Reply With QuoteThis is the 3rd post in two days that contains the same information, just a different thread title. How about keeping it to one thread huh? We get the idea.
My name is Matthew Ricchiazzi and I'm currently seeking an independent nomination for Mayor. I'd like to share some thoughts with you, and hope that you could offer your suggestions, feedback, and concerns. I would very much appreciate your insights. The full agenda can be read at my website, ChangeBuffalo.org.
EDUCATION REFORM PLAN
Perhaps no issue is more entrenched with establishment interests than is education reform. Every actor in the system is content: the teachers are content with current working conditions; the principals are content with no accountability; the school board is content with lower standards in exchange for higher test scores; and school children are content with a less substantive school day. If I'm elected Mayor, this system of complacent mediocrity will be unacceptable, starting on day one. I will challenge everyone. I will make everyone accountable. I will manage the system better than it has been able to manage itself.
The first step will be to go to Albany and get the Governor and the Legislature to reallocate control of the Buffalo Public Schools away from the Buffalo School Board and give that control to the Mayor. The Buffalo School Board has lead to the consistently incompetent management of the school system, and has effectively mitigated any accountability that the public might have over the management of the system. The Mayor needs to control the school system for two principle reasons: 1) we need centralized czar-like management that can completely restructure the system in a way that is both effective and expedient; and 2) the public needs to be able to fire someone of consequence if they’re not happy with the results. Those two things don’t exist.
The following proposals presuppose that I can convince the Governor and the State Legislature to give me control of the Buffalo Public School System. If so, I pledge to make Buffalo Public a world renowned brand in public education.
PROVIDING THE HIGHEST QUALITY CURRICULUM
If our goal is to build the best education system in the world, we need to offer the most challenging curriculum with the most competitive standards and the most intensive instruction. We will do all of those things—without waiver. We will also make sure that every child has every resource that he or she needs to succeed.
Action 1: Yearlong schooling (240 day trimester system)
My first action will be to eliminate the summer vacation as it currently exists, and to convert the school year into a 240-day trimester schedule. The typical 180-day calendar is obsolete and it puts us at a competitive disadvantage relative to public education systems abroad. We will completely do-away with the concept of a “summer vacation.”
Action 2: A longer school day
A longer school day is necessary for the quality of education that we seek to impart on students. Generally, the school day will be about 8 hours.
Action 3: Move most Regents exams to the middle schools
I will raise the bar quite high for students—they will be challenged to an extent greater than any other public school system in the country. This will require that we fully phase-in this advanced curriculum over the course of a number of years. Our goal will be to phase in this new curriculum fully within 6 years. All New York State Regents Exams (with the exception of Chemistry, Physics, and English) will be taken by students over the course of their middle school instruction.
Action 3: Advanced Placement as a high-school minimum
In order to raise the bar very quickly, we will make Advanced Placement examinations the minimum curriculum for high school instruction. We will require that students complete 22 Advanced Placement Courses, until the district can build its in-house competencies to include the development of curriculum and standardized tests independently, at which time the bar will be lifted higher than ‘Advanced Placement as a minimum.'
Action 4: Intensive early childhood education and universal daycare
We will teach students much more. We will give them an education that is far more critical, with greater breadth and depth. To do so, we need to change the way our public education system behaves. Principally, we need 1) to start teaching kids at a much earlier age whereas to allow for enriching early childhood education programs for 3-year olds, 2) offer free universal education-oriented daycare for 2-year olds; and 3) make all-day pre-kindergarten compulsory for 4-year olds. By the time that children enter Kindergarten we need to be able to start teaching foundational reasoning and language skills. By the time they enter grade 1, we need to begin teaching an intensively substantive curriculum.
Action 5: Cultural enrichment colloquia requirements
In aim of ensuring that every child is exposed to culturally enriching experiences from a young age into adulthood, Buffalo Public Schools will negotiate the low cost purchase of mass quantity tickets for theatrical performances, art gallery tickets, museums, the zoo, and other institutions. We will require that every student attends 1) an art museum once every trimester; 2) a theatrical performance every trimester; 3) a Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra performance every year; 4) the Buffalo Zoo every year; and 5) the Buffalo Science Museum every year.
Action 7: Intensive entrepreneurial education
The skills and education of our workforce—more than anything else—will determine Buffalo Niagara’s global competitiveness. In the long run, it is crucial to achieving sustained economic growth. In a globally competitive economy, our young people need to receive a globally competitive education with new types of instruction that are critically relevant to the experiences and opportunities that they will encounter.
