It’s an operatic battle.
On one side of this bullfight, there’s Gov. Cuomo, who has rightly zeroed in on an education “monopoly” that has more to do with providing jobs for teachers than educating the children of this state. On the other side are the forces of the status quo — perfectly embodied by New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña.
At an Albany hearing last week, Fariña slammed reforms the governor promoted in his State of the State Address:
Cuomo’s bid to have student test scores account for half of a teacher’s evaluation, up from the current 20 percent? Forget it, she said. “We need a human touch anytime we evaluate anyone for anything,” says Fariña.
What about having 35 percent of an evaluation’s score come from an outside observer — instead of principals? Nope, not that, either.
“I am very much aware that we need to hold everyone accountable, but you can’t do it with someone who’s coming from the outside with a checklist,” says Fariña.
Funny thing: This is the same woman who just re-centralized the entire management structure to make principals — to whom Mayor Michael Bloomberg had given greater autonomy in exchange for accountability — now report directly to her hand-picked “outside” superintendents.
And let’s put this in perspective: Under New York’s existing structure, only 1 percent of teachers are deemed ineffective — in a school system where only 31 percent of their students passed state tests!
Fariña also pooh-poohed Cuomo’s call to raise the cap on charter schools on the grounds they take space from traditional public schools.
So what? Charters are public schools, and they create a clear apples-to-apples comparison of the abilities to teach kids from identical demographic pools.
Charters not only prove these children can be educated, in some cases they compete with some of the best schools in the entire state.
In the opera Carmen, the eponymous hero is a fearless lover of freedom. In the real-life office of the New York City chancellor, we could sure use a Carmen with that same fight and spirit, willing to challenge teacher union orthodoxies rather than enforce them.