The end of year data shows NYC is one of the safest cities in our nation, Gothamist reports, New York City is on track to record one of its lowest-ever yearly homicide totals in 2025. The homicide totals in recent years are drastically lower than those going back to the 1990s, when the city onceContinue reading “Can the Mayor Multi Task? Addressing Chronic Absenteeism Should Be At the Top of His List”
Tag Archives: teaching
Mayor Mamdani Chooses a Chancellor
Mayor-Elect, and only hours away from Mayor Mamdani began briefing insiders re his choice for chancellor, Kamar Samuels, a Department of Education lifer. See NYT here and Gothamist here. On the cynical side I’m asked, “Whose his rabbi?” You don’t make it to the finish line without the right push. Chancellors these days run theContinue reading “Mayor Mamdani Chooses a Chancellor”
Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Should We Take “The Road Less Traveled?”
Our current chancellor is aggressively campaigning to be continued in her job: the first question should be, are we satisfied with the current education model? Eric Nadelstern, a former deputy chancellor offers prescient advice, Mamdani’s biggest mistake at this time would be to focus on a governance system before his administration has come up with a better system ofContinue reading “Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Should We Take “The Road Less Traveled?””
Do Transition Teams Impact Mayoral Policy Decisions?
Transition Committees are not mentioned in the City Charter, a combination city constitution and bylaws, a slim 150 plus pages. Mayors-elect select experts, friends, former high ranking city officials to serve on committees, Mamdani, quickly, appointed an experienced, very experienced deputy mayor and a close associate as chief of staff. Mamdani announced he is appointing Dean Fuleihan as his first deputyContinue reading “Do Transition Teams Impact Mayoral Policy Decisions?”
Responding to Pedro Noguera’s Flawed Critique of Mandami’s Education Agenda
One of my favorite education books is my autographed copy of Pedro Noguera’s “The Trouble with Black Boys: Race, Equity and the Future of Public Education” (2006). Over the years I occasionally chatted with Pedro at NYU, thoughtful and challenging conversations. A few years ago Pedro decamped to UCLA, our loss. A recent Pedro essay, “Filling inContinue reading “Responding to Pedro Noguera’s Flawed Critique of Mandami’s Education Agenda”
Time for Mayor Mamdani to be Bold, Time for a Bottom Up School System
“The school is the primary unit for delivery of services to students and parents, and should also be the primary decision maker for all matters large and small. And who better to make decisions about curriculum, instruction, assessment, budget expenditures, purchases, et al than those who know each kid’s name, their families, and the communities they comeContinue reading “Time for Mayor Mamdani to be Bold, Time for a Bottom Up School System”
Mamdani and Education: A Paint Job or a Rebuild?
With a few days to go a widely used betting site, polymarket.com reports 95% of the bets are on Mamdani to win and latest polling results agree see here. While it’s never over till it’s over I think the only question is whether Mamdani receives a majority of the vote, remember, not ranked choice voting, aContinue reading “Mamdani and Education: A Paint Job or a Rebuild?”
The Portrait of a Graduate: 21st Century Skills or a Knowledge-Based Curriculum
Aside from a few sentences, education has played virtually no role in either the primary or the current mayoral campaigns. Cuomo yes and Mamdani no on charter schools, Cuomo yes, Mamdani no on mayor control, no policy papers (aside from Cuomo’s 25 Point Education Plan released in May) and Mamdani’s recent announcement to end GiftedContinue reading “The Portrait of a Graduate: 21st Century Skills or a Knowledge-Based Curriculum”
OMG!! Joel Klein Rips Mamdani
Former NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein rips mayoral candidate Mamdani in a Free Press post, “How Zohan Mamdani Could Kill NY Schools,” Klein certainly tried to kill the schools, and almost succeeded. Mayor Bloomberg ,Trump-like, decided to tear down the Board of Education. Crying corruption he ran to Albany who meekly dissolved the Decentralization ModelContinue reading “OMG!! Joel Klein Rips Mamdani”
The Portrait of a Teacher
In the fall of 2019, I attended an SED/Board of Regents regional meeting that began the discussion of Graduation Measures followed by COVID, a blue-ribbon commission, endless Zooms, finally Regents Exams optional replaced by the Portrait of a Graduate competencies assessed by a range of tasks, the tasks to be determined. What is the PortraitContinue reading “The Portrait of a Teacher”
Ed in the Apple: Blogging on the Intersection of Education and Politics Title 