Note to reporters: parents exist. Speak to at least one parent on every school story. You know, parents...the people who have the most love and the most legal standing when it comes to these children; the people who pick up the pieces when the 4-year-olds come home frazzled from kindergarten because there was no recess, no play time and no gym time.
Parents are the people who will be there for these children and will be held accountable for these children when the teachers, custodians, aides and administrators have long ago made their last dime off of these kids.

Hmmm, intriguing Mr. Johansson. I think you are on to something here. Lets get together sometime to discuss. Facebook me.

"... the city’s charter schools, which typically outperform traditional public schools."
Is that true? If so, on what information is it based? I thought charters were no better or worse.

Sheer idiocy. Close a school, open a school - but what happens behind those "new" doors? We need developmentally appropriate practice in Middle Schools and the years preceding it, safe teacher-student ratios in all grades and a content-rich curriculum...not these constant excuses for abusing kindergarten kids with "kindergarten is the new first grade," "Sponge Bob for recess" and this fantasy that you will build literacy with only nonfiction books because that's what Bill Gates likes to read.
You don't build literate kids by purchasing Nonfiction books, You Build Literate Kids By Having Them Read Literature. That means Fiction. That means Walcott should start enforcing DOE regulations requiring each child to have library instruction and book check-out every week starting in kindergarten. Stop accepting the excuses at schools like PS 101 in Queens that they "don't have the money" for librarians and libraries. Instead, order the "media specialist" to stop spending his time on standardized tests and computerized feedback on performance and instead demand that he stock a library, instruct children in how to use it and allow them to check out books every week.

Maybe it time to change the mayor's board. After all if these schools are all failing then it happened under their watch. Bloomberg made the case to the state that he needed to control the board, and now that he does he points his finger at everyone else. I vote for parents to start taking back their schools from these political cronies.

This all about control. Since you can't intrinsically motivate and inspire children to learn and cooperate let's place higher emphasis on discipline and more controlled standardized testing regiments. Wow we are sincerely missing what humanity is all about. These peopel running our system are not educators they are pure bueraucrats and technocrats. When will people start to realize that they are banning creativity and turing schools into mini military style facist camps. Uniforms and lot's of dirty looks from fearful 20 something year old teachers who have no clue about the culture/history of NYC students. You are having these problems because society is breaking down due to an unfair economic system which leaves parents stressed, overworked, and short of time to really parent properly. Our society is broke and the corporate masters have all the right fixes now. Obey and give us your soul and spirit so we can maintain control and show that we are legitimate and competent. Let's get rid of all fiction books also while we are at it so kids won't dare tap their imaginations. What is going on here? Really. Fascism 101 America. Community needs to take back our government, schools, and let us educate our schools based on preparing out kids for democracy and free expression.
Welcome to the 21st century.

I think it terribly important to drill deeper into the middle school quagmire... right into the classrooms. For a middle school to be successful, for its student outcomes to be ones the community values, in the classrooms and other learning spaces around the school students are known, cared for and cared about by all who work there. How well do the City's middle school teachers and administrators understand the pre- and adolescent mind? At a school like mine (Montclair Cooperative School in Montclair, NJ), we devote a significant amount of our limited resources to keeping class sizes small in our middle school, designing and implementing programs and learning spaces that effectively teach to the unique developmental stage that is the middle schooler, and support colleague professional development in their quest to learn about - and do - even more for their students. Those are the investments that yield big change. So instead of focusing on the Mayor's Board, let's focus on the life in the classroom and grow change out from there.

Why not turn high performing elementary schools into K-8 schools? Maybe the whole IDEA of middle school is wrong-headed.

We need a content-rich curriculum.

Is it just a coincidence that, even as elementary school test scores are going up, middle- and high-school scores are going down, and not just in NYC. Maybe all this emphasis on testing, whatever its failings in the earlier years (and don't get me started!), is even worse as kids move into adolescence and are trying to think and act more independently. Instead of nurturing that natural and necessary inclination, we are trying to channel education into an ever narrower focus. Broaden kids horizons, and they will be more interested and more challenged.

I wonder how many Librarians are involved in the initiative of "Using $15 million in state textbook money to buy nonfiction books aligned with the new common core standards for middle schools," although I think I know the answer....

