BREAKING: Massive grade inflation discovered that #DOE does not want you to see at New York City public middle schools (see chart for math pass rates): #FireCarranza#GradeInflation
Yale fully reinstates its pre-pandemic SAT/ACT requirement in admissions.
“These test scores are strong predictors of a student’s future Yale academic performance, and there is evidence that they are less subject to bias than other elements of an application.”
University of California STEM professors want standardized tests back due to severe math deficiencies among students:
“We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle school mathematics”
“The current admissions metric, based primarily on GPA & essays, can no longer reliably distinguish readiness for university-level STEM majors in an era of severe grade inflation & AI assisted application essays”
If only more money == better outcomes
"The City should focus its effort and dollars on student learning and shrink spending that’s not delivering results. This includes adjusting school funding when enrollment shrinks and combining schools that have shrunk so much that they are no longer cost-effective to run.”
"The city’s Department of Education has 157,900 fewer students than a decade ago, but it operates 39 more schools."
@SquarePegDem@BobHoldenNYC And Manhattan gets nothing because the one advanced math high school proposed was killed by the PEP. And then they wonder why NYC public schools enrollment will continue to decline…
Explain this racist sh!t to me. The Bronx is getting the Afrika Bambaataa School of Hip-Hop while Queens gets a new STEM-focused high school. Which will have rigorous instruction the one where kids "spit rhymes" or the one where they spit Trigonometric functions?
Brian Conrad found rampant citation misrepresentation in the California Math Framework. Now we see there was also an effort to cherry-pick results to report. 😞
“For years, San Francisco “tried to achieve equity not by raising the floor, but by lowering the ceiling,” … “It’s a problem we see nationally,” he added.”
In 2014, former SF superintendent Richard Carranza removed algebra from SFUSD middle schools. NYC mayor DeBlasio recruited Carranza to push his divisive brand of equity agenda in NYC schools. They attempted to eliminate the SHSAT as the admissions test to NYC’s Specialized High Schools, citing “too many Asians at these schools”. Fortunately we have the Hecht Calandra (HC) law that enshrined the test as state law and NYC families fought to keep it.
Mamdani wanted to repeal HC as a state legislator but said during his mayoral campaign that he would keep the test. His appointed chancellor vows to prioritize rigor. Parents will learn the fate of Gifted and Talented programs soon; Mamdani proposed to end kindergarten entry as his main education campaign promise to progressives.
It’s taken more than 10 years for SF to bring back algebra. Let’s hope NYC won’t copy their disastrous policies of lowering the bar for equity.
https://t.co/dgCq6WrTnE
Any surprise that Zohran's extremist @DOEChancellor is a massive hypocrite... sending his kid to private school while destroying G&T public schools?
"The College Board, the agency in charge of the AP program, admits its questions are easier and passing scores have been lowered on key tests like the English Language exam."
https://t.co/Yj3f6NeCNd
Interesting. From the POV of a public school parent, Chancellor Samuels’ straightforwardness is actually appreciated.
1. Samuels’ is confirming Mamdani’s TikTok blitz to push PreK and 3K hasn’t boosted enrollment. Which is what many like me have been saying all along. Parents aren’t sold on snappy videos, they want academic rigor and safe schools. A school’s reputation by word of mouth among other parents is the best marketing DOE could hope for, but it won’t happen if DOE keeps creating more Potemkin villages.
2. The Class Size Law desperately needs an amendment. If the overcrowded in-demand schools have to cap enrollment because of the law’s rigidity, it will drive parents out of public schools faster than getting rid of G&T which btw affected overall Kindergarten enrollment by 15% since the test was axed. Bring back an objective test, diagnostic, screener — whatever you want to call it — and start teaching ALL students, including the accelerated ones at their level.
And bring back some version of ability grouping. It’s asinine to pretend all teachers can effectively teach a heterogeneous classroom. Most cannot. The only ones it helps when there are up to 7 different reading & math levels in the same classroom are the ones in the middle. Enough already. Stop shortchanging students.
The clearest video yet of the terrorist who attempted to throw an explosive at the protest yesterday in NYC.
The NYPD Officer jumping after him over the barricades is an absolute hero.
This might be the most important insight regarding the decline of public education.
The consumer (parents) are watching grades as the Key Performance Indicator.
So grade inflation is serving as an effective mask for school performance.
The plummeting outcomes on standardized assessments should worry everyone as much as they concern the K-12 education community.
But they won’t as long as report cards are full of A’s and B’s.
@jillbarshay on the latest study sending the same signals about parent attitudes.
If you’ve followed the literacy conversation over the last few years, after Sold a Story and Lucy Calkins’ subsequent fall from grace, there’s a similar tale to be told about math education.
Pt 3/3 of my series on Math Edu for @CTmagazine
(Unlocked link in thread.)
@ycinnewyork@DoEcorruption It’s wild
It blew my mind seeing that when I worked for the school system for 11 years
The grades are meaningless most often and they are used HEAVILY used for high school admissions
New York City's budget is bigger than Florida's, and 40% of it is going to the Department of Education, even though enrollment in NYC public schools fell by nearly 200,000 students from 2018-19 to 2023-2024 and is at the lowest level overall since the 1950's
Incredible stuff
“Mamdani’s plans to end the public school system’s gifted and talented program for elementary schools are one of a laundry list of unknowns …”
@NYCSchools kindergarten has fallen 15% since 2019. In an exit survey, parents cited lack of rigor as the top reason why they left.
Mamdani is making NYC more unaffordable by pushing families to private schools. Avenues, a popular private will top $75K in tuition.
https://t.co/2cyDloNlnK