Joel Klein's Record of Failure as NYC Chancellor

8/10/2019 Joel Klein's Record of Failure as NYC Chancellor

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JOEL KLEINS FAILED

RECORD IN NYC

Leonie Haimson

Class Size Matters

December 8, 2014

www.classsizematters.org


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NYC: ground zero for corporate reform & high stakes

testing

With the election of Michael Bloomberg, the adoption ofmayoral control, and the appointment of Joel Klein asChancellor, corporate-style free market policies were imposed& had free reign over the protests of parents, students andteachers.

In 2003-4, children began to be retained solely on the basis oftheir test scores on state exams, starting in grade 3. This policywas extended to grade 5 in 2004-2005, grade 7 in 2005-2006and grade 8 in 2008-2009

In 2006-07, an accountability system was adopted with schoolsawarded grades A-F based 85% on test scores.

In 2007-8, teachers were rated according to value-addedmeasures, and it became difficult for them to gain tenure if theirstudents didnt show gains on the state exams.


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Merit pay, charters, and school closings

2007-8, teacher merit pay based on test scores was tried and lastedfor three yearsuntil studies showed it had no positive effect on either

student performance or teacher attitudes.

Klein pursued an aggressive campaign to close schools and open

charters, giving charters free space inside existing public schools.

From 2003-2013, more than 160 schools were closed, and more than

160 charters opened.

Though Joel Klein resigned in November 2010, the next two

Chancellors, Cathie Black and Dennis Walcott, followed in his

footsteps and pursued the same privatization/free market policies of

competition and test-based accountability.

.


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Budget cuts and class size increases Overall education spending doubled, but with little positive

impact on class size or student achievement.

Klein flouted the Contracts for Excellence state law

passed in 2007 requiring class sizes to be reduced in allgrades.

Starting in 2007, school budgets were cut by 14%.

At that point class sizes increased sharply, and last year

were larger than any time in 15 years in grades K-3, and

since 2002 in grades 4-8.


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Results?

Angry parents and demoralized teachers.

No one trusted the school grades because they varied so wildlyfrom year to year.

After the state test score inflation bubble burst in 2010, it wasrevealed that there had been no gains in student state testscores.

Little improvement on the only reliable testthe national examcalled the NAEPs.

In fact, NYC made LESS progress on the NAEPs since 2003than any other city except for Cleveland.


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NAEP Scores: Why are they important? The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the

largest continuing assessment of American students.

NAEPs are given by the federal government every two years tostatistical samples of students, change little over time & are low-stakes, and so can be used as a reliable metric to compareachievement among states and urban districts.

The Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) is conducted in 21 largeschool districts, but since 2003 there are results from only ten citiesincluding NYC in four categories: reading and math in 4thand 8thgrades.

What follows is an analysis of the changes from 2003-2013 in NYCNAEP scores compared to changes in scores in these 9 other cities,plus the large city category (250,000 inhabitants or more).


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How did we compare trends among the

large urban districts? Since overall scores are affected by changes in the

demographic composition of student population, we comparedchanges in scores in NYC since 2003 for six major subgroups(white, black, Hispanic, Asian, free lunch and non-free lunchstudents) compared to their peers in other large cities.

Only major subgroups whose results we did not compare werestudents with disabilities and English language learners, sincerates of identification and exclusion from NAEP testing differwidely among the ten cities.

Our comparisons allows us to assess the Klein record -- andmore broadly the effects of his corporate reform policies.

Thesecomparisons giveinsightintowhereNYC stands nationallyandprovides arobustexaminationoftheDOEs claims o


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Summary of findings

NYC came out 2ndto last among all large cities testedwhen score gains since 2003 were averaged across 6subgroups and 4 subject/grade levels.

Only Cleveland made less progress.

Gains for white, Hispanic and non-free lunch studentswere particularly disappointing; these groups fell sharply

in their rankings compared to same cohorts elsewhere.

NYC only city where non-free lunch students had loweraverage scores in 2013 compared to 2003.


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NYC comes in 2ndto last among all 10 cities + large city

category when NAEP score gains are averaged across 6

subgroups*

18.16

16.19 16.04

14.40

12.24 12.1511.21 11.03

10.00

5.06

-1.77

-5.00

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

DC LA Atlanta Boston Chicago San Diego Charlotte Large City Houston NYC Cleveland

Chart Average NAEP score gain across 6 subgroups* in citiestested since 2003

*White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, School Lunch Eligible, School Lunch Non-eligible in Reading and

Math for both 4thand 8thGrades


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NYC scores by subgroup: White Students

no gains in 4thgrade reading, minimal in other categories


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NYC scores by subgroup: Black studentsGains average in reading, less so in m ath

17

1310 9 9 8 8

5 41 -7

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

Changes in 4th GradeReading Scores 2003-2013


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NYC scores by subgroup: Hispanic Studentsgains minimal in math and reading


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Subgroup: Asian Studentsaverage gains compared to other cities


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Subgroup: free lunch students

gains minimal compared to other cities

17

12

9 88

64

3 3 3

-2

-4

-202468

1012141618

Changes in 8th Grade Reading2003-2013

21 2019

17 1715 14

1210 9

00

5

10

15

20

25

Changes in 8th Grade Math2003-2013


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Subgroup: non-free lunch students

Gains negative in three out of four categories


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Joel Klein's Record of Failure as NYC Chancellor

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