JOEL KLEINS FAILED

RECORD IN NYC
Leonie Haimson
Class Size Matters
December 8, 2014
www.classsizematters.org

NYC: ground zero for corporate reform & high stakes

testing
With the election of Michael Bloomberg, the adoption of

mayoral control, and the appointment of Joel Klein as

Chancellor, corporate-style free market policies were imposed
& had free reign over the protests of parents, students and
teachers.
In 2003-4, children began to be retained solely on the basis of

their test scores on state exams, starting in grade 3. This policy

was extended to grade 5 in 2004-2005, grade 7 in 2005-2006
and grade 8 in 2008-2009
In 2006-07, an accountability system was adopted with schools

awarded grades A-F based 85% on test scores.

In 2007-8, teachers were rated according to value-added

measures, and it became difficult for them to gain tenure if their

students didnt show gains on the state exams.

Merit pay, charters, and school closings

2007-8, teacher merit pay based on test scores was tried and lasted

for three years until studies showed it had no positive effect on either
student performance or teacher attitudes.
Klein pursued an aggressive campaign to close schools and open

charters, giving charters free space inside existing public schools.

From 2003-2013, more than 160 schools were closed, and more than

160 charters opened.

Though Joel Klein resigned in November 2010, the next two

Chancellors, Cathie Black and Dennis Walcott, followed in his

footsteps and pursued the same privatization/free market policies of
competition and test-based accountability.

Budget cuts and class size increases

Overall education spending doubled, but with little positive

impact on class size or student achievement.

Klein flouted the Contracts for Excellence state law

passed in 2007 requiring class sizes to be reduced in all

grades.
Starting in 2007, school budgets were cut by 14%.
At that point class sizes increased sharply, and last year

were larger than any time in 15 years in grades K-3, and

since 2002 in grades 4-8.

Results?
Angry parents and demoralized teachers.
No one trusted the school grades because they varied so wildly

from year to year.

After the state test score inflation bubble burst in 2010, it was

revealed that there had been no gains in student state test

scores.
Little improvement on the only reliable test the national exam

called the NAEPs.

In fact, NYC made LESS progress on the NAEPs since 2003

than any other city except for Cleveland.

NAEP Scores: Why are they important?

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the

largest continuing assessment of American students.

NAEPs are given by the federal government every two years to

statistical samples of students, change little over time & are lowstakes, and so can be used as a reliable metric to compare
achievement among states and urban districts.
The Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) is conducted in 21 large

school districts, but since 2003 there are results from only ten cities
including NYC in four categories: reading and math in 4th and 8th
grades.
What follows is an analysis of the changes from 2003-2013 in NYC

NAEP scores compared to changes in scores in these 9 other cities,

plus the large city category (250,000 inhabitants or more).

How did we compare trends among the

large urban districts?
Since overall scores are affected by changes in the

demographic composition of student population, we compared

changes in scores in NYC since 2003 for six major subgroups
(white, black, Hispanic, Asian, free lunch and non-free lunch
students) compared to their peers in other large cities.
Only major subgroups whose results we did not compare were

students with disabilities and English language learners, since

rates of identification and exclusion from NAEP testing differ
widely among the ten cities.
Our comparisons allows us to assess the Klein record -- and

more broadly the effects of his corporate reform policies.

These comparisons give insight into where NYC stands nationally and provides a robust examination of the DOEs claims o

Summary of findings
NYC came out 2nd to last among all large cities tested

when score gains since 2003 were averaged across 6

subgroups and 4 subject/grade levels.
Only Cleveland made less progress.
Gains for white, Hispanic and non-free lunch students

were particularly disappointing; these groups fell sharply

in their rankings compared to same cohorts elsewhere.
NYC only city where non-free lunch students had lower

average scores in 2013 compared to 2003.

NYC comes in 2nd to last among all 10 cities + large city

category when NAEP score gains are averaged across 6
subgroups*
Chart Average NAEP score gain across 6 subgroups* in cities
tested since 2003
20.00
18.16
16.19

16.04
14.40

15.00

12.24

12.15

11.21

11.03
10.00

10.00

5.06
5.00

-1.77
0.00
DC

-5.00

LA

Atlanta

Boston

Chicago

San Diego

Charlotte

Large City

Houston

NYC

Cleveland

*White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, School Lunch Eligible, School Lunch Non-eligible in Reading and
Math for both 4th and 8th Grades

NYC scores by subgroup: White Students

no gains in 4th grade reading, minimal in other categories

NYC scores by subgroup: Black students

Gains average in reading, less so in math

Changes in 4th Grade

Reading Scores 2003-2013
20
15
10
5
0
-5
-10

17
13
10

8
5

4
1

-7

NYC scores by subgroup: Hispanic Students

gains minimal in math and reading

Subgroup: Asian Students

average gains compared to other cities

Subgroup: free lunch students

gains minimal compared to other cities

Changes in 8th Grade Reading

2003-2013
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4

Changes in 8th Grade Math

2003-2013

17

25
20

12
9

15

8
6

10
3

21

20

19

17

17

15

14

12

10

5
0

-2
0

Subgroup: non-free lunch students

Gains negative in three out of four categories

What do these results suggest?

Kleins aggressive free-market strategies of high-stakes

testing, increased competition by closing schools while

rapidly expanding charter schools, caused students to
make smaller gains than those of other large districts.
His policies pursued also infuriated teachers and parents.
His record is one of failure.