בתי חינוך בקר״י: State considers tightening standards

[צהלה ושמחה]

היינט אינעם רעקארד

State considers tightening standards for private schools

The private schools in Kiryas Joel and elsewhere in the mid-Hudson may soon have to prove they are actually teaching their thousands of students English, math, history and science

Nearly 18,000 students walk each day through the doors of 66 private schools in Sullivan, Ulster and Orange counties. Behind those doors, the students are supposed to learn those state-mandated subjects so that, in addition to their religious or other studies, the students get an education “substantially equivalent” to what students get in public school

But many private schools provide little in the way of test results that outsiders can look at to evaluate what is taught and how well students learn. Local and state public education officials do not go into the private schools to evaluate their overall education programs, though local officials may evaluate specific courses tied to federal funding

As advocates on the state and national level, including U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, push for more public funding of private schools, others question their accountability. “All students (in New York state) are required to receive a sound, basic education. There is an expectation that all schools, public and private, ought to be following the letter of the law,” said Assemblyman James Skoufis, a Democrat from Woodbury

Some meet, exceed standards

Some schools do meet or exceed the state’s basic equivalency standards. Think of Catholic high schools such as John S. Burke or the Mount Academy. They are registered as high schools with the state and as such are allowed to administer Regents exams and issue fully documented diplomas at graduation. But neither Burke nor the Mount Academy supplied the state with results of those tests for the 2015-16 school year, the most recent available

With the general lack of public data, it is unclear how widespread problems with equivalency are, but private Jewish schools such as those in Kiryas Joel have come under pointed criticism. “Tens of thousands of children attending these (Orthodox) schools, also known as yeshivas, are being denied the education to which they are entitled under New York state law,” Naftuli Moster says in a September 2017 report from Yaffed, or Young Advocates for Fair Education, his nonprofit in New York City. The report is titled “Non-Equivalent: the State of Education in New York City’s Hasidic Yeshivas

The Orthodox private schools in Kiryas Joel enrolled nearly 11,600 boys and girls in 2015-16, according to state records. Newburgh, the largest public district in the region, had just under 10,700 students in 2016-17. Kiryas Joel yeshiva officials did not respond to the Times Herald-Record’s attempts to seek comment

Based on his own experience and that of other yeshiva graduates, Moster says that after age 13, boys in the Orthodox yeshivas often get no classes in English, math, science or history. The average yeshiva graduate, the report says, “speaks little or no English, has few or no marketable skills, ... marries young and has many children, and is forced to rely upon public assistance to support his large family.” The report calls for more secular instruction or the loss of public funding for the private schools

The Orthodox yeshivas have defenders against Moster’s criticism. A group called Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools, or PEARLS, did not reply to a request for comment, but did respond to Yaffed in Hamodia, a Jewish newspaper, in September

“The recommendations from Yaffed would undermine the mission of our yeshivas, which is to provide an intensive Jewish and secular education that equips students with the critical thinking skills needed to thrive in their communities, grounded by a deep understanding of their Jewish identity and culture,” the statement read

For several years, Moster has lobbied education officials both in New York City and at the state Education Department to enforce the instructional mandate of “substantially equivalent” education, but with few results

So he said he was surprised to hear state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia say at an Albany conference in December that the department is revising its guidelines for equivalency

“I found out randomly they were being revised. I got alarmed because, well, who are they working with? I want to see a draft, because I am 100 percent certain that the other side has seen a draft. I find it super-problematic that our voice is not being considered,” Moster said

To date, the Education Department has declined to release its proposed revisions to the equivalency guidelines. The department will work with public and nonpublic “school leaders” to implement the new guidelines, department spokesperson Emily DeSantis said in an email Jan. 5. “All students must receive an education that prepares them to be informed and productive members of society. That’s true regardless of where they attend school

Elia had said the department would start training on how to implement the guideline revisions sometime in January or February. “The department’s role is to help all parties understand their responsibility for ensuring that students in nonpublic schools receive an education that is substantially equivalent to the education provided in the public schools

Impact worries some

The potential impact of the impending changes worries some in the private school realm

James Cultrara is co-chairman of the New York State Coalition for Independent and Religious Schools, which represents about 1,800 schools across the state. “We are working closely with the state Education Department on a process to measure the academic rigor of our schools in a way that does not threaten the autonomy, independence or mission of the schools that parents choose for their children,” he said Tuesday

What remains unclear for now is who will implement any changes and how compliance will be measured.

