Yesterday I interviewed Ronald Rivera, the principal at Public School 89 in the Bronx, which serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Rivera said that when he first arrived at the school six years ago, students were failing miserably and the school was in bad shape. Two years ago, he, and an entire new staff, came up with a plan to focus their attention on middle school grades.
The program, called the "Seven-Plus Program," was designed specifically for sixth- and seventh-graders who were most at-risk for failing -- such as gang members, special education students and students who have trouble reading. By taking high school credits at Truman High School throughout the year and during summer school, students are expected to complete seventh grade by the beginning of spring and eighth grade by the end of the summer of that school year, Rivera said.
The other component of the program is called "Spring Forward," which provides Saturday math and engineering classes for high school credit for overage seventh-graders who are not as at-risk of failing. The idea was to combine classes of two completely different levels -- one farther ahead academically than the other -- so they can work together and help each other. So far, Rivera said, the program has been extremely successful in helping students make it to high school early enough and with enough confidence that they will hopefully not drop out of the system.
See more information about the Seven-Plus program in the Advocates for Children of New York City report, "Stuck in the Middle: The Problem of Overage Middle School Students in New York City."
Friday, May 1, 2009
55 Middle Schools Receive $13 million in grants
In early April, the New York City Department of Education announced that 55 middle schools in New York City received $13 million in grants from both the Department of Education and the General Electric Foundation, according to a DOE press release.
Seventy schools applied for the grants -- which range from $50,000 to $250,000 -- but the 55 that won over Schools Chancellor Joel Klein provided the best proposals as to how the money will be used to increase academic achievement in middle schools.
The GE Foundation is funding the grants for 17 of the middle schools in Northern Manhattan, while the DOE is funding the remaining 38 schools, according to the DOE.
These grants were part of the DOE's fairly new "Campaign for Middle School Success," a blueprint for middle grade achievement that the DOE announced last August. The schools that received the funding will use it for new resources, such as after-school or summer programming.
Last week, I interview Barbara Gross, of the Coalition for Educational Justice. The CEJ has been working with middle schools for a long time, closely following the Bloomberg administration's every move with the system. Gross was quite pleased with the way the DOE took initiative and geared more of its focus toward middle grades.
"[The Department of Education] has made more of a priority of middle school education," Gross said. "They're now putting all this money into the lowest performing middle schools. Until a year or ago, there was no central staff whose job it was to support middle schools, and that is different now. Middle school staff is on board. There's more of an explicit understanding of the fact that what happens in middle schools is a critical link to high school graduation."
Seventy schools applied for the grants -- which range from $50,000 to $250,000 -- but the 55 that won over Schools Chancellor Joel Klein provided the best proposals as to how the money will be used to increase academic achievement in middle schools.
The GE Foundation is funding the grants for 17 of the middle schools in Northern Manhattan, while the DOE is funding the remaining 38 schools, according to the DOE.
These grants were part of the DOE's fairly new "Campaign for Middle School Success," a blueprint for middle grade achievement that the DOE announced last August. The schools that received the funding will use it for new resources, such as after-school or summer programming.
Last week, I interview Barbara Gross, of the Coalition for Educational Justice. The CEJ has been working with middle schools for a long time, closely following the Bloomberg administration's every move with the system. Gross was quite pleased with the way the DOE took initiative and geared more of its focus toward middle grades.
"[The Department of Education] has made more of a priority of middle school education," Gross said. "They're now putting all this money into the lowest performing middle schools. Until a year or ago, there was no central staff whose job it was to support middle schools, and that is different now. Middle school staff is on board. There's more of an explicit understanding of the fact that what happens in middle schools is a critical link to high school graduation."
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Reading -- Root of the Problem?
Background in Brief:
Mayor Bloomberg's new eighth-grade promotion policy, which will begin in June, will require eighth-graders to pass classes in core subjects and score a basic level on English and math standardized tests in order to advance to high school.
Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Kline have said that the intention is to make sure students are prepared to move on. If they are not, the administration argues, they should not advance. In theory, it seems reasonable. But the solution for failing middle schoolers could be far more complicated than making them repeat the a grade -- and relearn the exact same curriculum.
