What Happens If Merryl Tisch/Regents Can't Create An "Effective" Teacher Evaluation System?

Tisch:Regents to push by June 30 to create "effective" teacher eval plan for districts.(Guess educ issues didn't conclude w/ budget.)
— Tom Precious (@TomPreciousALB) April 22, 2015

If they can't create an "effective" evaluation plan, does anybody get fired?

I mean, other than teachers.

Arne Duncan Blames Adults For Causing "Test Trauma" In Children

The tone deafness coming from the educrats on testing continues with this doozy, courtesy of Gotham Schools:

Duncan also said that students in some states are tested too much, and acknowledged that the exams are challenging for many students. But he argued that annual standardized exams are essential for tracking student progress and monitoring the score gap between different student groups. 

He also said the tests are “just not a traumatic event” for his children, who attend public school in Virginia. 

“It’s just part of most kids’ education growing up,” he said. “Sometimes the adults make a big deal and that creates some trauma for the kids.”

Duncan said if states don't get parents to stop opting their children out of state tests, the feds "will have an obligation to step in.”

Couple points to make here:

First, considering that Duncan once blamed "soccer moms" whose kids "are not as brilliant as they thought" for opposition to the Common Core, we shouldn't be surprised that Duncan is scapegoating parents over the opt-out movement.

His argument is ridiculous, of course.

Given that these tests are now used to close schools and fire teachers, his argument that the tests are "just a part of most kids' education growing up" doesn't hold water anymore.

Before No Child Left Behind, before Race to the Top, that argument may have held some water.

But since then, there are so many high stakes attached to these tests for school districts, schools, individual teachers and even children themselves (remember when Bloomberg used the tests for class advancement?), that this argument that they're "just tests" leaks more water than the Titanic as it was going down.

Testing anxiety is rife throughout the system and while educrats and politicians want to blame adults for making a big deal over these tests when they say there is no big deal, the children know from all the anxiety that adults have over the scores that they are a very big deal indeed.

That's what happens when you take a couple of days of testing and make the existence of a school or the career of a teacher contingent upon the scores.

Second point to make here:

Duncan is not the only educrat/politician to make this argument that the tests are no big deal - so did NY State Senate finance committee chair, John DeFrancisco:

“Quite frankly, I grew up at a time—I’m ancient. If I wouldn’t take a test, … my father would have whacked me on the side of the head.” [PRO] http://capi.tl/1zHV9TM

Is the Senator suggesting that's what parents should do now to their children who don't want to take the Common Core tests, "whack" them "on the side of the head"?

That's a bit unclear, but one thing is clear - DeFransciso, like Duncan, is trying to minimize the overtesting and test anxiety issues and make it seem like a bunch of cry babies just won't do what they're supposed to do and make their kids take the tests.

Now maybe this will be a winning argument for educrats like Duncan or politicians like DeFransciso, but frankly, I doubt it.

It's more likely that the parents who are opting their children out of the state tests will see this rhetoric for what it is - a desperate attempt to infantilize the opposition movement to the Endless Testing regime in order to keep the education reform train chugging on a little longer.

I suggest you call DeFrancsico and ask his office if the Senator is suggesting parents commit child abuse on their children in order to make them take their tests.

That certainly is one interpretation of the statement he made.

As for Duncan, he's irrelevant at this point.  He's a lame duck educrat in a lame duck administration that sunsets a year and a half from now.

But the politicians and educrats in Albany who continue to try and infantlize opposition to education reform must be dealt political prices to pay for their dirty work - and that includes DeFransciso and his "whack" statement.

Message To Corporate Media, NY Politicians And Educrats: The Teachers Union Is NOT The Moving Force Behind Opt-Out

Jon Campbell from Gannett:

On a plane returning Tuesday from Cuba, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was asked about the opt-out effort and the New York State United Teachers union's suggestion that parents consider refusing the tests.

Whether or not to opt-out of the exams is a parent's choice, he told reporters.

"From a parent's point of view, they have the right," Cuomo said. "What the teachers union advocated -- the legality of that, the funding, that I'll leave to the federal government and the (state Education Department)."

Cuomo is canny enough to know that when you already have 185,000 opt outs counted from 73% of the districts on the ELA exam, with 27% of district still to be counted, and the math exams coming up now with even higher numbers of opt-outs expected, it's not a winning political battle to take on parents.

So he, like some of the editorial boards around the state, like the awful reporting in the NY Times this week, tries to put the blame for the opt-out movement onto the teachers union.

Here's a message to the corporate media, the corporate journalists/public relations specialists, the educrats and the politicians:

Parents did NOT decide to opt their children out of the state tests because Karen Magee of NYSUT threw her support behind the movement after Cuomo's education reform agenda was shoved through in the budget deal.

The opt-out movement has been growing every year and the numbers were going to increase dramatically this year no matter what Karen Magee and NYSUT did or said about the movement.

For that matter, even as Magee and NYSUT have thrown support to opting out, Mulgrew and the UFT have criticized the movement and echoed the same jive warnings we're getting from the educrats, the politicians and the newspaper editorial boards (i.e., the feds will take school money away as a result.)

I don't quite get how the state teachers union, which couldn't manage to get Assembly members to vote the way it wanted to on the budget, somehow convinced 185,000 parents to keep their kids from taking the state tests, especially when the largest local in the state is warning against opting out of the state tests.

The only thing I can think is, the corporate-owned media, the educrats, the politicians, they need scapegoats for this massive grassroots rebellion raging in New York State and, as so often is the case these days, the teachers union provides a convenient target.

But they are fools if they dismiss the significance of the anger parents have over the state's Endless Testing regime and imposed Common Core implementation.

As Loy Goss, co-founder of United To Counter The Core wrote:

As we complete the first round of counts for ELA and move into the first round of counts for math, it is important to remember why parents do this.

