“We’re giving huge amounts of money to people who admit that not only have they failed but they almost destroyed the whole economic system of the world. Then somebody asks me if kids should take violin and do I have evidence?!”
So said Geoffrey Canada, the head of the Harlem Children’s Zone, speaking at a New York City conference hosted by the Teachers College Campaign for Educational Equity. Gotham Schools was there and reports Canada’s remarks on its website.
Canada is concerned that a relentless focus on test scores will “put valuable programs at risk as the economy sours.” A fixation with math and reading performance could make it worse since other subjects could get short shrift when funds are scarce. Per Gotham Schools:
Canada said funders often ask him questions like, “You’ve got that chess program — how are the kids’ grades?” He said he thinks, “That’s what we pay the chess instructor for. When I send my kid to play soccer I don’t expect his reading scores to go up!” And funders often ask for evidence of success that is difficult or impossible to generate, Canada said — evidence that he pointed out isn’t required in other fields.
Gosh, I wish I had the standing, and/or the guts to speak so honestly.
Canada, as usual has cut to the heart of the issue.
Canada is an outspoken supporter of mayoral control of NYC schools and Klein’s policies. His statements for this article are basically hypocritical because the Bloomberg/Klein administration is singularly focused on standardized testing,
After six years of mayoral control and the Bloomberg/Klein administration’s misinformation to the public, there is sufficient data to prove that their reforms and mayoral control have proved ineffectual and have produced no significant improvement in student achievement.
The Bloomberg/Klein administration claims of a 12 percent increase in Reading and a 19 percent increase in Math scores on the New York State Assessments are inflated. These results include the scores obtained in 2002-2003 well before the implementation of Klein’s reforms. Without the 6 percent increase in Reading and the 15 percent in Math in 2002 – 2003, the figures read a dismal 6.4 percent rise in Reading and only 4.2 percent in Mathematics.
The only independent check on student achievement in New York City shows a completely different picture from that claimed by Klein. The results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress administered by the US Department of Education, considered the gold standard in testing, show that student achievement in New York City has stagnated since 2003 with virtually no improvements for Black, Hispanic and low income students. http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/dst2007/2008455.pdf