Let's be frank here. The system has been designed and constructed, whether intentionally or not, to keep standards ridiculously low while moving students through the system at the expense of a quality and internationally competitive education. Not only are children victimized by it, but the policies strip teachers of their autonomy as educators. Where can we see this on the macro level in our middle schools? Here, the issue becomes frighteningly clear. NYC middle school students are required to pass the state exam (with embarrassing, low standards), to move to the next grade....AND THAT'S IT. In fact, a student can completely fail his English, Math, Social Studies, and Science classes, but continue on to the next grade simply by passing a test. This systemic flaw communicates two messages. First - to the students. We are not invested in your actual classroom education, but simply in getting you to pass a multiple-choice exam as quickly as possible. Second - to the teachers. We do not trust your teaching methods and, therefore, we will not place any emphasis on the standards which you see fit for your students' development. I am not speaking extemporaneously here. My fiance is a 6th grade teacher here in NYC, and some of her students fail her class, but pass the state exam, and move on to 7th grade, no questions asked. The funny thing is, the students know how the system works! Even her most low-performing students, coming from unenviable circumstances in the Bronx, are aware that they needn't put forth effort in 6th grade English class, because all they have to do is pass a relatively easy exam at the end of the year, and they are entirely capable of doing so.

Parents, that is to say taxpayers, it is up to you to radically change the current system, and demand higher standards in the classroom. There is a lot of rhetoric floating around about finding the highest-skilled and most competent teachers for our students, but until we put trust in these teachers, the desire for quality teachers is quite moot.

I would like to speak to the issue raised by other responders, namely, about the corporate takeover of the education system. Why are we allowing public schools to choose between state/local funding or private corporate funding (through 'corporate networks')? Maybe people can begin discussing this issue, as I feel like I have gone on far too long. This discussion must continue, and parents and teachers alike must organize together if we want to radically change the system of our most important national institution - public education.

Parents want K-8 Schools. Parents have BEGGED DOE for K-8. And parents have been saying this since I was in Middle School in Manhattan in the 1970's.
All of us in the advocacy business saw this coming for a few years. Middle schools were the obvious next target for improvement because: Parents are less involved at the middle school level (in general, even at the "A" rated schools). Parents in at-risk school communities are even less involved than the middle school parents above. Talk to any teacher and they'll tell you teaching Middle School students is one of the most challenging age groups to reach..."it takes a special breed of teacher," I was once told.
Finally, getting into Middle School, though not as tortuous as High School is still an incredible stress for just a three year commitment.

Even though the kids are older it is essential to have parents involved in whatever way is possible-the challenges are very different for emerging adolescents and they need different guidance, not less. However the perception is often that the parent is a"helicopter" if the kind of presence which was met with gratitude in elementary school is attempted in Middle School. I don't know how to achieve the ideal balance-we all have busy lives and schedules and our children are more able and encouraged to be more independent. But it is not the time to expect the teachers to shoulder all the responsibility nor the kids to be let loose completely. As we all grow -students and parents need to have a new sort of partnership with the school to achieve the kind of success which has become increasingly evident in the elementary schools. It is a transition, but not a stopping point but as the name suggests a "middle period" -a progression to (hopefully) ultimate success in high school and college.

Farkas is right; class size is a huge problem in middle school, when kids need more instructional and emotional support from their teachers and don't get it in classes of 30 or more. Walcott's answer? Just create new schools, which is kind of pathetic, after 10 years of the same. See http://goo.gl/8Npe Check out our blog for how the DOE has completely failed to improve results for our MS students, who have fallen even further behind their peers in the large cities since 2003. And contracting with TFA to train principals? Based on what? Come on!

Evidence suggests the sequestering of grades 6,7and 8 is poor educational policy. According to a recent Columbia University study by Jonah Rockoff and Benjamin B. Lockwood in Stuck In The Middle - How and why middle schools harm student achievement, “…middle schools are not the best way to educate students—at least in places like New York City.

“What we found bolsters the case for middle-school reform: in the specific year when students move to a middle school (or to a junior high), their academic achievement, as measured by standardized tests, falls substantially in both math and English relative to that of their counterparts who continue to attend a K–8 elementary school.”

Thanks to those of who are continuing the discussion on such a critical issue. Stay tuned for a follow up summary of important themes and lessons that emerged from the rest of the conference on our website: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/res...

You may also find our recent publications on the middle grades and other topics here: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/res...