June 26, 2008

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Accountability For All: Evaluating The Chancellor And DOE

Filed under: Education by Leo Casey @ 2:58 pm

Accountability has been a watchword of the Klein-Bloomberg administration of the NYC Department of Education. It introduced the Progress Reports which graded the performance of New York City public schools, it started the school quality reviews, and it initiated the learning environment surveys in which teachers, parents and students are asked to evaluate their school and school leadership. Accountability, Tweed argues, is at the heart of their efforts to transform NYC schools.

Educators embrace genuine accountability for their work and for their schools’ performance, but have found that the DoE’s system often fell short of that mark. The UFT launched its own project this spring to demonstrate how genuine accountability could work. In contrast to the single grade of the progress reports, we advocated for grades on each of the four pillars of a successful school – academic performance, school safety and climate, teamwork for student achievement and DoE supports for the school. Rather than basing the grades almost entirely on the results of standardized tests, we called for broad-based use of many different forms of evidence, from the qualitative data of school reviews and quality surveys to the quantitative data of standardized tests and other ‘hard’ statistics. Accountability, we insisted, should be designed to fix schools, not fix blame.

Since we published our alternative accountability framework, the DoE has changed its progress reports, incorporating a number of our proposals. Most of these changes are steps in the right direction, but a great deal remains to be done. Perhaps most significantly, Tweed has indicated no desire to move toward a full 360 degree system of accountability, in which everyone in the DoE – and not just those who work in the schools – is held responsible for their performance.

Since the UFT believes strongly that full 360 degree accountability is essential for NYC public schools, we organized a survey, modeled after the DoE’s learning environment surveys, to allow educators who are our members to evaluate the leadership of the system. In order to be as fair as possible, we took the wording of our questions directly from the wording of the DoE’s survey. And to secure the confidentiality and accuracy of the results, we had members placed their completed surveys in secret ballot envelopes to be tabulated by the American Arbitration Association, the same organization that counts and verifies our union elections and contract ratifications.

Here are the results of our survey. They speak for themselves.

Three themes are worth noting here. First, educators in NYC public schools believe that the Chancellor has a way to go in providing the supports they need to do their work well. Second, they feel that the Chancellor needs to place a great deal more emphasis on educating the whole child. And third, they conclude that more must be done to give parents and community members a meaningful role to play in the decisions concerning the education of their children.

3 Comments »

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  • The 360 counter-evaluation idea will help to insure accountability of a largely one side-down management used by Mr. Klein. I am taking similar approach to counter-evaluate principals and hope to introduce motion at the next union delegate assembly.

    fgart44@hotmail.com

    Comment by fgart44 — June 27, 2008 @ 11:00 am

  • [...] morning, the New York newspapers reported on the publication of the UFT’s survey on the leadership of Chancellor Joel Klein and the Department of Education. Read the New York [...]

    Pingback by Biased Questions? Faulty Methodology? | Edwize — June 27, 2008 @ 5:04 pm

  • [...] Weingarten appeared on the NY1 News program “Inside City Hall” on July 31 and spoke about the recent UFT member survey. Teachers said that Chancellor Joel Klein and the Department of Education need improvement, but [...]

    Pingback by Video: Weingarten discusses member survey on NY1 News | Edwize — August 4, 2008 @ 1:19 pm

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