Make no mistake, this wave of civil disobedience is not just about Andrew Cuomo and his teacher evaluation plan. Cuomo is the flavor-of-the-month in a long line of ill-prepared, ill-advised education reformers, each worse than the one before. These sometimes well-intentioned reformers have nevertheless damaged an entire generation of America's schoolchildren going all the way back to No Child Left Behind.

Hundreds of thousands of parents are not making political statements, they are looking at crying, defeated children around their kitchen tables and demanding meaningful change. NY parents and teachers want education reform that is educator-driven, that is tested and proven, that addresses the real problems facing our schools and our children, and that is implemented with a modicum of competency.

A reduction of testing or evaluations does not address the underlying issue. NY parents want what parents have wanted since time began - a better education for our children.

Education reformers and their propagandists are so used to winning the education reform battles with their reflexive teachers union- and teacher-bashing that they're missing the very real anger many parents around the state have toward the state's education reform policies.

Cuomo Says He Likes Cuba's Approach To The Press

Happening now: Andrew Cuomo has taken over the Jet Blue speaker on our flight home from Havana. Says he likes Cuba's approach to the press.
— Susanne Craig (@susannecraig) April 21, 2015

Yes, I bet he does.

The Committee To Protect Journalists put Cuba at #10 on their 10 Most Censored Countries List:

10. Cuba

Leadership: Raúl Castro, who took over the presidency from his brother, Fidel, in 2008.

How censorship works:Despite significant improvements in the past few years-such as the elimination of exit visas that had prohibited most foreign travel for decades-Cuba continues to have the most restricted climate for press freedom in the Americas. The print and broadcast media are wholly controlled by the one-party Communist state, which has been in power for more than half a century and, by law, must be "in accordance with the goals of the socialist society." Although the Internet has opened up some space for critical reporting, service providers are ordered to block objectionable content. Independent journalists and bloggers who work online use websites that are hosted overseas and must go to foreign embassies or hotels to upload content and get an unfiltered connection to the Internet. These critical blogs and online news platforms are largely inaccessible to the average Cuban, who still has not benefited from a high-speed Internet connection financed by Venezuela. Most Cubans do not have Internet at home. The government continues to target critical journalists through harassment, surveillance, and short-term detentions. Juliet Michelena Díaz, a contributor to a network of local citizen journalists, was imprisoned for seven months on anti-state charges after photographing an incident between residents and police in Havana. She was later declared innocent and freed. Visas for international journalists are granted selectively by officials.

Lowlight: Though the government has for the most part done away with long-term detentions of journalists, author-turned-critical blogger Ángel Santiesteban Prats has been imprisoned since February 2013 on allegations of domestic violence. The writer and other local independent journalists maintain that he was targeted in retaliation for writing critically about the government on his blog, Los Hijos que Nadie Quiso (The Children Nobody Wanted.)

I suppose Cuomo thought he was telling a funny with the crack over the speaker.

But there's often a lot of truth hidden behind the phrase "Hey, it's just a joke..."

Given that he tries to run the state like a one-man junta, there isn't anything funny about it.

Success Academy Raises $9.3 Million In One Night

From the Capital NY morning email:

SUCCESS ACADEMY RAISES $9.3 MILLION AT SPRING BENEFIT -- Capital’s Eliza Shapiro and Conor Skelding: The Success Academy charter school network raised $9.3 million at its third annual spring benefit on Monday night, according to an attendee, up from $7.7 million at last year's benefit. The figure was announced by Dan Loeb, a hedge fund manager who serves as the chairman of Success' board of directors. The event was held at Cipriani in midtown Manhattan.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries delivered the keynote address in lieu of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was to give the keynote before his trade visit to Cuba was planned for the same day. …

“I stand here because I unequivocally support quality public education and that's what Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy provide,” Jeffries said, according to a quote posted on Success' Twitter account. “It’s easier to raise strong children than it is to repair broken men.”

Television host Katie Couric, Weekly Standard founder William Kristol, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Gregory Meeks of Queens and former Department of Education chancellor Joel Klein also attended the benefit, according to the attendee and Twitter posts. http://goo.gl/Mt1bSH

Governor Cuomo had been advertised as headlining the bash, but decided to go to Cuba instead.

Success does not seem to have suffered from Cuomo's absence.

Over $9 million in one night.

Not a bad take.

Tell me again why they need more money and free rent?

UFT Runs Ad Attacking Cuomo After Months Of Helping Him Out

The UFT's kidding with this ad, right?

“For months Andrew Cuomo attacked teachers and public schools. Now, with his support at record lows, so-called education reformers and their billionaire backers are running TV ads trying to rewrite history. But we know the truth.

“Cuomo wants to pile on high stakes testing, privatize classrooms, and divert money away from public schools by giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy.”

“Governor, New Yorkers agree: Put politics aside and put our kids first.”

First off, UFT President Mulgrew already declared victory after the budget:

The United Federation of Teachers on Sunday night declared victory in an email to its members, writing that most of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Draconian agenda” had been turned back by state lawmakers.

“Now all of our hard work is paying dividends,” the teachers union that represents mostly New York City teachers wrote in the email to members. “The governor’s Draconian agenda has, in large part, been turned back. We want to thank the Assembly and the Senate for standing up for our schools and school communities.”

It turned out that the governor's draconian agenda had not been turned back, that he had, in fact, gotten almost everything he wanted in the budget (including higher weight of test scores in evaluations, merit pay, school receivership for the state, tenure changes and certification changes), but that didn't stop Mulgrew and the UFT leadership from doing what they always do and declaring everything a victory.

