Teaching

Gov. Cuomo Has Decided: The State Will Take Over Teacher Evaluations

Looks like State Education Commissioner John King wasn't kidding. Yesterday, the Associated Press was informed by an anonymous Cuomo administration official that, in his 30-day budget amendments coming up this week, the governor will position Albany to be the central arbiter of a still-not-disclose ... More >>

A Few Teachers Beg Albany to Help Evaluate Them in New Ad Campaign

It's not every day that employees ask their higher-ups to evaluate them more rigorously, but that's what a few city public school teachers asked for in an ad campaign launched by Educators 4 Excellence yesterday.

Gov. Cuomo To NYC: If No Teacher Evaluations Deal Is Made, The State Will Intervene

After letting $300 million in state funds slip out of our children's hands, coercion might be the only way to get Mayor Bloomberg's D.O.E. and the United Federation of Teachers to come to an agreement. Yesterday, Governor Cuomo told reporters that Albany has no problem imposing its own teacher eval ... More >>

Mr. Cuomo, You've Sure Got a Funny Way of Increasing Education Spending

Gov. Andrew Cuomo extended the state's impressive run of evading the fact that it owes New York City billions of dollars in educations funds. As we reported last week, the state has demonstrated an uncanny ability to pretend like the N.Y. State Court of Appeals didn't mandate that it pay the city ... More >>

Here's Why Bloomberg And The UFT Couldn't Come To A Deal On Teacher Evaluations

It's official: as of yesterday afternoon, the teachers union and the Mayor's education officials both walked out on negotiations for a teacher evaluations deal worth millions. That means that the January 17th deadline has come and went, placing New York State out of Race to the Top fund consideratio ... More >>

The Million(s)-Dollar Deadline For Teacher Evaluations Is Here, And There's No Deal

January 17th is the last day New York City education officials have to solve this teacher evaluations dilemma that's blocking millions of dollars in grants. And that day is upon us.Yesterday, the Mayor's Department of Education met with the United Federation of Teachers to create a last-minute solu ... More >>

State, Not UFT, Screwed Kids Out $250 Million With Teacher Eval Demands

For a sample of the over-wrought backlash that the United Federation of Teachers will face after failing to come to an agreement with the city on a new teacher evaluation system this afternoon, go check out today's opinion section in the NY Daily News. In an impressive show of mutual-strokage, the ... More >>

The Mayor's D.O.E. And UFT Will Resume Talks Today, Just Hours Before $300M Deadline

For whatever the reason, 'coming down to the wire' doesn't cut it here. Maybe it's the $300 million that's at stake. Who knows.As we reported last week, a deadline has been set for tomorrow on statewide teacher evaluation deals. If achieved, the State will qualify for millions in Race to the Top gra ... More >>

If NYC Public Schools Lose $300 Million In A Week, You Can Thank Politics

Forget about the fiscal cliff in Washington; the kids of New York City are about to jump off one, too. In less than ten days, New York City's public school system stands to gain or lose nearly $300 million of the $700 million allotted to New York State under President Obama's "Race to the Top" prog ... More >>

Bloomberg's Union Fight Over Teacher Evaluations

The Hozziner is gettin' a little feisty.Last Saturday, The Voice reported on the teacher evaluation argument that was brewing in Albany between the unions and Bloomberg over whether or not to release the information to parents or the public. The extremes were set in stone: the unions favored pa ... More >>

Educator of the Year—and Beyond

Teachers' Union Prez Mike Mulgrew Hit With Woodshop Sex and Blackmail Accusations

Nothing like a quick sex scandal to spice up a beautiful Sunday afternoon. In a 73-page lawsuit filed by a Manhattan teacher, the President of the United Federation of Teachers prez Michael Mulgrew, known for his heated relationship with Bloomberg's Education Department, has been accused of having ... More >>

Mayor Releases New Budget With Childcare Cuts, Gets Very Annoyed at Reporters

Mayor Mike Bloomberg released his $68.7 billion executive budget proposal today and patted himself on the back for leading the city in a speedy recovery that's better than the rest of the country. The new budget for 2013 has no tax increases and relies on $6.2 billion in savings generated through de ... More >>

Bill de Blasio: Release Your Staff Evaluations, Mr. Mayor

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is upping the ante on the debate over teacher evaluations by calling on the mayor to release evaluations of staffers from his office. De Blasio -- who is expected to run for mayor in 2013 and who frequently gets headlines for criticizing Bloomberg -- is rallying arou ... More >>

City Schools Blow It; Send Error-Riddled Stats To Federal Oversight Agency

From the land of the seriously hard to believe, a major statistical report by the New York city Department of Education, which oversees our public schools, to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights is so riddled with obvious errors as to be laughable. The exhaustive report covers ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg, Albany Dispute Release of Teacher Ranking Data

Will teacher rankings be made public? This is a complicated question, and will likely be decided soon by New York pols. But first, a bit of background. Remember that various media outlets published in February 18,000 New York City teacher ratings, after the United Federation of Teachers lost a len ... More >>

Cuomo, Bloomberg Take Pissing Match With Teachers Unions Public. Union's Response: "Oh, For Pete's Sake"

​Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg just issued a joint publicity stunt press release announcing that they will be donating $72,000 to a Hispanic advocacy group to replace the donation two teacher's unions yanked from the organization in protest of Cuomo's pension refo ... More >>

New Yorkers: Gov. Andrew Cuomo More Trustworthy Than United Federation of Teachers

New Yorkers trust their gov more than the public school teachers union to protect kids' interests, according to a Quinnipiac University poll that came out this morning. The study has been released shortly after another survey in which voters said they trust the union more than Mayor Mike Bloomberg - ... More >>

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio Slams Bloomberg for Failure to Finalize Teacher Eval Plans

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio took the mayor and his administration to task on Sunday afternoon for failing to come to an agreement with the United Federation of Teachers over a proposed teachers evaluation program. In a press conference outside of the city's Department of Education, de Blasio said ... More >>

New Yorkers Trust Teachers More Than Michael Bloomberg: Study

New Yorkers are hot for teachers: A new Quinnipiac University poll has found that the city's residents think that profs are more likely to protect the interest of public school kids than Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Fifty-six percent of voters trust the teachers union to help children learn, while only 31 ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg: Let's Fire Bad Teachers!