Financial and entrepreneurial literacy will determine how effective students will be in the global economy and financial markets. Buffalo Public will require a number of entrepreneurial education courses as part of the core curriculum, beginning in the grade-7: Marketing, Business Law, Accounting, Corporate Finance, Personal Financial Management, Structured Finance and Private Equities, Financial Economics, Organizational Behavior, and Entrepreneurship
Action 8: Intensive foreign language education
Foreign language skills will offer students enormous opportunities and distinct advantages in the global market place. As such, we will require Spanish language instruction from K through grade-6, and Chinese or Hindi language instruction from grade-7 through grade-12. We will require proficiency in three languages (one of which will be English). Spanish, Chinese, and Hindu will emerge (in addition to English) as the most spoken and most relevant to global market interaction in the coming decades, and should be made available to our young people.
Action 9: Intensive science and intensive mathematics education
The United States is falling behind in the number of scientists and engineers that are graduated from universities. This has the potential to crush the innovative capacity of our economy. Conversely, we can greatly expand the innovative capacity of our economy if we produce more scientists and engineers. As such, we will require advanced mathematics (though AP Calculus AB/BC, and AP Statistics), and advanced laboratory science instruction (through AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics).
PROVIDING THE HIGHEST QUALITY INSTRUCTION
Step 1: Improve the quality of teachers and principals
Requiring more of our students is the easy part. Requiring more of teachers and principals, while managing the system with the utmost efficacy and efficiency will be slightly more difficulty—but undoubtedly doable.
Action 1: Eliminate teacher tenure as we know it
Teacher tenure hurts kids by making it impossible to fire teachers that are ineffective, incompetent, or apathetic. This system is failing our young people. I will effectively eliminate teacher tenure as we know it. We will stop granting tenure to new teachers beginning immediately. Currently tenured teachers will have an option: 1) waive tenure rights in exchange for participating in a new performance-based professional payscale; or 2) refuse to waive tenure and be subject to the existing (lesser) payscale with new monthly performance screenings. Over a relatively short number of years, we will entirely eliminate the existence of tenure within the Buffalo Public Schools. When it comes to managing our school system, our largest loyalty should be to our children—not to our teachers’ union.
Action 2: Implement a new performance-based teacher payscale
My administration will implement a number of statistical tracking programs that will monitor student performance on weekly standardized tests in each course. Individual students’ performance will be measured relative to prior performance in the same subject area with a different teacher. A teacher will be evaluated based on his/her classes’ aggregated performance relative to other instructors. Statistical tracking systems will be put into place to monitor teacher and student performance. We hope that these statistical programs will help administrators identify teacher weaknesses based on subject area, so that supplemental support can be offered to those teachers.
Action 3: Implement a new performance-based principal payscale
Principles will also be evaluated annually and monitored regularly by advanced statistical tracking systems. Principal performance will be evaluated in respect to teacher and student performance, budget and operations management, and community relations. All performance indicators will be published regularly in school district newsletters and other publications.
Action 4: Regularly terminate underperforming educators
The bottom-performing 3% of teachers will be terminated each year. New teachers will be given a caveat: new hires enjoy a three-year grace period before they will be subject to “underperformance termination.” Chronically underperforming principals, associate, and assistant principals will be terminated regularly as well, although a “3% underperformance quota” will not be operative policy.
Action 5: Set high standards for faculty education prerequisites
Generally speaking, high school teachers will be required to have PhDs, middle school teachers will be required to have either an MS, MA, or some other graduate-level degree, while elementary school teachers will be required to have either a BA or a BS. Instructors of Kindergarten, Pre-K, Early Childhood Education 1 and Early Childhood Education 2, will be required to have an associate-level degree with specialized training.
Action 6: Introduce lifetime learning graduate programs for faculty
As Mayor, I will work with the Governor and the State University of New York to develop a program that allows the State’s public school teachers to matriculate in graduate programs free of tuition or other charges while they are working full-time. This will allow teachers to be employed full time while attaining additional degrees. This will make it easier for teachers to work towards PhDs, and it will help students as their teachers gain a greater depth and breadth of their subject area.
