Letters to the Editor
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‘Why I Resigned’
Diane Ravitch’s recent commentary characterizes my story about Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s education policies for Education Next as a “thinly veiled puff piece” [Oped, “Why I Resigned,” February 15, 2008].
It is true that I mention that the city won a prestigious Broad Foundation Award for Bloomberg’s education reforms. I also cite a Quinnipiac University poll from November of 2007 — after the Mayor unveiled his hugely controversial school grading system — which showed that New Yorkers thought Bloomberg was doing a good job with the schools, by a two to one margin. I also quote teachers union chief, Randi Weingarten, saying nice things about the mayor and former mayor, Ed Koch, calling Mr. Bloomberg “a colossus.” These are not un– (or in–) credible observers of New York City schools.
But I also report that the mayor has substantial faultfinders, including the city’s public advocate, Betsy Gottbaum, and I point out that they blame the mayor for “massive increases in annual education expenditures,” “student achievement outcomes [that] have been modest at best,” “cooking the test score books, flooding the system with inexperienced educators, handing out millions of dollars in no-bid contracts, shutting parents out of the school reform effort, spinning the facts, not caring about curriculum, and creating such constant institutional disarray that things may just be getting worse.” I quote New York Times’ education reporter, David Herszenhorn, writing, “many New Yorkers fail to see any change and … some say things are actually worse.” I air the views of Manhattan Institute scholar, Sol Stern, who has written extensive criticisms of Mr. Bloomberg’s education reforms, and quote Ms. Ravitch herself, allowing her to call the mayor’s test score results “vastly inflated.” In fact, I show the trend in test scores in New York City, as compared to those statewide, over the entire period of the Bloomberg administration. The results show gains vis a vis the statewide average in math but not in reading, findings a Bloomberg publicist would take pains to disguise.
It surely does not surprise me that Ms. Ravitch, a consistent and harsh critic of the Bloomberg administration’s education practices, would be disappointed by a piece that gives both sides to the debate over New York City’s educational system. But I did not invent the awards and polls that show a successful or popular Bloomberg and reporting on them is not grounds for the charge of puffery. On the contrary; it’s the mark of professional journalism.
PETER MEYER
Contributing Editor
Education Next
Albany, N.Y.
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