Klein letter on Children First

Speaking of what's going on in NYC, here's a letter from Chancellor Klein summarizing the major changes and progress.  It begins:

In January, Mayor Bloomberg announced the next phase of Children First. Since then, we’ve made real progress toward implementing the nation’s most ambitious set of school reforms. With your help, we have already accomplished a great deal together. In this letter, I will update you on that progress and highlight some of the work that lies ahead as we move toward the end of the school year.

 

This will be the first in a series of regular communications to all DOE employees about the implementation of our Children First school reforms. We have made great progress in the past five years. Test scores are significantly higher, graduation rates are the best they’ve been in decades, schools are safer, and we’re paying our teachers, principals, and other employees substantially more. (To read about our students’ latest graduation rates, please click here, and to read about yesterday’s announcement about English Language Arts results, please click here.) We are being recognized as a leader in urban education reform, most recently as one of five finalists for the third consecutive year for the coveted $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education. We must all realize that what we are doing here will affect the lives of generations of public school students. You should be very proud of this work, and I thank you for helping us accomplish our shared goals. As exciting as this progress is, we must also acknowledge that we have a long way to go if we are to achieve our shared objective of affording every child in New York City a quality education. That goal, though difficult, is achievable if we continue to move forward with boldness, courage in our convictions, and plain hard work.

 

Working with you, we are pursuing four main strategies—Empowerment, Accountability, Fair Student Funding, and Teacher Excellence. I’d like to update you on each of the core reforms before providing a general update on the overall state of the transition that we are currently undergoing.

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May 23, 2007

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

In January, Mayor Bloomberg announced the next phase of Children First. Since then, we’ve made real progress toward implementing the nation’s most ambitious set of school reforms. With your help, we have already accomplished a great deal together. In this letter, I will update you on that progress and highlight some of the work that lies ahead as we move toward the end of the school year.

 

This will be the first in a series of regular communications to all DOE employees about the implementation of our Children First school reforms. We have made great progress in the past five years. Test scores are significantly higher, graduation rates are the best they’ve been in decades, schools are safer, and we’re paying our teachers, principals, and other employees substantially more. (To read about our students’ latest graduation rates, please click here, and to read about yesterday’s announcement about English Language Arts results, please click here.) We are being recognized as a leader in urban education reform, most recently as one of five finalists for the third consecutive year for the coveted $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education. We must all realize that what we are doing here will affect the lives of generations of public school students. You should be very proud of this work, and I thank you for helping us accomplish our shared goals. As exciting as this progress is, we must also acknowledge that we have a long way to go if we are to achieve our shared objective of affording every child in New York City a quality education. That goal, though difficult, is achievable if we continue to move forward with boldness, courage in our convictions, and plain hard work.

 

Working with you, we are pursuing four main strategies—Empowerment, Accountability, Fair Student Funding, and Teacher Excellence. I’d like to update you on each of the core reforms before providing a general update on the overall state of the transition that we are currently undergoing.

 

Empowerment

We’re all familiar with the idea of student choice. We know that some children will excel in arts-focused schools while others will do best in schools oriented to math and science. But while we all know that one-size-fits-all clearly doesn’t make sense for our students, until now, school-level educators had little say in what would help them—and, by extension, their students—succeed. If a school was located in a particular geographical area, it was obliged to accept services, such as professional development or academic interventions, from DOE employees in that particular geographic area. This one-size-fits-all model worked for some schools and students and not for others.

 

Beginning at the end of the school year, we are fundamentally transforming our school system from one rooted in compliance and top-down decision-making to one that empowers school-level educators with resources and decision-making power and then holds them accountable for helping students make progress. In its place we are creating a more dynamic structure, in which schools will be able to make the smart decisions that help students make real academic progress. We are taking these steps now because, after four years of Children First, our schools and our educators have built the strong foundation they need—and are prepared to advance our reforms to the next level.

 

This change gives all schools the chance to choose the best support for them and their students from a menu of options. These options, called School Support Organizations (SSOs), are internal and external organizations that will provide differentiated support services to schools. Schools will purchase these services with new funds that have been cut from the DOE bureaucracy and placed into school budgets. Support organizations will help schools achieve their accountability targets, provide professional development support, design programs for high-needs populations, and attract and support high-quality teachers. There are three types of support organization: Empowerment Support Organization, Learning Support Organizations, and Partnership Support Organizations.

