Bill de Blasio Stays in the Slow Lane on School Improvement
December 3, 2015Sunday Leftovers
December 6, 2015QOD: NYS School Chief Merryl Tisch on de Blasio and Farina’s “Ridiculous” Goals for NYC’s Failing Schools
From Chalkbeat:
Outgoing state Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch took a swipe at New York City’s school-improvement program Thursday, saying the city is permitting “failure” at certain troubled schools and setting “ridiculous” goals at others.
Her comments came after Chalkbeat reported that the city has quietly given the 94 struggling schools in its $400 million “Renewal” improvement program three years to hit one-year targets. One of the schools, M.S. 53 in Queens, has until 2017 to boost its students’ average reading score from 2.14 to 2.15.
“At some point, everyone has to stop being ridiculous,” Tisch, New York’s top education official, said in an interview Thursday. “2.14 to 2.15? I mean, give me a break.”
She went on: “If that’s OK, then their definition of OK and my definition of OK are two very different definitions….If you sit with persistent failure and you tolerate it, then by definition you are destroying the educational pathways for some kids. At some point, you’ve got to pull the plug.”
See background here.