​The city's teachers don't like Mike, but his sudden change of heart on a much-hated teacher evaluation law could smooth things over: he wants it to be easier to fire bad teachers but let poorly rated ones appeal their bad evals. After pushing repeatedly for unpopular evals -- even making a ... More >>

Mayor Mike Bloomberg on UFT Ad Attacking Him: 'I Didn't See It'

​Mayor Mike Bloomberg, on his weekly radio show this morning, said he doesn't watch a lot of television. Well, actually, Mr. Mayor, that is pretty contradictory to some statements you made yesterday next to cast members from Gossip Girl. Get your facts straight, dude! The mayor -- so versed ... More >>

New Teachers Union Ad Attacking Mayor Starts Today

Watch out, Mr. Mayor! The United Federation of Teachers is launching an ad campaign today that attacks Mike Bloomberg -- who has loudly criticized the union at a handful of public appearances this year. At his State of the City speech earlier this month, the mayor went after the UFT for insisting on ... More >>

Bloomberg Cheers Cuomo's Teacher Evals Despite Increasing Flak from Educators

Great timing, Mike. On the same day that the United Federation of Teachers is unveiling a week's worth of primetime attack ads on Bloomberg, the mayor told Albany that he supports Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget plan -- including the metrics-minded school proposals that really piss off educators. In ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg: I'm Not Living in a Fantasy World, Students Are the Priority

After the mayor's State of the City speech yesterday, everyone's been talking about Bloomberg's words on education and teacher evaluation (less so, his mentions of Lady Gaga or Words With Friends). We caught up with a few predictably critical pols yesterday afternoon in the Bronx who all voluntari ... More >>

Mayor Bloomberg: 'Double the Class Size With a Better Teacher Is a Good Deal for the Students'

Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday at a conference at MIT that if he had it his way, he'd slash half the teaching staff of city schools. CBS doesn't have a whole lot of context for the quote, but read it and weep: "If I had the ability to just design the system and say ex cathedra this is what we're g ... More >>

Bloomberg Takes Flak at Facebook Presser for Comment About Firing Teachers

​Mayor Bloomberg, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced today that Facebook is opening an engineering office in New York City. Though Facebook already has 100 employees in New York, this is their first engineering office outside the West Coast. It will open in early 2 ... More >>

Talent Gone Missing in The Abduction of Zack Butterfield

NY Senate Votes That Your Old Horrible Teacher Should Be Fired

​The New York Senate approved the repeal of the "Last In, First Out" policy for New York City school teachers in a vote today. The senate voted 10-8 in favor of a new policy that says teachers with seniority should not have precedence over their more junior coworkers. With Bloomberg planning t ... More >>

Some Schools Could Lose 30 Percent of Teachers under Bloomberg Plan - WNYC

The Bloomberg Administration has announced that some schools could lose up to 30 percent of their teaching force, WNYC is reporting this morning. Under a worst-case scenario, the Department of Education is set to lay off one to five teachers at most schools, with some losing 30 percent of their ove ... More >>

Mayor Bloomberg to Axe More Than 6,000 City Teachers

​Mayor Mike Bloomberg is set to announce that he plans to eliminate 6,100 teaching positions from the city's schools -- that's one out of every 12 -- according to Mike Bloomberg's media company. Bloomberg's Administration will layoff 4,666 teachers and lose another 1,500 to attrition. UFT Pre ... More >>

Unlike Teachers, Report Cards For Cops Are Off-Limits

​Oh, what's that? The NYPD denied another freedom of information request? You don't say! City Limits has a piece today, pointing out that while the city seems glad to hand over teacher performance rankings (much to the teachers' union chagrin, of course), an obscure law shields cops, firefighters, ... More >>

Education Schools Need More On-the-Job Training

Or so teaching-residency advocates say

Faith Kramer, Health Teacher Who Let Kids Say "Furburger," Settles with City for $45,000

​The 26-year tenured Staten Island health teacher who allowed students to use slang sexual terms when she taught a lesson about AIDS filed a $1 million suit against the city for wrongfully suspending her, and has now agreed to settle the case for $45,000 -- an amount comparable to a first-year ... More >>

Your Own Personal Blackboard Jungle

Fresh from the frontlines, New York Teaching Fellows tell all

Life Lesson

He took a gig with Teach for America in New Orleans and ended up working for FEMA

Buzz Babies

An Open Page

Poetry Nation

Modest $100 Million Proposals, for Better or Verse

A Defining Bloomberg

Our Nice-Guy Mayor Makes Some Bad Budget Choices

Beyond 2000 and ScienceDaily

Taking the Sigh Out of Science News

Rudy’s Lesson Plan

Dirty Looks From City Hall as Teachers Seek a Raise

Rescuing Kids From Bad Schools

Can Giuliani Pass This Test?

The KGB Bar Reader