between students at the richest and students at the poorest schools in the city was closing, now the test scores reveal that gap has, in the words of the NY Daily News
widened significantly this year after state tests were made more difficult, a new analysis shows.
Only 47% of fourth graders in poor schools passed the state math exams this year compared with 81% in the highest income schools - increasing the gap between rich and poor schools from 15 percentage points in 2009 to 35 points this year.
Other grades showed similar patterns, according to an analysis of Education Department data by the Coalition for Educational Justice, which compared schools in the top 10% to the bottom 10% by income.
So much for the Bloomberg/Klein education miracle.
Bloomberg and Klein decided to ignore the damage done to their "reform movement" by the new test scores and insisted that the New York City students have made "real gains" since they took autocratic control of the school system.
Their shills at the Daily News, Post and Times editorial boards agreed with the same jive.
But last night at the PEP meeting, Klein got a taste of what REAL ACCOUNTABILITY looks like - an outraged crowd of parents and students angry over the scores, the Klein/Bloomberg education policies and Klein's refusal to let them speak their critiques - confronted Klein with the truth:
Angry parents protested a falloff in test scores at a meeting of a citywide education panel on Monday night, prompting its members and the schools chancellor to walk out.
Forty-five minutes into the hearing, as a crowd of about 100 people jeered and chanted slogans, the chancellor, Joel I. Klein, and the members of the Panel for Educational Policy left the stage. They did not return, choosing to reschedule the meeting, as parents marched the aisles of the auditorium at Murry Bergtraum High School in Lower Manhattan and took turns expressing their outrage over a bullhorn.
“This is a call to all those in charge at the Department of Education,” shouted Esperanza Vazquez of Morrisania. “Do your work for our children.”
The upheaval began after Mr. Klein, among others on the stage, said that despite the drop in this year’s scores after the state recalibrated its standardized exams, students citywide were still making substantial progress, based on graduation rates and other data.
In response, a panelist, Patrick Sullivan, moved to open the floor to public comments about test scores. Though a second panelist, Anna Santos, seconded the motion, it was denied by the chairman, David C. Chang, who pointed out that time for comments had been allotted after scheduled business.
With that, the crowd erupted into boos and chants of “Let the parents speak.”
“Where is the accountability?” asked Evelyn Feliciano of West Tremont, in the Bronx, who said her son’s scores had dropped drastically.
Indeed, Bloomberg and Klein (like the president and the secretary of education in Washington) have avoided REAL ACCOUNTABILITY for the mess they have made, but by disrupting meetings and by trying to force Klein to listen to actual parents from actual schools and not parents hand chosen by his charter pals like Eva Moscowitz or Geoffrey Canada, Klein got an idea of the outrage people are feeling over where the school system is these days.
These kinds of protests need to continue at every appearance Klein makes to tout "the real gains" made by students since he took over the system.
Especially when he refuses to listen to parents and students, as happened at last night's meeting.
The data, usually much-beloved by Chancellor Klein, shows very clearly both he and Mayor Bloomberg have been FAILURES at leading the school system.
When Klein and the rest of the mayor's shills on the PEP board walked out last night rather than face the anger of the crowd, parents and students chanted "We'll be back! We'll be back!"
And that's EXACTLY what needs to be done to continue to expose the sham that is the Bloomberg/Klein reform movement and end their autocratic rule.
As one commenter at Gotham Schools wrote last night
yes we did derail it and we will continue to. the voices of parents have been ignored for far too long, this mayor and chancellor feel they can manipulate and PR their way through their destructive reforms… well, we have had enough! there will be changes or their will be growing civil disobediance, this is only the beginning.
I think it is high time that these men actually face the outrage of the people they have harmed with their damaging reforms, phony data and lies and deceptions.
And then it is time to take their autocratic power from them - forcibly.
POSTSCRIPT: This Gotham Schools post makes it sound like Klein and his PEP shills fled from the crowd last night (the writer uses the words "retreated backstage.")
Not surprised.
Klein, like his boss Mayor Bloomberg, is a coward, and when faced with actual anger from actual parents and students and not the loving glow of the New York City op-ed writers or education deform shills and hedge fund criminals, Klein ran away.
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