In the aftermath of test scores that show the majority of city school children are not performing up to standard, everyone’s a critic. But not everyone’s earned the right to be.
We’re thinking particularly of Mike Mulgrew, who heads the United Federation of Teachers. “This is a man-made disaster that should not have been,” he thunders. “The scores should have dropped, but not to this level. The children are bearing the brunt of the mayor’s decisions.”
Perhaps. But Mulgrew’s in no position to throw stones. Because among the New York City students who fared the worst on these new tests are those who are being taught in Mulgrew’s own glass house — the UFT charter school. Whether scored against the city average or the charter average, a school that was supposed to showcase the union’s professionalism has only highlighted its failures.
In English, only 9.7 percent of the UFT charter’s third to eighth graders are proficient, and only 12.6 percent in math. That’s worse than district public schools, where the average is 26.4 percent in English and 29.6 percent in math. It also falls far short of the average for charters, which is 34.8 percent proficient in math and 25.1 percent in English.
Given what these scores tell us about the effectiveness of our public schools, there’s certainly plenty of criticism deserved all around. But it strikes us that the one indisputable conclusion here is that Mulgrew and his union ought to be receiving it and not giving it.