At present, for established nonpublic schools like those in the mid-Hudson, it falls to the local public school superintendent and school board to judge whether the nonpublic school offers an “equivalent” program

But the guidelines also say the local public school superintendent has no duty to visit an established nonpublic school or maintain any records on it. Nor is the local public superintendent entitled to access private school test records. The private schools are not required to administer state tests or to report any test scores to the state or to the superintendent of the public school district within which they are located. State regulations say use of the state tests is “voluntary” for nonpublic schools

“I don’t have any data to look at to be able to compare to see if they are teaching an equivalent program. They may,” said Elsie Rodriguez, superintendent of the Monroe-Woodbury School District. Numerous students who live within her public school district boundaries attend the Kiryas Joel yeshivas. “It is possible that some schools are doing a very good job and some are not, but I don’t have the authority or the information to be able to assess who’s doing a good job or not. There is no way on my part to do that

Overall, 25 of the 66 local private schools provided some test-score information on the state’s Comprehensive Information Reports. Some of the region’s 17 private high schools did provide academic test score data to the state in the form of a Nonpublic School Comprehensive Information Report. Others did not. Of the 17 high schools, 11 have registered with the state Education Department and two more are in the process of registering

Within the test scores submitted to the state by the different mid-Hudson private schools, only a few of the private schools scored at the top level on the exams. In Kingston Catholic School in Kingston, 26 percent of third-grade students scored at the top level on the math test in 2015-16. In its eight-grade class, 65 percent scored at the top level on the English test that year. Only nine schools reported any top level scores on any test. Forty-one schools reported no test data at any level

Nonetheless, the state says, “The fact that a school does not administer these tests is not evidence of lack of an equivalent program, but it does make it more difficult to judge

If a private school is found to have violated the equivalency standard, it could lose public funding, and its students could be deemed truant. While nonpublic schools do not get local property tax dollars or general state education money, they do get transportation, health support and other services paid for with state and federal dollars

Kiryas Joel Superintendent Joel Petlin said his public school district provides transportation and other services to the local private schools. The district provides secular textbooks and transportation for thousands of students

“We stand ready to assist the religious schools in any way that we can, as permitted by law, to improve the secular education offerings to their students,” Petlin said. He declined to comment on equivalency in the yeshivas

Burke Catholic school officials say they foresee little impact on their program from any changes in the equivalency guidelines. Janice Clark, principal for academics at the school, said the school is already registered with the state and that Burke exceeds even those standards. “We don’t believe it is going to affect us much,” she said

The Mount Academy in Ulster Park, between Kingston and New Paltz, is a private high school registered with the state and run by the Bruderhof community. Rebecca Shirky, the school’s director of curriculum and instruction, said the state has a “necessary and compelling interest” in assuring students get an adequate education. Her school does that and more, she said

But, she said, “In terms of performance standards, the marketplace regulates private schools more effectively than any amount of state regulation. People won’t pay to send their kids to lousy schools. ... Accountability only becomes necessary when responsibility is lacking

[צל עובר]

לויט דעם זענען בערך צוויי דריטל קינדער פון אלע פריוואטע סקולס, פון ארענדזש אלסטער און סאליווען אינאיינעם, פון קרית יואל אליינס.

[גרויסע-גדולה]

מען דארף דאס צאמשטעלן מיט
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=27477&start
דאס

[blue moon]

פיינע נייעס דאס.
האפענטליך וועלען אלע דריי מוסדות אין קר"י גענצליך זויבער ווערען פון פאבליק פאנדינג, אין איינוועגס וועט דאס האפענטליך אראפ ברענגען די סקול טעקסעס. פאר אלע טעקס פעיער.