 

The Empowerment Support Organization grows out of a pilot program that started three school years ago. Empowerment Schools form into “networks” of 20 like-minded schools. They hire “network teams” that provide them with support services.

 

The four Learning Support Organizations were designed and will be led by four of the DOE’s most experienced regional leaders: Kathleen Cashin, Judith Chin, Marcia Lyles, and Laura Rodriguez. They will provide a variety of comprehensive, theme-based support services.

 

The nine Partnership Support Organizations will be led by universities, as well as community, research, and educational groups, which were selected by the DOE through a rigorous competitive process this spring.

 

Principals, in consultation with their School Leadership Teams, had until May 15 to select a School Support Organization. Last week, we announced the preliminary results of this process. You can learn about what principals selected here.

 

To find out more about the options, please click here.

 

To hear from each of the SSO leaders, please click here.

 

I’d like to emphasize that while we’re giving the schools the power to choose their own support systems, we’re not giving them unlimited freedom. My team and I will continue to provide vital, system-wide services. We’ll set academic learning standards, we’ll place students, we’ll distribute funds to schools, and we’ll recruit teachers. I will also remain responsible for ensuring that all schools and SSOs are meeting our high standards and that all relevant laws, regulations, and requirements are met. Community Superintendents will continue to perform all of their statutory duties. Schools will also be supported by Integrated Service Centers, which will offer all schools one-stop assistance with mandated and operational services related to human resources, payroll, budget and procurement, transportation, food services, grant management, health, suspensions, youth development, some elements of special education, among other central services. There will be a service center in each borough.

 

Accountability

As schools are given more decision-making power, it is essential that they are also held accountable for results—and provided the tools they need to get information on students’ progress that allows them to tailor instruction to meet the needs of individual students.

 

I described our administration’s vision for school accountability last April. Since then, we have made great strides, and we are beginning to implement most elements of this sweeping reform.

 

ARIS: This winter, we issued an RFP for a comprehensive data and knowledge management system. In March, we announced that we selected IBM through a competitive process. IBM is currently working with my team to develop the Accountability Reporting and Information system (ARIS). Teachers and principals will have access to ARIS by fall 2007, and parents will have full, online access by fall 2008. 

 

Quality Reviews: By early June, every school in our system will have received a thorough on-site Quality Review. Quality Review reports are posted online on a rolling basis at each school’s Web site under “statistics.”

 

Progress Reports: Every school will receive a Progress Report with a grade of A, B, C, D, or F in September. These reports will place the most weight on students’ progress and performance on State standardized exams. They will also take into account what we are calling “school environment,” which consists of attendance and the results of Parent, Teacher, and Student Learning Environment Surveys.

 

Learning Environment Surveys: On April 30, Mayor Bloomberg and I—together with community and parent leaders, as well as United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Council of School Supervisors and Administrators Executive Vice President Peter McNally—launched our City’s first-ever survey of all parents, teachers, and middle and high school students. This is one of the largest survey efforts in the nation (second only to the U.S. Census). Surveys will help schools learn from their core constituents about what’s working, what’s not, and what they can do to improve. Principals will receive detailed reports of survey results—and the results will be factored into schools’ School Environment scores. Surveys are due at the beginning of June, and we expect to have results in the fall.

 

Periodic Assessments: Starting next year, we will give schools a range of periodic assessment options, all aligned with school curriculum. Schools will also have the option of designing their own assessments. We will be providing more information about this to schools shortly.

 

Fair Student Funding

The old way of funding schools in New York City was not fair, equitable, or transparent. Fair Student Funding is a new and improved way of distributing the City’s education dollars to its public schools providing funds to schools based on the mix and number of students at schools.

 

Last week, I announced that our schools would receive unprecedented levels of funding in the 2007-08 school year as part of the implementation of our new school funding program. Overall, schools will receive more than $900 million in additional funds. This includes $110 million targeted to schools that have traditionally received less than their fair share of the City’s education resources. Also included in the total pot of new money going to schools is $170 million that the DOE is redirecting and allocating to schools as new “Children First Supplemental Funds.” Schools will use this money to purchase new School Support Organization services and other goods, services, and staff that they determine will help students succeed. The $170 million comes from cuts to central and regional budgets. This will bring to $230 million the amount the DOE has cut from the bureaucracy and sent to schools over the past two years to purchase support services, goods, services, and staff that school-level educators have determined will help students achieve. While under-funded schools are receiving substantial infusions of new funds, no school faces funding reductions because of the new funding formula.