The Real Problem?
The issues stem from students not even being able to read, said Susan Crawford, of nonprofit organization The Right to Read. She wonders how repeating the same material -- without any extra help -- will benefit these students.
Christie Love, of Advocates for Children of New York, agreed. “[The policy] could potentially hold over 1,000 students this year. And there weren’t a lot of details given as to how the year that the students are repeating would be different than the year that they didn’t pass the first time. If they’re going to hold them back, what are they going to do to make sure that they succeed?”
Here are some supporting statistics from non-profit organization Coalition for Educational Justice:
Mayor Bloomberg's new eighth-grade promotion policy, which will begin in June, will require eighth-graders to pass classes in core subjects and score a basic level on English and math standardized tests in order to advance to high school.
Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Kline have said that the intention is to make sure students are prepared to move on. If they are not, the administration argues, they should not advance. In theory, it seems reasonable. But the solution for failing middle schoolers could be far more complicated than making them repeat the a grade -- and relearn the exact same curriculum.
The Real Problem?
The issues stem from students not even being able to read, said Susan Crawford, of nonprofit organization The Right to Read. She wonders how repeating the same material -- without any extra help -- will benefit these students.
Christie Love, of Advocates for Children of New York, agreed. “[The policy] could potentially hold over 1,000 students this year. And there weren’t a lot of details given as to how the year that the students are repeating would be different than the year that they didn’t pass the first time. If they’re going to hold them back, what are they going to do to make sure that they succeed?”
Here are some supporting statistics from non-profit organization Coalition for Educational Justice:
- Less than half of NYC 8th graders can read and write at the state standard. In many schools in East Brooklyn, Harlem, and the South Bronx, fewer than 1 in 4 students can read and write on state standard.
- National tests show no improvement in 8th grade Reading scores over the past five years, and no narrowing of the achievement gap.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Middle schoolers aren't the only ones behind
A Gotham Schools article by Philissa Kramer showed that new high school requirements could cause the graduation rate in New York City to plummet.
Five years ago, the graduation rate was 37 percent. Now, it is just more than 50 percent but could drastically decrease as a result of the following requirements:
- "Beginning with this year's freshman class, all students will have to earn a Regents diploma by scoring a 65 or higher on five different state exams. Until now, the state has allowed students who scored between 55 and 64 on any of the tests to graduate with a less rigorous diploma."
At the Department of Education press conference, the Coalition for Educational Justice and other advocates were among those who urged that the DOE turn its focus to the high schools. Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer and the DOE's middle school initiatives leader Sabrina King both agreed that the groups' requests were reasonable. King said the DOE has added Regents-level courses to more middle schools in hopes of increasing the eighth grade promotion rate, as well.
"Student performance in eighth grade is a predictor of high school graduation, so we knew we had to start early," King said. "Otherwise, [students] don't have a fighting chance."
Five years ago, the graduation rate was 37 percent. Now, it is just more than 50 percent but could drastically decrease as a result of the following requirements:
- "Beginning with this year's freshman class, all students will have to earn a Regents diploma by scoring a 65 or higher on five different state exams. Until now, the state has allowed students who scored between 55 and 64 on any of the tests to graduate with a less rigorous diploma."
At the Department of Education press conference, the Coalition for Educational Justice and other advocates were among those who urged that the DOE turn its focus to the high schools. Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer and the DOE's middle school initiatives leader Sabrina King both agreed that the groups' requests were reasonable. King said the DOE has added Regents-level courses to more middle schools in hopes of increasing the eighth grade promotion rate, as well.
"Student performance in eighth grade is a predictor of high school graduation, so we knew we had to start early," King said. "Otherwise, [students] don't have a fighting chance."
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The First Story
Here is the first of the three-part series. Meet Destinee Rivera, a 16-year-old eighth-grader who is trying to break the cycle of overage middle schoolers.
