Chalkbeat

Education news. In context.

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joel klein

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New York
April 2, 2018

Five first days of school: How Richard Carranza’s start as chancellor compares to his predecessors’

Carranza's first day is shaping up to be very different from those of the most recent chancellors he succeeds. Here's what they did on day one.

money matters

New York
January 29, 2018

Here’s how New York City divvies up school funding — and why critics say the system is flawed

In 2007, the city adopted a funding formula that sends more money to schools with the neediest students. Here's how that formula has been working.

principal principles

New York
August 31, 2017

New York City closes the door on Mayor Bloomberg’s boot camp for principals, marking end of an era

The Aspiring Principals Program has ended after a 14-year run.

the consequences of closure

National
August 24, 2017

Schools with more students of color are more likely to be shut down — and three other things to know about a big new study

Shutting down schools with low test scores doesn’t help student learning and disproportionately affects students of color, according a new study.

mayoral challenge

New York
December 21, 2016

Education candidate Josh Thompson challenging de Blasio with long-shot bid for mayor

Thompson supports school vouchers, charter schools and merit pay for educators -- all contentious issues in New York City, where the teachers union is famously strong.

back to the future

New York
October 11, 2016

AFT freaked out after Joel Klein was rumored to join Hillary Clinton’s campaign, WikiLeaks email shows

"Joel may have been incredibly good in Bill Clinton's Justice Department, but he has a toxic reputation when it comes to education," Weingarten said.
New York
November 3, 2015

De Blasio official touts school choice as a solution to segregation, echoing Bloomberg

Critics who consider the idea of a high-performing but highly segregated school system unrealistic have grown increasingly wary of the overlap.
New York
February 18, 2015

Remembering longtime deputy chancellor Kathleen Grimm

Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced Wednesday that longtime deputy chancellor Kathleen Grimm had died, just weeks after retiring.

End of an era

New York
January 7, 2015

Longtime deputy chancellor Kathleen Grimm to retire

Kathleen Grimm, the deputy chancellor for operations and a fixture in the Department of Education under four chancellors, is stepping down, Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced Wednesday.

middle ground

New York
October 29, 2014

What Fariña wants to keep from the Bloomberg era: tech, leadership focus

Since taking over the school system, Fariña has increased the experience requirements for both principals and district superintendents, moves that stand in contrast to the Bloomberg administration’s creation of a fast-track principal training program that drew criticism for filling the city’s schools with inexperienced leaders.
New York
September 30, 2014

To raise graduation rates, the de Blasio administration needs a comprehensive strategy

Former deputy chancellor Eric Nadelstern: So far, Chancellor Fariña's initiatives have not globally addressed the entire school system, and they have not made student performance their central ambition.
New York
December 13, 2013

Joel Klein says curriculum is his legacy's lone dark spot

The further away Joel Klein gets from the New York City school system, the firmer he is about the changes he brought during his tenure. But there is one blemish on a generally positive self-assessment, which Klein disclosed Thursday night as part of a 60-minute conversation with CUNY Institute for Education Policy Director David Steiner. A lone regret, he said, was an early decision to push schools to adopt a uniform curriculum that embraced philosophies of progressive education over more traditional instruction. "This was, in candor, not my background," said Klein, a former U.S. Attorney General who taught math for a year in the late 1960s.
New York
November 18, 2013

Students in high-tech math program saw big gains, report says

PHOTO: Caroline BaumanStudents in New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. schools in a program called Teach to One made better-than-average math gains. Students in a high-tech math program that features computer-generated student work schedules, virtual tutors and live teachers posted above average math gains last year, according to a new study. More than 2,200 students in seven middle schools in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., that used the Teach to One learning model made an average of 1.2 years of math growth, according to the report by researchers at Teachers College at Columbia University. That was 20 percent more progress, on average, than other students made on an optional test used in school districts across the country. But the gains varied across schools, according to the report, which follows an inconclusive study that was released last year. Students at five of the schools gained less ground than the national average in at least one grade, the report found. Teach to One, which has expanded to 15 schools in seven cities in its second year, grew out of a city Department of Education program called School of One, which enjoyed national attention and federal funding before its co-creators left to start their own nonprofit.
New York
July 2, 2013

Weighing in on mayor's race, Joel Klein takes aim at detractors

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is chiming in on the mayoral race to defend his tenure. After staying silent as mayoral candidates have taken aim at the education policies he engineered, former schools chief Joel Klein is now speaking up to defend the Bloomberg administration's school policies. In a speech in Washington, D.C. to charter school supporters this morning, Klein plans to criticize what he calls "a complete lack of courage among most of the candidates" for statements they've made during the campaign to replace Mayor Bloomberg, according to a copy of the speech provided to GothamSchools in advance. In the speech, Klein praises the reforms that took place during his eight-year tenure at the Department of Education, listing the growth of charter schools in Harlem as a crowning achievement. Klein has stayed mum so far on City Hall politics since he abruptly left the department at the end of 2010. He was quickly hired by Rupert Murdoch and now runs NewsCorp's education technology division, Amplify, from its Brooklyn headquarters in Dumbo not far from his former office at the Tweed Courthouse. But as Bloomberg's third term comes to a close, the administration's legacy, which Klein helped establish, has been under attack. Klein's most divisive policies, which include closing schools and opening non-union charter schools in their place, have received the most scrutiny from leading Democratic candidates.
New York
May 13, 2013

Kopp vows that TFA's "unstoppable force" will steer next mayor

Department of Education Senior Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg and Shipnia Bytyqi, a graduate of the high school he founded who now teaches at a charter school in the city, took the stage last week at Teach for America New York's annual gala. Teach For America used its annual New York City benefit last week to wade into the city's political debate. Praising the Bloomberg administration's education record, founder and board chair Wendy Kopp vowed that Teach For America and its supporters would fight to preserve the mayor's education legacy after he leaves office at the end of the year. "No matter who takes office," Kopp said, "we are creating an unstoppable force." The remarks reflected Teach For America's transition to playing a stronger role in public dialogue about education. Kopp suggested that the organization would not throw its support behind a single candidate. "Progress isn't a function of one leader," Kopp said. Instead, she said, the educational change Teach For America supports requires "a constellation of committed souls." The strength of that constellation was on display at the nonprofit's gala, held Wednesday at the glittering Waldorf Astoria hotel. In one night, the organization announced it raised $6.7 million, and speakers included Charlie Rose and Richard Parsons, the former CEO of Time Warner and Teach For America board member who also chairs Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Education Reform Commission.
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