UPDATE: Candidate Forum Tonight (Don't Bother)
Still more confusion. Somebody needs to get their info clear.
Horizon House (a senior home) had wanted to have a candidate forum for their district's candidates but unfortunately thought they were in District 1 (but are really in District 5 where that slot isn't on the ballot this time).
So my understanding is they only invited District 1 candidates and will allow them to make statements but there won't be Q&A (this is what I was told by an organizer). I am still waiting to hear from the League of Women Voters.
I'm not sure it's worth going for School Board but naturally, if you are interested in the City Council races, go.
End of update.
My apologies for this late notice but I had some confusion over whether this event was public.
There is a candidate forum at Horizon House tonight being hosted by the League of Women Voters. It starts at 7:30 p.m. at HH, 900 University Street. Both City Council and School Board candidates will be there.
This will be a great first listening event to hear the candidates in their own words.
Horizon House (a senior home) had wanted to have a candidate forum for their district's candidates but unfortunately thought they were in District 1 (but are really in District 5 where that slot isn't on the ballot this time).
So my understanding is they only invited District 1 candidates and will allow them to make statements but there won't be Q&A (this is what I was told by an organizer). I am still waiting to hear from the League of Women Voters.
I'm not sure it's worth going for School Board but naturally, if you are interested in the City Council races, go.
End of update.
My apologies for this late notice but I had some confusion over whether this event was public.
There is a candidate forum at Horizon House tonight being hosted by the League of Women Voters. It starts at 7:30 p.m. at HH, 900 University Street. Both City Council and School Board candidates will be there.
This will be a great first listening event to hear the candidates in their own words.
Comments
Questions for candidates
1. How does the Board enforce Policy? Did no board do it before?
2. How does the Board conduct oversight? Did no board do it before?
3. How does the Board assure community engagement? What about the commitment to community engagement written into the strategic plan?
Thanks.
4. What is a higher priority or more urgent than providing support to struggling students? Apparently everything else the District is doing is a higher priority since we aren't funding interventions.
Question for candidates: will there be an evaluation of the District's "alignment" work and a renewed focus on grade by grade standards, rather than enforcement of what may be flawed materials (EDM, CMP, R/W Workshop)?
Case in point: A pilot of content-rich curriculum (Core Knowledge) has produced reading gains in New York schools.
The program derives from the research of E. D. Hirsch Jr., author of "Cultural Literacy" and other seminal books. Among Hirsch's insights is that disadvantaged kids quickly fall behind in reading because of inadequate background knowledge; therefore, imparting such knowledge in the early grades is even more important than conveying basic reading skills.
...After the first year, Klein announced the early results: On a battery of reading tests, the kindergartners in the Core Knowledge program had achieved gains five times greater than those of students in the control group. The second-year study showed that the Core Knowledge kids made reading gains twice as great as those of students in the control group.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/07/14/2011-07-14_a_brilliant_experiment_in_reading_but_will_new_schools
End of anonymous's post.
I say -- thanks for a great link, anonymous. I am not a total lover of Hirsch, but I definitely think he is on to something with the idea that we have to pay more attention to the depth and richness of content in educational materials (I also think that most textbook companies are failing this test miserably, as they dumb down the curriculum, simplify language, and fill in with pictures).
Along with dispensing with Discovery math, EDM, etc. -- schools need to do a better job of teaching deep and complex content. Kids need to spend more time with good poetry, and with literature that conveys complex content and meaning. I hope NYC schools will continue to support this pilot program. It is an interesting one.