Breakdown; the Bostonian

Two great articles from the last issue of Education Next (www.educationnext.org):

1) An insightful look by Eva Moskowitz on the utter madness of the union contracts in NYC (which are similar in many other large cities) -- and it's not just the teachers' contract. I had no idea that the custodians' and principals' contracts were just as bad...

Since a principal has no power to fire a custodian, the best way for a principal to get rid of a bad custodian is to give him high marks so that he can transfer to a larger building, where, according to the contract, he automatically earns more money. Thus is incompetence rewarded. By the same token, to keep a good custodian, a principal will give him mediocre marks, penalizing competence. Think of it as the Peter Principle on steroids: custodians are promoted from jobs they can’t do to those they can’t do even better.

http://www.educationnext.org/20063/24.html

2) Tom Payzant has done great work in Boston, without ruffling too many feathers. While I certainly understand the point of view of those who would argue that perhaps he SHOULD have ruffled more feathers, the very short tenures (and, not coincidentally, few lasting achievements) of feather-ruffling superintendants would argue to the contrary. There are some great lessons here...

The success side of the Payzant story is known to many. Academic progress in Boston increased steadily under his leadership, with Boston’s 4th and 8th graders handing the 65-year-old Boston native a nice farewell gift by coming out on top in math improvement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2005 assessments among ten participating urban districts (see Figure 1). Boston public school students are also among the top (along with San Diego and New York) in making the most overall progress over the past two years, outperforming students in Atlanta, Cleveland, and Chicago. Boston has a smaller gap than most other urban districts in achievement between white students and black and Hispanic students. On state tests, Boston’s scores have almost kept pace with the state average since the tests were first given in 1998. The district has been a finalist for the Broad Foundation award for urban school districts for each of the past four years.

http://www.educationnext.org/20063/30.html