This came after Mulgrew and the UFT gave Assembly Dems the okay to vote for the budget while NYSUT leadership told legislators not support the education provisions:

ALBANY — State lawmakers raced to finish work on New York’s budget Tuesday amid simmering resentment over Gov. Cuomo’s education reforms - which opened up an unusual rift between the city and state teachers’ unions.

...

City teacher union president Michael Mulgrew angered NYSUT President Karen Magee and her team after he put out a statement Sunday night - before the education bill was even in print- claiming victory in beating back some of Cuomo's more strident proposals, sources said.

While Magee urged lawmakers to reject the education measures, city lawmakers said they were told by Mulgrew's team that voting for the package would not be held against them.

"They just weren't on the same page," said one legislator of the two unions. "The issue between them was whether to strike the best deal they could or whether to oppose it outright."

Then came the opt out movement, which the NYSUT leadership supported but Mulgrew and the UFT leadership criticized.

And we got UFT functionary Peter Goodman blogging how the new Cuomo APPR evaluation isn't so bad and Randi Weingarten, Mulgrew's mentor, retweeting that post.

This is not to mention that when the time to really fight Cuomo was at hand - during the election - Mulgrew and the UFT did all it could to help him out without looking like they were helping him.

When the Working Families Party was fighting over whether to put Cuomo on its ballot or give the nod to Zephyr Teachout, Mulgrew and the UFT ensured that Cuomo got the nod by threatening WFP with financial dissolution if Teachout were nominated by WFP.

When Teachout's running mate, Tim Wu, had a really good shot to knock off Cuomo's running mate, bank lobbyist Kathy Hochul, Randi Weingarten took to the air with robocalls for Hochul, helping her beat back Wu's challenge.

Now, after all the help Weingarten, Mulgrew, and the UFT have given to Cuomo, both before his re-election and since by barely fighting against his agenda, they send out an ad that's hard-hitting and calls Cuomo on his attacks.

It's too little, too late and useless for anything other PR for people not paying close attention - which is emblematic of nearly everything the UFT and AFT do.

Norm at Ed Notes called them a company union yesterday in a post.

Looking at how this re-election season and budget process unfolded, I think you can make a very good argument that is the case.

First the AFT and UFT ensured Cuomo would not have to face a third party challenger in November by threatening WFP with financial ruin if Teachout were given the nod, then helped ensure Cuomo would have his running mate, the bank lobbyist, instead of Teachout's running mate, the law professor, win in the primary.

When it came time to fight Cuomo's education reform agenda, they did just enough to make it look like they were fighting it without effectively fighting it.

Then they gave the okay to Assembly Dems to vote for it even as NYSUT leaders were saying not to.

The time for the tough ads attacking Cuomo, the really tough ones, was before the budget was passed, not after.

Alas, now that the battle is over and Cuomo won big time, the UFT trots out the attack ad.

Maybe that will fool a few rank-and-file that the UFT is fighting Cuomo.

But it doesn't fool those of us who have paid attention to this fight and have seen with our own eyes how they helped Cuomo out at critical junctures to ensure he got everything he wanted.

Common Core Shill Group Trots Out Bill Bennett To Defend Common Core

From the Wall Street Journal:

A group that supports Common Core is launching a two-week television ad buy in Iowa, the state that hosts the first presidential nominating contests, in an effort to counter a backlash from conservative Republicans against the national academic standards.

The new television ad by the Collaborative for Student Success features Bill Bennett,  U.S. education secretary under former President Ronald Reagan. “High standards are worth fighting for,” he says in the spot starting Monday. “That’s why so many conservatives are taking a fresh look at Common Core.”

This strategy - to sell Common Core as "conservative" to the Republican base was introduced earlier this year:

With Common Core set to be one of the political flashpoints in the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and with it a topic at the upcoming CPAC conference (a Thursday panel is entitled "Common Core: Rotten to the Core"), conservative defenders of Common Core briefed reporters on Wednesday to begin pushing back against critics. 

Karen Nussle, executive director of Collaborative for Student Success - and wife of former GOP Rep. and Bush OMB Director Jim Nussle - said the Common Core are K thru 12 standards in math and English developed by the states. They aren't CURRICULUM standards, she maintained. 

Nussle also said that despite all of the opposition to Common Core, only one state out of the 45 that adopted the standards - Oklahoma - has repealed that support. 

And she adds that only another six Republican governors - 2016ers Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal, plus Arizona's Doug Ducey, Maine's Paul LePage, Mississippi's Phil Bryant, and South Carolina's Nikki Haley - oppose Common Core. All other GOP governors support it. And former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is one of its biggest champions. 

Opponents of Common Core, Nussle said, "are pretty much the political outliers."

Core supporters think if they can rinse the words "Barack Obama" from the public perception of Common Core, they can bring conservatives back on board in support of the standards:

Why the opposition to Common Core? "It comes down to two words - Barack Obama. This is what this is about," added Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas Fordham Institute. While the Common Core standards were created by the nation's governors, the Obama administration tied its "Race to the Top" education money to the standards - and hence the association with Obama.

Thus this kind of video from the Collaborative for Student Success that came before the Bennett video (which you can see here):




It's interesting that at least two of the Republicans in that "Cnservatives for the Core" video from 2013 are now opposed to the Core (Huckabee and Jindal.)

It remains to be seen if Core supporters can turn conservatives back onto the Core as the Obama administration sunsets.

Not sure running a video with Bill Bennett hawking the Core is going to do that.

UPDATE: Turns out Huckabee, who used to be for the Core before he turned against it, is kinda for the Core again.

What Gets Done With Dean Skelos Under Federal Investigation?

Not much, writes Ken Lovett:

With state lawmakers due back in Albany on Tuesday after a three-week break, many expect the probe into Skelos will cause paralysis for the remainder of the legislative session.