 

We also launched a brand new, improved Web site where parents and principals can go to find easy-to-understand funding information for every New York City public school. This marks the first time all New Yorkers can access comprehensive information about school budgets on a single page.

 

A coalition of New Yorkers, including the United Federation of Teachers, ACORN, the New York Immigration Coalition, and others, have joined together to support this funding plan. To read more about the coalition, click here.

 

Teacher Excellence

Today, about 99% of teachers who stay for three years in our schools automatically receive tenure. We’ve committed to transforming tenure from the default to an affirmative decision—based on real information about how effective teachers are in New York City classrooms.

 

We are doing this in two ways—first , by telling principals when their teachers are up for tenure so that this most important decision doesn’t happen automatically without serious reflection, and second, by developing clear guidelines for granting tenure.

 

We launched part one of this effort in March with something called the Tenure Notification System that will alert principals when teachers’ probationary periods are nearing a close so they can make decisions about whether eligible teachers should achieve tenure. We’ve already sent 2,800 tenure alerts to principals since the system became available two months ago.

 

Working with the UFT, we are reviewing our tenure standards and plan to provide further guidance and tools for principals for the 2007-08 school year.

 

State of Transition

As we work to implement the changes detailed so far, we are also, together, ensuring that the largest school system in the nation continues its day-to-day operations. We’ve also reached a few major milestones that are not directly related to the core Children First reforms.

 

Labor Agreement: We reached a tentative agreement with the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators in April, which will give principals, assistant principals, and other CSA members raises of more than 23%. It also eliminates “bumping” and “forced-placement rights,” allowing principals to shape their own teams.

 

The new contract permits the Chancellor to create “Executive Principal” positions, allowing the Department of Education to raise by $25,000 the salaries of high-performing principals who voluntarily agree to lead high-needs schools for at least three years.  It also allows the Chancellor to pay principals performance-based bonuses of up to $25,000.

 

Curriculum: We launched a core curriculum in science aligned with science standards. 

 

Family Engagement: We also appointed our first Chief Family Engagement Officer, Martine Guerrier, who is working to ensure that parents receive the information they need to be active participants in their children’s education and that they have the opportunity to share their opinion about their children’s school and all New York City public schools.

 

Citywide and Community Education Council Elections:  We held the City’s third elections for Citywide and Community Education Councils. Last week, we learned that participation this year has surpassed past years’ participation levels, with 44% of selectors weighing in, up from 37% in 2005.

 

New Schools: We are also working with school leaders to open 41 new schools by September.

 

Transition Work: In addition to all of these milestones, my team and I are also doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work to ensure that the core elements of the Children First reforms get smoothly off the ground.

 

As you are aware, the regional structure will be phased out on July 1, and all schools will be supported by the School Support Organization of their choice. The functions of the existing Regions and Regional Operating Centers (ROCs) will be transferred to SSOs as well as to five new, streamlined administrative structures called Integrated Service Centers (ISCs).  ISCs will provide mandated “back office” support to all schools. In this process, we are creating some new positions and redefining others.

 

What Transition Means for DOE Employees: This transition will include changes for many, but by no means all, DOE employees. To a certain extent, the level of staffing required by the new support organizations will depend on what form of support principals select. The Learning Support Organizations, the Empowerment Support Organization, and Partnership Support Organizations will hire appropriate levels of staff to serve the number of schools that select them.

 

Over the past few months, we have posted many jobs on the Career Opportunities Web site. We have already hired for some of these positions. For example, we announced last week the names of the Community Superintendents and High School Superintendents who will assume their new roles effective July 1.

 

The last phase of the hiring process will begin soon, now that principals have selected School Support Organizations. The top leaders of Learning Support Organizations, for example, are interviewing people who might be members of their teams. Many managerial and Education Administrator positions have been posted and more are coming soon. Please continue to check the Career Opportunities site regularly if you are interested in learning about new positions.

 

This transition is creating many exciting professional opportunities in the Department of Education. Our goal here is to align our resources with the needs of our students—so that schools are able to provide the children of New York City with the best possible educational opportunities. An organization’s people are its most valuable asset. We value all of you and want to keep the very best working on behalf of our students.

 

Again, thank you for all of your contributions to our critical work together. If you have comments, concerns, or questions, please feel free to contact me or my team.

 

Sincerely,

 

Joel I. Klein