Joe Williams' Blog
April 17, 2008
TFA Week Shoutout To The Students At PS 50
In a breathtaking display of ego, even by standards normally applied to me, I managed to conduct an entire lesson this morning on the importance of Joe Williams to seventh graders in Gabrielle Ramos' science class at PS 50 in East Harlem, Manhattan!
This week is Teach for America Week and a friend asked me if I would be a guest teacher with Ramos. Loved it, loved it, loved it. The students were great and they peppered me with tough questions about what it is really like to be Joe Williams. And Ms. Ramos rocked.
Thanks for the invite!
Posted by Joe Williams on April 17, 2008 1:42 PM
April 16, 2008
Will McCain Pick Off Dems With The Ed Issue?
Writing on Politico, Richard Whitmire posits that it could happen if our eventual Democratic nominee fails to find his or her way back to the center:
Recent victories on the reform agenda side, such as high-flying charters and the astonishing success of Teach for America, have captured the imagination of young, independent-minded Democrats. If the Democratic nominee fails to tack back to the center, these voters may be open to a switch. Pushing hard on charters, for example, could add up to a reform platform akin to Bush’s “I’ll bring you Texas” accountability, which fleshed out his “compassionate conservative” credentials.
Eduwonk is on it here. Russo has it here.
Posted by Joe Williams on April 16, 2008 5:46 PM
April 15, 2008
High Schoolers Should Be Able To Pass Basic Tests
Over at the Britannica Blog, Karin Chenoweth argues that high school kids should be able to pass manadatory basic assessments - not for the sake of graduating, but because they should actually know some stuff when they head out into the world.
Because, let’s face it—those HSAs just aren’t all that hard. They ask questions that high school graduates should be able to answer. Questions about the role of the Supreme Court, the meaning of the First Amendment, the role of sunlight in plant growth, the process of evolution, the conclusions that can be drawn from a set of data or a piece of literature. This is not rocket science. Nor is there anything that is antithetical to a good education.
If students don’t know enough to pass the HSAs, they and their schools need to buckle down and make sure they do—not so that they can pass a test but so that they know things that are important for every citizen to know.
You can judge for yourself by going here and choosing a practice exam to take. The exams might have a few questions that require a lot of knowledge, but they are few and far between. And, although Maryland is secretive about exactly how many questions students have to answer correctly in order to pass, I have it on pretty good authority that you can pass by answering somewhere around half the questions correctly.
That doesn’t seem too much to expect of a high school graduate.
Posted by Joe Williams on April 15, 2008 12:09 PM
April 10, 2008
NY Teachers Unions: Pinata or Gorilla?
The teacher tenure language in the new state budget for New York continues to get a lot of attention - as does the argument that the New York Legislature is bought and paid for by the teachers union.
Eduwonkette writes that the union is being treated like a pinata. The NY Post, a day behind the NY Times and NY Daily News, wonders why legislative leaders aren't being brought up on bribery charges, and notes that the problem here isn't that the union threw so much cash at the legislature, but that the politicians allowed themselves to get bought in such a way that they dealt a serious blow to attempts to save public education for the students who desperately need it to be saved.
Meanwhile, Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) notes that the $3 million that the teachers unions spent lobbying in the capitol last year makes it the "King Kong" of all of the political gorillas in Albany. (Interesting use of the gorilla thing. I made a similar claim in a previous blog life that NYSUT was the 'Big Freaking Macho Gorilla' in the statehouse.
Posted by Joe Williams on April 10, 2008 10:01 AM
April 9, 2008
NY Legislature: Teachers Not A Factor In Child Success
Against all conventional wisdom that having a quality teacher at the front of the classroom is a crucial ingredient in the education process, the New York State Legislature appears to have reached an agreement with the state teachers union which makes it illegal to evaluate teachers based on whether or not students are learning.
This is obviously a huge blow to public education and the now seemingly-futile attempts to save it.
(When we are all standing at public education's funeral someday in the near future, remember to do a cough-chant of "murderer" when Dick Ianuzzi or anyone else from NYSUT tries to eulogize. Or even better, let's get half the crowd to chant "murderer" and half the crowd to chant "bullshit." Note: Yes, I'm going nuclear. How could you not? My kids are in these schools that the union/legislature is choking!)
UPDATE: The Daily News editorial board is not particularly impressed by new Gov. Paterson's commitment to kids either. Eyes are on the governor to see whether he will continue to side with the teachers unions or with public education.
UPDATE II: So how bad is this legislation? It is so bad that even the NY Times recognized it as a stink bomb!
Posted by Joe Williams on April 9, 2008 8:44 AM
April 5, 2008
Rangel: Grad Rates A 'National Disaster'
Some readers have suggested that I've been too pessimistic and that I should give Al Sharpton and other prominent civil rights activists/politicians more benefit of the doubt that they care enough about the nation's education crisis to push for significant change even if it means they have to bite the hand$ that have been feeding them for years and years.
They could be right. Perhaps there is a revolution in the making. It was remarkable, for example, to see Rep. Charlie Rangel on NY1's Inside City Hall program on Friday night. (For starters, it was great to see Rangel up and about after the mysterious illness which hospitalized him recently.) Something about thinking that you are close to death seems to sharpen your focus or something. Did you catch when he told Dominic Carter that our nation's graduation rate was a "national disaster"?????? Rangel lamented that 50% of black kids will never be able to understand Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's dream because they are slipping through the cracks of crappy schools.
Sounds like it is time to lead. Rep. Rangel? Rep. Rangel?????
Even better are these signs that something is stirring.
Posted by Joe Williams on April 5, 2008 4:07 PM
April 4, 2008
MLK, Sharpton, Ed Reform, Shifting Winds?
(UPDATED) 
I had to catch an early morning flight out of Memphis, but made a point of making a 5 a.m. visit to the Lorraine Motel, the site where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down 40-years-ago today. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised but there was already a small crowd gathered to pay vigil, an obvious reminder of just how much impact the event continues to have for Americans, particularly (but certainly not limited to) African-Americans.
I was in Memphis for a very interesting panel discussion sponsored by Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network. In addition to me and Kevin Chavous, from DFER, the panelists included Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty. DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, former Milwaukee Superintendent Howard Fuller, KISS FM radio host (and former drummer for Miles Davis) James Mtume, Sharpton (briefly), and Urban League CEO Marc Murial. NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein moderated the panel.
When the panel was over, Howard Fuller asked me what had just happened. I wasn't really sure. It is hard to describe, but it was sort of surreal. We had a frank discussion about the education problem and the entrenched obstacles to doing anything about it. But it was difficult to determine how committed some of the national civil rights leaders actually were to doing anything significant to change the equation. Where does it go from here?
It will be particularly interesting to see whether Rev. Sharpton can match his rhetoric with action. (The Memphis Commercial Appeal covered the panel here.) Sharpton, after the discussion had been kicking for a while, talked about how the education problem is so dire that we can no longer honor past alliances which existed to protect the status quo in education.
Continue reading "MLK, Sharpton, Ed Reform, Shifting Winds?"....
Posted by Joe Williams on April 4, 2008 10:17 AM