Issues such as the expiring laws governing rent regulation and mayoral control over New York City schools will have to be addressed, but most expect little else of consequence to get done.

Some close to Gov. Cuomo say he’s likely not thrilled at the prospect of having to negotiate with Skelos with a possible indictment looming.

Quite frankly, given the damage already done by Cuomo and the legislature, the less they do for the rest of the session, the better.

Lovett writes that rent regulation and mayoral control of NYC schools have to be addressed, but I would bet the charter cap gets lifted too.

No matter how "paralyzed" Albany is, I bet they're not so paralyzed that they can't give Eva Moskowitz and the rest of the charter school entrepreneurs and their hedge fund supporters what they want.

At Least 175,000 Opted Out Of ELA Tests, Math Opt-Outs May More Than Double That

The Times-Union:

Last week was a long one for school districts in the state as thousands of parents chose to opt out their children from standardized state English Language Arts exams.

And with math tests looming Wednesday to Friday, districts are unsure whether to expect more opt outs and what effect low participation rates will have on state and federal funding.

Statewide, one advocacy group estimates more than 175,000 students refused to take the tests so far.

The trend has been for more children to refuse to take the tests as the week went on:

Almost all districts contacted by the Times Union saw an increase in test refusals between the start of ELA testing Tuesday and Thursday's end.

The problem with the mid-test opt outs is that those tests will still be scored and counted in the data:

Students deciding to opt out late could also hurt the school more than not participating at all. Any student who began the test on Tuesday or Wednesday but failed to finish it for refusal reasons will still have their exam scored and counted toward the overall district evaluations, said Jonathan Burman, state Education Department spokesman.

With math tests coming mid-week and parents and teachers talking about how horrific the ELA exams were, many districts expect higher rates of children opting out of the math exams than opted out from the ELA exams.

In previous years, the opt out rate for math tests has been higher than the opt out rate for ELA exams, so it seems this starts to gain steam as the testing period goes on.

If the math opt out numbers only match the ELA numbers, we're looking at 350,000 opt outs for the year, well above the 250,000 number opt out proponents were looking to hit to send a message to Albany.

And if the math opt outs are higher than the ELA opt outs, as has been true in previous years, so much the better.

A clear message has been sent to the governor, the state educrats and the Board of Regents that the state's education reform agenda is harmful and they will not allow harm to be done to their children.

Will Albany listen?

So far, we've seen Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and NYSED say full steam ahead, this opt out movement is fueled by the unions mad about teacher evaluation changes.

They are fools if they really think that - this is a mass parent-led uprising, the kind that we've never seen before in education, and it will continue until the politicians and educrats stop trying to impose their harmful education reform agenda.

City Teachers Had Better Start Asking Some Hard Questions About Their Pension Fund Before It's Too Late

Guest Post By Harris Lirtzman, former Director of Risk Management for the New York City Retirement Systems in the NYC Comptroller's Office from 1996-2002 and former Deputy State Comptroller for Administration from 2003-2007.

During the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of news about the way that the City invests the money that backs your retirement benefit and none of it is good.

There are few things less interesting to read about than the condition of your pension fund system.  But, other than the financial condition of the City that prints your paycheck and the insurance company that provides your medical coverage, there is nothing more important.

Two weeks ago, the City Comptroller released a report that contained information that didn’t surprise anyone who follows these things closely but which should scare the bejesus out of any active or retired New York City school teacher.  According to an article in the New York Times, “The Lenape tribe got a better deal on the sale of Manhattan island than New York City’s pension funds have been getting from Wall Street.” 

Turns out that the trustees of the City pension funds, including your fund, the Teachers’ Retirement System of New York City, have been investing the money that backs your pension in ways that have given almost all of the market’s gains for the last ten years right back to the Wall Street firms they hire to do the job as big fat fees

Surprised?  I didn’t think so.

Wall Street has spent the last twenty years convincing public pension fund trustees, like the ones who run TRS, that only a company like Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan Chase is smart enough to know how to invest your retirement money.  Our trustees bought this story lock, stock and barrel.  We all know how well Wall Street has looked after the rest of us the last ten years.  Wall Street knows a sucker when it meets one and our pension trustees have been suckered, good.

This stuff is a little complicated but hang with me for a minute or two:

• Over the last 10 years, the return on very basic investments like stocks and bonds—more than 80% of the City’s pension portfolio—has exceeded expectations by more than $2 billion, despite the financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed.
• But nearly all that extra gain—about 97% of it—has been eaten up by Wall Street management fees, leaving only $40 million behind for the benefit of City retirees.
• Around 20% of the City’s pension funds is invested in complicated and expensive things called “alternative investments,” such as real estate and hedge funds.  The City began to invest in these investments in 2000, just at the moment when they began to do significantly worse than other parts of the market.
• The combination of the poor underperformance of these alternative investments and the huge fees that Wall Street firms charge to manage them for the City cost the pension funds—your pension funds—more than $2.5 billion since the end of 2004.

According to a New York Times editorial, “Even non-experts can grasp a primal personal-finance principle: buy low-cost funds linked to the overall performance of the stock market, be patient and don’t try to outsmart the market or pay someone an arm and a leg to do it for you. That a succession of fund trustees would never have thought of this before and found ways to reduce the damage done by excessive fees, is incredible.”

So let’s ask some of our trustees—members of the UFT who sit on the TRS board—what they think about all of this.  The UFT has three representatives on the TRS board of trustees: Mel Aaronson and Sandra March, who’ve been members for more than 20 years, and Thomas Brown.  Rank-and-file teachers elect these members to the board in some election process you probably never knew about or can remember.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the UFT, said that “he was happy that his union’s pension fund, TRS, had been performing well.  But he said the fees paid to some managers were ‘ridiculous’ and should be renegotiated if those managers are retained.  Education’s always being put under reform; maybe some of these financial practices should be put under reform as well.”