ENSURE THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Action 1: District wide weekly standardized testing
Each student will be required to take weekly standardized tests in each subject of instruction. This level of performance monitoring is necessary to identify students’ weaknesses’ early, to correct teacher weaknesses’ quickly, and to keep parents fully informed of their students’ progress on a weekly (and perhaps even a “real time”) basis.
Action 2: Data information and tracking systems
Tracking systems will offer evaluation outputs to teachers who want to identify students in need of more instruction in specific topic areas or with certain types of skills. The tracking systems will also offer evaluation outputs to principals, which will identify teachers who fail to correct student weaknesses’ before later examinations. Parents will be able to access detailed performance evaluations of their children and their teachers through a secure website and will be able to sign up for “text-message notification” of their child’s test scores and teacher comments in real-time.
Action 3: Public school choice policy
Generally speaking, students will be assigned to schools based on which school is most closely located to their primary residence. However, parents will also be offered “public school choice,” should they want to send their child to a public school located further from their primary residence. This will allow principals to compete with each other. It will give parents the freedom to hold schools accountable and the ability to “vote with their feet” if they are unsatisfied with their neighborhood school.
This is the 3rd post in two days that contains the same information, just a different thread title. How about keeping it to one thread huh? We get the idea.
Matt, good plan, but you left out one thing.
how do you deal with NYSUT, as you know they will be your oppenents biggest funder!
"I know you guys enjoy reading my stuff because it all makes sense. "
Dumbest post ever! Thanks for the laugh PO!
Originally Posted by Truthdetector
It's actually entirely different information. This is about Education policy. The other posts were about ending patronage, and the property tax's investment penalty, respectively. There's actually no repeated information. None.
I stand corrected.
This candidacy is obviously a joke.2) offer free universal education-oriented daycare for 2-year olds; and 3) make all-day pre-kindergarten compulsory for 4-year olds.
Most of all I like bulldozers and dirt
I do have to agree with the opinion that the ideas are "pie in the sky". Can anyone see the Buffalo Teachers Union going along with anything here? That's why I've asked if this candidate has any "real world" experience.
No offense but i can tell you don't know what you are talking about. You obviosly never dealt with buffalo schools and don't know the federal education laws.
So heres what you need to think about.. Start with buffalo cpse, they are understaffed and children are not getting services quick enough.
The numbers are between 1 in 20 and 4 in 20 kids have a sensory issue that effects their behaviors and academics. Look up sensory processing disorder. They need to look into getting more sensory therapies available in public schools.
2 you need to get parents involved. Part of the problem is parents are NOT sending their kids to a neighborhood school anymore, so things like pta and such have few members. You have to figure out ways to get parents involved.
Also alternative learning programs need to be looked into. I was reading about the waldorf school in west falls, and their philosphies are amazing.
Your the young guy whose running right. I think your even younger than me. Well I assume you don't have children. So maybe you should consult with parents on what they think the problems are.
Also i don't think you can really get rid of the school board.
“Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”
Theres a federal law that says you can keep your kids home until they are 6. So you'd have to get rid of that before you can have 4 year old compulsory education.
Also no the teachers union wouldn't go for some of the things mentioned.
“Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”
The government school system is one of the greatest institutional failures of modern times. This guy's idea for "reform" is to expand the system by subjecting two year olds to a state controlled babysitter and forcing 4 yr olds to go to pre-k (get them indoctrinated young, eh)?
Stick with simcity kid.
Most of all I like bulldozers and dirt
A better idea would be gov't offered mommy and me classes. They should be encouraging parent and child bonding and not making the children wards of the state.
“Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”
I gave you my opinions above. If you haven't spent time interviewing teachers and principals yet, I would do so to have a better handle on the specifics of what is going on.
1 Corinthians 13:1 "If I speak in the languages of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."
oo yea i forgot to mention schools need recess
“Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”
Indeed, we can. Mayor Bloomberg did so in New York City five years ago, and since Mayoral control, NYC Public Schools have made great strides and have test scores much, much better than Buffalo Public Schools. Additionally, Washington DC has a similar approach. I will follow the example of their inspiring new Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, who has made extraordinary progress under Mayor Fenty.
Early Childhood Education is far from a joke, and it has been identified as a critical tool in addressing racial and class-based disparities in children first entering the Public School system, who don't have the preparatory experiences or cultural capital that their more affluent counterparts enjoy. This is key to addressing the learning gap and, long term, to correcting systemic disparities across racial groups. We need to teach children a much deeper and more broad curriculum, more quickly. Early childhood education is absolutely critical.
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