In his second year as New York City schools chancellor, Dennis Walcott’s popularity fell to levels that rival the tumultuous 95-day tenure of his predecessor, Cathie Black. Fifty-seven percent of teachers said they were “unsatisfied or very unsatisfied” with Walcott, the highest disapproval rate for a chancellor since at least 2010.
A little more than one in four teachers expressed strong approval for Walcott.
Do you believe that a little more than 25% of teachers feel strong approval for Chancellor Walcott?
I don't believe that number.
I don't think the DOE played funky with the results, not at Tweed, but I would bet some teachers continued to be told by their supervisors to respond to all questions on the survey positively no matter what.
In my school, I bet the "strongly approve" response for Walcott was in the low single digits.
There was one E4E guy who wasn't the swiftest card in the Delaney book, so it's possible he would have "strongly approved" of Walcott.
Like most E4Eers, he's moved on from the classroom to bigger and better things.
There might be one or two other teachers that I could see at my school responding "strongly approve" for the Walcott question.
That's out of 100+ teachers.
So a little under 3% or so is my gauge for "strong approval" responses for Walcott.
I find it hard to believe 25% of teachers around the rest of the system, if administered truth serum, would say they "strongly approve" of Walcott.
What say the rest of you out there?
How do you gauge the response in your school?
How about system-wide?
Is there something funky about the numbers reported on the surveys?
The numbers on the survey are about as trustworthy as the test scores and the crime statistics. People told me they just put everything positive so maybe they wouldn't close the school.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I heard too, James.
DeleteI'm a parent, and I laughed at all of the numbers. 95% of parents happy? Really?? Even if true, these same parents, having been shocked by the drop in their childrens' standardized test scores, will be quite ornery next year.
DeleteIn my child's middle school last school, administration was begging parents to fill out the surveys until the very end. And that's in a middle-class neighborhood in Queens. Maybe the DOE should report what percentage of parents even responded.
DOE has no credibility w/me. Live by statistics, lie with statistics, die with statistics.
As James said, these stats are massaged and manipulated - just like the crime stats, the test scores, the grad rates, the emergency response times, etc.
DeleteGood point about percentage of parents responding as well. Also about the test score drop - what will parents say this coming year? Of course, the new mayor will get "blamed" for that if the happy responses drop...
Some of the newer teachers at my school asked me if the survey can be tracked back to them. I said no, but who actually knows for sure if that is the case. I was honest in all of my answers. If somebody wants to go after a teacher for being honest on a confidential survey then we are in big trouble for sure. (This is one area where having tenure actually still matters!)
ReplyDeleteI would think they can track it if they wanted to. There is an ID number and an ISP address. But I just figure, screw it, tell the truth. I always say good things about my school but bad things about the chancellor, the PEP, etc.
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