Ya think?

Teachers in New York City: According to an independent industry analysis, TRS now has money in it equal to around 58% of the future pension benefits that it must pay to current and retired teachers over the next 30 years.  As a comparison, the New York State Teachers Retirement System—which covers teachers who work in schools outside of the City—has around 96% of the money in it required to pay teacher pensions in the rest of New York State.  That means that your retirement benefit is only 61% as secure as the retirement benefit of a teacher who works outside of New York City.

Teachers in New York City:  The City TRS had a total investment return of 17.6% in 2014.  As a comparison, the State Teachers System had a total investment return of 18.2% in 2014—your retirement fund did 3.3% worse than did the retirement fund for teachers in the rest of the state.
Teachers in New York City: In 2014, the cost to run the City pension fund, including administrative expenses and fees paid to Wall Street firms, was almost twice the cost it took to run the State Teachers System. 

The UFT trustees sitting on the board of the TRS—the trustees your union nominated and that you elected—are guilty of gross negligence and of “investing-while-stupid.”

Teachers of New York City, if you don’t want to eat cat food when you retire start asking Michael Mulgrew, Mel Aaronson and Sandy March some hard questions about how they manage your pension fund.  If you make a big enough ruckus now there is still time to protect your pensions.  If you wait much longer I guarantee you that it will be too late.

Cuomo Goes To Cuba Part II: Dems Provide Cover For Cuomo's Ridiculous "Trade Mission"

The entire Democratic Party brain trust, such as it is, is on Governor Cuomo's "trade mission" to Cuba, such as it is:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that leaders from business and higher education will be joining New York’s trade mission to Cuba – the first Governor-led state trade mission to Cuba since President Obama began the process to normalize diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. The trade mission delegation will depart on April 20, 2015.

...

In addition to the below industry leaders, the delegation is joined by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader and Coalition Co-Leader Jeffrey Klein.

The Governor’s trade mission includes representatives from a variety of industries, including air travel, health care, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, financial services, agriculture and higher education.

Now if I remember correctly, Stewart-Cousins wasn't included in budget negotiations because, as the ranking member of the minority party in the State Senate, Cuomo felt she wasn't important enough to be there.

The decision to exclude Stewart-Cousins from budget negotiations brought condemnation from Democratic activists and politicians, with one going so far as to say:

“We have to make sure that Gov. Cuomo understands that we will not be duped. We will not be hoodwinked. We will not be put in the back.”

Ah, but now that Cuomo needs as much cover as he can get for this ridiculous "trade mission" to Cuba, he's happy to invite Stewart-Cousins on the trip and she is happy to oblige him.

She says she's going so she can talk to him on the plane about her conference's legislative priorities.

And I'm sure he'll listen, just as soon as he and the representatives from a variety of industries get finished carving up the cake shaped like Cuba.

You know, like this:

 

What are the chances the next time Stewart-Cousins needs something from Cuomo, like being a part of the budget negotiations even though she's Senate Minority Leader, he'll be happy to oblige?

Cuomo rarely keeps his promises unless he is absolutely forced to (just as Working Families Party or Bill de Blasio) and he doesn't believe in ever owing anybody any favors.

Maybe Stewart-Cousins thinks being included on this trip is enough, but quite frankly, if I were a Democratic Party politician who kept getting screwed over by Andrew Cuomo, I'd be damned if I'd provide him political cover for it.

The Journal News Calls For Merryl Tisch's Resignation

LoHud mincing no words:

The stunning success of the test-refusal movement in New York is a vote of no confidence in our state educational leadership.

Even as the numbers showed clear dissatisfaction with the path and pace of education "reform" in New York, Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch downplayed the opt-out movement, and painted parents as confused patsies of a labor action, a misreading of the facts.

The Board of Regents sets educational policy for our state. The board needs a strong leader who is willing to guide education policy, communicate the mission clearly and stand up to meddling politicians. Merryl Tisch should cede leadership of the board and allow a fresh start for the board, and for education policy in New York.

Read the whole editorial - it's a scathing indictment of Tisch's failure as a leader.

In particular, they call her out for being Cuomo's lapdog instead of acting in the best interests of the people of this state.

They also note how time and again, she fails to listen to parents and teachers and continues to impose the state's reform agenda.

Tisch enjoys the support of many editorial boards around the state so I doubt she'll accede to LoHud's call here.

And the LoHud editorial page has not been a supporter of many of the reforms Tisch and the Regents have imposed over the years.

Still, it's extraordinary that they're calling her out in public like this.

One more symbol for why Tisch's time in charge is almost done.

Her buddy Shelly Silver's under indictment, she's lost allies on the Board of Regents, many parents and teachers despise her, and now we have the Journal News calling her Cuomo's lapdog and demanding she step down.

Cuomo Goes To Cuba

Sounds like one of those Ernest movies from back in the day, doesn't it?

Cuomo goes to Cuba.

Starring Sheriff Andy Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, but not Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos because he's under federal investigation and I bet prosecutors wouldn't be too happy to see him leave the country.

And what's Cuomo going for?

Why, to open trade relations with Cuba:

“This trade mission, part of the broader Global NY initiative, will guarantee that New York businesses are first in line to take advantage of this new, emerging economic market,” said Cuomo spokeswoman Melissa DeRosa.

Ah, yes - the Global NY initiative.

That's kind of like Cuomo's Start-Up NY initiative, only on a global scale.

You know about Start Up NY, don't you?