Overage Middle Schoolers Struggle to Pass
Overage Middle Schoolers Struggle to Pass
Friday, March 13, 2009
Education in the News
First Impressions Can Create Unrealistic Expectations for Recruits
While some middle school students are behind, others are soaring ahead. A New York Times article discusses Kendall Marshall, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound junior guard at Bishop O'Connell high school in Columbia, S.C. But years ago, when Marshall was just 5-foot-2 and 90 pounds, he was ranked the No. 1 sixth-grade basketball prospect in the country by analyst Clark Francis. The story discusses how Marshall is still a good player but is no longer the best. Perhaps ranking children at a young age sets them up for failure, the NYT says.
Rewards for Children Under a Microscope
What are they, dogs? High school students have been getting paid to perform well on standardized tests. Now, it might be backfiring. Lisa Guernsey, of the New York Times, writes, "Reward programs that pay students are under way in many cities. In some places, students can bring home hundreds of dollars for, say, taking an Advanced Placement course and scoring well on the exam."
2 Schools Bloomberg Started Cited for Poor Performance
The Schools Under Registration Review is a list of state schools that comes out every year to show what schools are doing so poorly that they are in danger of being shut down. The Bloomberg administration created several smaller high schools in hopes of replacing "large, abysmal high schools." This year, two of Bloomberg's schools made the cut and appeared on the state list.
While some middle school students are behind, others are soaring ahead. A New York Times article discusses Kendall Marshall, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound junior guard at Bishop O'Connell high school in Columbia, S.C. But years ago, when Marshall was just 5-foot-2 and 90 pounds, he was ranked the No. 1 sixth-grade basketball prospect in the country by analyst Clark Francis. The story discusses how Marshall is still a good player but is no longer the best. Perhaps ranking children at a young age sets them up for failure, the NYT says.
Rewards for Children Under a Microscope
What are they, dogs? High school students have been getting paid to perform well on standardized tests. Now, it might be backfiring. Lisa Guernsey, of the New York Times, writes, "Reward programs that pay students are under way in many cities. In some places, students can bring home hundreds of dollars for, say, taking an Advanced Placement course and scoring well on the exam."
2 Schools Bloomberg Started Cited for Poor Performance
The Schools Under Registration Review is a list of state schools that comes out every year to show what schools are doing so poorly that they are in danger of being shut down. The Bloomberg administration created several smaller high schools in hopes of replacing "large, abysmal high schools." This year, two of Bloomberg's schools made the cut and appeared on the state list.
Monday, March 2, 2009
FOIL/FOIA Request
Below is a draft of my FOIL/FOIA request letter that I plan to send to the NYC Department of Education. I am requesting the number of overage middle school students in New York City organized by both school and borough. In order to show how evident the problem of overage middle school students is in NYC, I need these statistics in my story.
March 2, 2009
Ms. Christine Kicinski
Records Access Officer
New York City Department of Education
(212) 374-6888
FOIL@schools.nyc.gov
Dear Ms. Kicinski:
Under the Freedom of Information Law, N.Y. Public Officers Law Section 87 et seq., I am requesting documents showing the following statistics:
- The number of overage middle school students in New York City organized by borough (overage middle school students are students who are in grades six through eight and have been held back one or more times.)
- The number of overage middle school students in New York City organized by school
I am a freelance reporter and graduate journalism student at New York University writing a story about overage middle school students in New York City. Please telephone me at 443-812-2241 if you have any further questions.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Sarah R. Kaufman
Graduate Student
Department of Journalism
New York University
(443) 812-2241
SarahRKaufman@gmail.com
March 2, 2009
Ms. Christine Kicinski
Records Access Officer
New York City Department of Education
(212) 374-6888
FOIL@schools.nyc.gov
Dear Ms. Kicinski:
Under the Freedom of Information Law, N.Y. Public Officers Law Section 87 et seq., I am requesting documents showing the following statistics:
- The number of overage middle school students in New York City organized by borough (overage middle school students are students who are in grades six through eight and have been held back one or more times.)
- The number of overage middle school students in New York City organized by school
I am a freelance reporter and graduate journalism student at New York University writing a story about overage middle school students in New York City. Please telephone me at 443-812-2241 if you have any further questions.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Sarah R. Kaufman
Graduate Student
Department of Journalism
New York University
(443) 812-2241
SarahRKaufman@gmail.com
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