Tough Guy Joel Klein

What a load of bull crap.
According to ABC News Australia, Joel Klein is an educator who’s not afraid “to sack an entire teaching staff” when the school doesn’t perform. 
Klein told interviewers, “I’ve shut down 70 schools, brought in a new principal who selected a new team and they are operating in a more effective way,” [...]

Uh-Oh…Klein’s Calling Bloggers

Apparently, overseeing the start of the school year for over one million New York City children, many of whom are at risk, is not keeping Chancellor Joel Klein busy enough.  While the word is sent to principals to keep teachers busy every second of the staff development days in preparation of the new school year, Klein [...]

My Own Mother Lacks Respect for Educators

I had a conversation with my mom yesterday that proved that the teacher-bashing tactics of Chancellor Klein are wreaking havoc on public perception of educators. It was, to say the least, the most disturbing conversation that i had in a long time.
Mom: Your school’s graduation rates are low and that proves that the teachers are [...]

Educational Reformers Celebrate “The Bell Curve”

Who can forget the infamous book entitled “The Bell Curve” by Richard J. Herrnstein and American Enterprise Institutes’ Charles Murray, which made the assertion that intelligence is a predictor of income and success. The book also argued that some differences between racial groups has to do with intelligence, citing lower test scores among African [...]

The Legend of the CTB/McGraw Hill

There is a legend that says that in the early part of the 21st Century, New York City Public Schools Chancellor, Joel Klein was riding high on the educational reform wave. He decided to gather all of the most well known ed reformers in the country together for a week of conferences, speeches, think [...]

Misguided Sympathy

This post is in response to Some see it in black and white by Under Assault, in which the author addresses, among other things, institutional racism within the public schools.
Her post made me think of the following story that was relayed to me by a former Brooklyn Superintendent whom I greatly admire. I haven’t [...]

It Can’t Happen to Me

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.
When they came for me,
there [...]

New York City Teaching Fellows-Biting the Hand that Feeds Them

I still have a problem with alternative teacher certification programs; I don’t feel that they address the real problems that face our schools and I have serious concerns about sending people with no training to work with our neediest students.
That being said, I’ve noticed something interesting about the New York City Teaching Fellows Program - [...]

Joel Klein Gives Himself an “A” for Effort

Despite protests by parents, students, and teachers and in the wake of the recent survey in which 80% of teachers cited him as doing a horrible job, Joel Klein has stated that he is giving himself an “A” for effort. According to the Staten Island Advance, Klein felt that this rating was reflected by [...]

The DOE Takeover of Teacher Certification

Thanks to Chaz and New York City Educator for bringing my attention to Joel Klein’s newest plan in his effort to take over the world; control of teacher and administrative certification.
One of our ROTC teachers is a retired sergeant with the Air Force. He once told me that he never thought he would find [...]