This is something the people of Cuba just need to know about before Sheriff Andy and his trade contingent arrive:

The state of New York, which lost 122,000 private sector jobs last decade, has botched its latest attempt to subsidize growth. After months of foot-dragging, the Empire State Development Corporation released a report last week about Start-Up NY, a program that it began under Governor Andrew Cuomo to attract tech innovation. Despite Cuomo’s promises, the report found that Start-Up NY spent millions in marketing dollars, while creating laughably small returns. Thus, it fits into the ESDC’s broader culture of failure, and should be a rebuke for someone who has presidential ambitions, yet reinforces the policies that have contributed to economic decline throughout New York.

The report summarized the first year of a program that Cuomo launched in 2014 to create tech clusters in the state, giving tax breaks to tech-related businesses that open near college campuses. The state has already spent $47 million on advertising, and overall public expenditures for the program’s first three years are expected to be $323 million. Total job creation figures after five years are expected to be 2,085, but so far that figure stands at a whopping 76 jobs.

“The nine out-of-state companies,” wrote City Journal’s E.J. McMahon, “have pledged to create 451 jobs based on a projected five-year investment of just $4.3 million, or less than 10 percent of the program’s first-year ad expenditure.”

I'm sure the people of Cuba will be so glad that Sheriff Andy Cuomo is coming to Cuba to share with them the Global NY initiative.

Maybe they too can spend millions of dollars and reap little economic benefit in return - just the way we in New York do.

Start-Up Havana, courtesy of Andrew Cuomo.

Caring For Students Beyond Their Academic Needs

I was observed for the fourth and final time this week.

This one was announced and I had two days of preparation time to get ready for it.

While I was trying to put together a dog/pony show lesson that would satisfy the Danielson rubric-wielding administrator looking for evidence of "rigor," "assessment" and "differentiation," I had to take some time out to do what it is I'm supposed to do and help students.

One student needed help amending her financial aid form - she had drastically underestimated her parents' income because she was using various income documents that were, to be frank, a mess to comprehend.

Amending a FAFSA form shouldn't take that long but making sense of what mom made, what dad made and putting that onto the form so that it added up to their joint married income did - about forty minutes in total.

Then another student needed some help editing an appeal letter to a college she was rejected from.  That took a few minutes, not too long, but when you're supposed to be getting ready for an observation in the high stakes era of "I and bye!" (as in "ineffective"), time matters.

I had a scholarship recommendation to write for a student that was due Friday - this one was my fault, the student had asked before break but I had forgotten to write it and now had to get it done on deadline (which I did.)

Finally another student wanted to talk about some things going on at home that she's been struggling with. I had given her a book I had about "sensitive people" (I keep a library of social and emotional books in my classroom that I lend or give to students I think may be helped from reading them) and she wanted to talk about how one of the chapters had resonated for her.

This is the kind of thing I enjoy about being a teacher - the opportunity to use my talents, skills and experience to help students in various ways, from financial aid help to college counseling work to social/emotional counseling.

None of that work showed up in my observation, of course.

The only thing that matters in an observation these days is the academic stuff - is the material "rigorous," are the assessments comprehensive and ongoing, am I "differentiating" the learning for both higher performing and lower performing students - that sort of thing.

The observation came and went and I'm sure it went fine - I put on the kind of dog/pony show that administrators want to see.

But wouldn't it be nice if some of the other stuff I do that I think is just as valuable as my classroom teaching skill, made it into the observation?

How about "Amended FAFSA form for student despite needing to get lesson plan for dog/pony show done and emailed to administrator"?

How about "Helped a student with family drama going on by listening to her and trying to find some self-help material that student could read on her own to guide her through"?

How about "Cares about students and is willing to help them in whatever way he can"?

Quite frankly, I don't really need acknowledgement for this stuff, because I do it freely and without expectation of that.

In other words, I do not want a pat on the back or a medal for doing what I think is part of my job.

But in this "Era Of The Bad Teacher," it would be nice if evaluations took into account more than just "rigor," "assessment" and the like, because had I not put on a dog/pony show the way the administrator wanted, all that other stuff I did this week to help students wouldn't have saved me from being "ineffective."

Crain's Business: Is Bharara Working His Way Up The Chain To Andrew Cuomo?

Greg David looks at the Dean Skelos scandal and wonders if it stops with Skelos:

Glenwood Management. Again at the center of an alleged corruption case is the real estate company owned by Leonard Litwin, the most prolific source of campaign money for Republicans, some Democrats and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara appears primarily interested in corrupt politicians, but at some point he could turn his attention to those who enable the activities that he has zeroed in on.

New York's real estate establishment. It is important to remember that Mr. Cuomo reportedly first moved to take greater control of the Moreland Commission when it decided to probe campaign contributions by real estate interests. No business group has done more to assist Mr. Skelos; its campaign contributions to candidates in the last election were the most important factor in his ability to recapture control of the state Senate. At some point, the fallout from the Albany scandals could have an impact on the industry's clout. For example, it could lead to outlawing contributions from LLCs—the industry's favorite vehicle.

Mr. Cuomo as the real target. The U.S. attorney is reportedly investigating whether Mr. Cuomo's decision in March 2013 to abruptly shut down the Moreland Commission (so that he could get a budget passed on his terms) was in itself a criminal act. Insiders can't believe such a political decision could be illegal. But isn't Mr. Bharara following the classic prosecutorial playbook of moving up the chain?

I've asked this before, I'll ask it again:

Did Bharara picked up the investigation into Cuomo's donors that Cuomo had Larry Schwartz short-circuit by having the subpoena "pulled back"?

Opt-Out Not Just About Andrew Cuomo, Teacher Evaluations - It's About Making Education Better For Children

An important message from United To Counter The Core:

As we complete the first round of counts for ELA and move into the first round of counts for math, it is important to remember why parents do this.

Make no mistake, this wave of civil disobedience is not just about Andrew Cuomo and his teacher evaluation plan. Cuomo is the flavor-of-the-month in a long line of ill-prepared, ill-advised education reformers, each worse than the one before. These sometimes well-intentioned reformers have nevertheless damaged an entire generation of America's schoolchildren going all the way back to No Child Left Behind.

Hundreds of thousands of parents are not making political statements, they are looking at crying, defeated children around their kitchen tables and demanding meaningful change. NY parents and teachers want education reform that is educator-driven, that is tested and proven, that addresses the real problems facing our schools and our children, and that is implemented with a modicum of competency.

A reduction of testing or evaluations does not address the underlying issue. NY parents want what parents have wanted since time began - a better education for our children.

Loy Gross
Co-Founder, United to Counter the Core

The damage that is being done to children and schools goes well beyond overtesting and the endless test prep teachers must engage in to get children ready for those tests.

It's also being caused by the Common Core, which, if you're teaching EngageNY ELA curriculum, is an endless litany of close reading/text-based question drills that end with some argumentative writing.

There are no full books taught if you're using the EngageNY curriculum, just parts of books supplemented with movie clips.

For example, students don't read all of Romeo and Juliet anymore, they close read a scene in each act that they pick apart over and over by responding to text-based questions, then watch a bit of a movie adaptation to get them to the next scene that they'll be close reading and picking apart with text-based questions.

That's right - the days of students actually enjoying an engaging timeless story, identifying with or empathizing with archetypal characters or just getting lost in a story outside themselves is gone.

Also gone are classrooms where lessons can be spontaneous or fluid.

In my districts, we have an evaluation system that gives administrators the power to come in to your classroom unannounced for a mini-observation.

You never know when they're coming, so you have to be ready for them at all times.

You have to make sure that you have a dog/pony show ready for them when they come.

We have been told that effective lessons will contain

A) a DO NOW activity that is rigorous and text-based (experienced-based DO NOW writings are a no-no because, as ELA Common Core architect David Coleman once said, "No one gives a shit what your kids think or feel...")
B) A rigorous text-focused lesson in which students wrestle with difficult language they often don't understand and content that they have been given no context for
C) Constant assessment - every activity must have an assessment so that the teacher knows whether students learned what was being taught or not and teachers must know EXACTLY what student responses will be beforehand
D) A lesson plan that contains not only aim, do now, class activities, assessments for those activities, instructional objectives and "differentiation" methods but also the anticipated student responses for each of the assessments.

In essence, everything must be tightly controlled, from the DO NOW all the way to the EXIT SLIP and God help you if an administrator visits your class on a day and you're doing something that deviates from the imposed "effective lesson" blueprint.

I have no problem teaching the way they want me to teach some of the time, but I would like some autonomy to deviate from the imposed "effective lesson" blueprint once in a while, to do something creative, to do something different, to do something FUN.

For example:

Something happens in the news, something happens in the world or the school community, you want to spend a day having students talk about it, express their thoughts and feelings because A) it's good for them to be given opportunities to do this in a classroom setting where they can learn how to speak their minds while respectfully listening to others speak theirs and B) it builds community and rapport between students and teacher which leads to a more effective learning environoment overall.

But you can't do this anymore, not if you're concerned that an administrator with a laptop and the Danielson framework for dreary teaching and learning might come in and observe you.

I guarantee you, the discussion-based lesson I detailed above will lead to a negative evaluation rating.

Now I don't think the opt-out movement is going to bring about any change in how teachers are observed in their classrooms, but I do think the movement is very important to shine some light on just "assessment-based" and controlled teaching and learning is these days.

The damage that is being done to children and schools is not just an outgrowth of the overtesting and the test prep and test anxiety that goes with the overtesting - it's an outgrowth of the corporatization and mechanization of education that imposes control and measurement on every aspect of teaching and learning.

Teaching these days, I feel very much like the Little Tramp in Modern Times on that assembly line, under constant watch as I work on the widgets.

That is something I want to see changed and while opting out of state tests may not directly affect that, it certainly helps because it puts education reform and education reformers on the defense in the media after years of pushing their agenda with little-to-no pushback.

At Least 175,000 Opt Outs For NY State ELA Tests - Only 2/3rds Of Districts Counted

 From the Buffalo News:

More than 175,000 students in New York refused to take the state’s English language arts test this week, and now some are wondering how the refusals will affect teacher evaluations. 

...

Opt-out proponents were still collecting statistics on the number of students who refused tests this week. Friday, they put the number at more than 175,000, although that did not include about one-third of districts. Some expect the number to increase next week, with third through eighth graders taking the math assessments Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

It’s exciting for the opt-out movement, said Chis Cerrone, a local teacher and school board member who was speaking as a parent and member of New York State Allies for Public Education.

“We think there will be higher numbers next week because of frustrations students had with the ELA,” Cerrone said.

Opt-out supporters had been looking for 250,000 opt-outs from both the ELA and the math exams.

These stats are unofficial still, but it's looking like they'll come close to getting the 250,000 number from just the ELA exams.

NY State Fast Tracks $26 million Tax Break For Sony, Cuomo Gets $300,000 From Sony Execs

This sure sounds like a Quid Pro Cuomo:

Just weeks before a California fund-raiser with Sony executives that netted Governor Andrew Cuomo's re-election campaign $300,000, a Sony executive requested the fast-tracking of $26 million in film credits from New York State.

Keith Weaver, executive vice president for worldwide government affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment, wrote to an Empire State Development employee about some "pending production tax credits."

"I need your help, as we need to resolve a number of pending production tax credits by 1/15/14 in order to realize the benefit this year.  Our tax and production finance folks were steadfastly working the process, but now we have approximately $26M in tax credits outstanding…  We most assuredly can’t leave $26M hanging out there for another full year (i.e., next tax filing period)," he wrote on Dec. 20, 2013, according to emails obtained by hackers and published in searchable form Thursday by Wikileaks.

Weaver asked if the E.S.D. employee, Rhonda Glickman, could "help move this forward."

And boy did Glickman ever move it forward - she got back to Weaver that day and Sony got indication it would get the $26 million in tax breaks three days later:

Three days later, Weaver wrote in an internal email that he believed the credit had been expedited.

"I just wanted to send you a quick note about this, as it looks like Gov’t Affairs will be effective in expediting $26M in outstanding film credit claims in time for our 1/15/14 tax filing date… I will know definitively by 1/6, but I just wrapped up a call were some commitments were made. While this a timing issue, our effectiveness will mean realizing a significant cash benefit in 2014 versus the next likely opportunity in 2017," he wrote, in the email released by Wikileaks. "Happy holidays!"

A few weeks after that, Governor Cuomo's reelection campaign took in $300,000 from a California fundraiser.

Preet, where are you?

Newsday Survey: 43.6% Of Students On Long Island Opt Out Of State Tests So Far

From Newsday:

Nearly 65,000 students in Long Island elementary and middle schools refused to take the state English Language Arts test this week -- 43.6 percent of those in grades three through eight eligible for the exam, a Newsday survey of more than 80 percent of districts Islandwide found.

United To Counter The Core updates the numbers statewide:

Over 150,000 with 52% of districts reporting. Estimated 357 of 384 will not make 95% participation. Right now our numbers come from news reports, administrators, union representatives, teachers, and other individuals inside the schools who are willing to give us information. We will verify these numbers by FOIA letters beginning immediately after the math tests.

Watch https://www.facebook.com/media/set/… for these headcount totals to rise throughout the week, and keep an eye over the next month or so for the FOIA numbers to come in!

Complete data here: https://docs.google.com/…/1skCRo8-KlZpeu8APQlTMU7L0lp…/edit…

The puhsback from those supporting the Endless Testing regime?

Sure, there have been a lot of students opting out of the tests, but there are still more students taking the tests than opting out:

While the “opt-out” movement gained strength this year in New York, more children are taking the tests this week than are not.

In the end, we will see hundreds of thousands of parents opt their children out of the state tests.

The testing data will be suspect at best for all the things the state educrats want to use it for - like school ratings, teacher evaluations, district comparisons, etc.

Those supporting the Endless Testing regime, who for years have said the opt-out movement was "fringe," can no longer call it "fringe" with these numbers.

Nor can they minimize the damage to the data by saying, "Well, more kids took the state tests than didn't."

Because the truth is, more kids barely took the ELA state tests than didn't - and we haven't even gotten to the math tests yet.

This is a huge revolt from the grassroots against an unpopular agenda imposed by the politicians and the educrats.

And the effects will reverberate for a long time to come no matter how the Endless Testing regime supporters try to minimize it.

Is Cuomo Next?

Chris Smith in New York Magazine on the Skelos story:

Bharara was recently admonished by a federal judge for hyping unproven charges against Silver. So it will be interesting to see whether any Skelos indictment is unveiled with less fanfare. Style questions aside, though, Bharara doesn’t seem to be letting up on his quest to shake up Albany. The prosecutor shifted into high gear last April after Governor Andrew Cuomo unplugged the Moreland Commission, which Cuomo had empaneled to probe the role of money in state government and to pressure the legislature into passing tighter ethics rules. “This is what Cuomo loosed on the world,” a state Senate operative grumbles.

The governor got some new ethics laws out of his Moreland maneuvers. But the aftermath may be more than Cuomo bargained for. With Silver toppled and Skelos under investigation, Albany is tuned in, wondering if Bharara will go after the third man in the room next.

Some of the evidence the Moreland Commission found on Sheldon Silver was used by the feds in their investigation of Silver that ended with his arrest.

The NY Times is reporting that the investigation into Skelos "grew in some measure out of the Moreland Commission, an anticorruption panel that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo created in 2013."

Cuomo knew exactly what the Moreland Commission was investigating because his hand-picked executive director of the commission was feeding information to his office, sometimes in real time.

Cuomo shut the Moreland Commission down in return for some lukewarm ethics reforms and a budget deal.

If Cuomo knew that Moreland was working on investigations into Silver and Skelos and shut the commission down anyway in order to get his budget deal, doesn't that make him part of a conspiracy to cover up crimes?

US Attorney Preet Bharara at the Silver press conference:

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said “lax outside income laws” were to blame for Silver never disclosing the illicit payments. He also noted that the deal cut between Cuomo and the legislature to shut down the Moreland Commission was a “great relief” to Silver.

“The show-me-the-money culture of Albany has been perpetuated at the very top of the political food chain,” Bharara said.

If shutting the commission down was a "great relief" to Silver, you can bet it was a "great relief" to Skelos too.

Doesn't the man who gave these two corrupt politicians that "great relief" deserve some scrutiny for those actions?

We'll have to see what Preet Bharara thinks about that.

I would bet my APPR test component rating tonight that Cuomo isn't happy that Skelos seems to be about to follow Silver into a perp walk.

And that's not even going into Cuomo's own ethical messes.

Let's not forget, his man Larry Schwartz had subpoenas to Cuomo donors "pulled back" so that the Moreland Commission couldn't investigate them.

Dunno if the feds picked up that strain of the investigation, but if they did, it will be interesting to see what they find.

It was reported yesterday that REBNY members made 10% of all donations in state level elections, and half of those donations went to just one politician - Andrew Cuomo.

We know that REBNY members received a bunch of tax breaks after donating Cuomo.

And we know that the donor that Schwartz had the subpoena "pulled back" from was REBNY.

Awful lot of smoke there.

Is there fire too?

If so, will Preet Bharara put it out?