איי שכ"ל וועט מיזן ארויף גיין? נו, נישט געפערליך, כל מזונותיו של אדם קצובים לו מראש השנה ועד יום הכפורים חוץ מהוצאת שבתות והוצאת י"ט והוצאת בניו לתלמוד תורה שאם פחת פוחתין לו ואם הוסיף מוסיפין לו. (ביצה טז, א) העלמיר נאך פאדינען דערביי.
משא"כ שטייער צאלען איז א חלק פונעם גלות אדום, וואס מלאך גבריאל האט שוין געוואלט אויסרייסן. עס האט נאר געהאלפען אביסעל, דאס איבריגע דארפ מען זיך ספראווענען (יומא עז, א)

[סארקאזי]

מען קען דאך אויפווייזען שווארץ און ווייס, אז פון די אלע פרייוועט סקולס קומען ארויס ווייניגער דראפאוטס דראג'ס וכדומ' ווי פון פאבליק סקולס, מלערנט מיט זיי לייפ סקילס ווי אזוי מצליח צו זיין אין לעבן, דאס ביסל ענגליש מיטן פאך, לערנט מען זיך שנעל צו,
אויך אינעם פאבליק סקול דארף מען נאך גיין אין קאלעדש צו באקומען א דיגרי און סיי וואספארא פעלד, סאיז נישט אויטאמאטיש אז פון פאבליק סקול האסטו גענוג עדיוקעישאן צו באקומען עפעס א בעסער באצאלטע דשאב,
וואס יא דאס ענגליש וואס מלערנט שוין סיי ווי אין חדר, זאל מען מאכען עס זאל מער בענעפעטירן, אנטשטאט סזאל זיין א שעה וואס מפארציילט מעשיות, זאל מען חאטש קענען עפעס רעכענען, און אביסל רעדען און שרייבען ענגליש,
דארט ליגט א שטיקל פאונט

[שמואל בארג]

פיינע נייעס דאס.
האפענטליך וועלען אלע דריי מוסדות אין קר"י גענצליך זויבער ווערען פון פאבליק פאנדינג, אין איינוועגס וועט דאס האפענטליך אראפ ברענגען די סקול טעקסעס. פאר אלע טעקס פעיער.

הגם, כשלעצמי וואלט איך ווען אויך אזוי געזאגט אז אלע מוסדות זאלן אראפגיין פון פראגראמען, צוליב אסאך אנדערע פראבלעמען וואס איך האב שוין מיטגעהאלטן, אבער כעת איז נישט דאס דער פראבלעם, די אישו איז צו מען גיבט די (נישט-)פארגעשריבענע רעגירונג חינוך פאר די קינדער צו נישט, און דאס איז נישט בינדעט אין די געלטער.

[נו שוין]

פיינע נייעס דאס.
האפענטליך וועלען אלע דריי מוסדות אין קר"י גענצליך זויבער ווערען פון פאבליק פאנדינג, אין איינוועגס וועט דאס האפענטליך אראפ ברענגען די סקול טעקסעס. פאר אלע טעקס פעיער.

איי שכ"ל וועט מיזן ארויף גיין? נו, נישט געפערליך, כל מזונותיו של אדם קצובים לו מראש השנה ועד יום הכפורים חוץ מהוצאת שבתות והוצאת י"ט והוצאת בניו לתלמוד תורה שאם פחת פוחתין לו ואם הוסיף מוסיפין לו. (ביצה טז, א) העלמיר נאך פאדינען דערביי.
משא"כ שטייער צאלען איז א חלק פונעם גלות אדום, וואס מלאך גבריאל האט שוין געוואלט אויסרייסן. עס האט נאר געהאלפען אביסעל, דאס איבריגע דארפ מען זיך ספראווענען (יומא עז, א)

מיינסט אוודאי צוזאגן, אז וויבאלד מזונותיו קצובין, זאל א יעדער אויפהערן מיט סאציאלע הילף, וואס דרך אגב איז אסאך א גרעסערע פראבלעם ווי די גאווערמענט פאנדינג וואס די חינוך סיסטעם באקומט.

אלע פראבלעמען אז די גאווערמענט מישט זיך אריין, הייבן זיך אן מיט דעם וויבאלד די סטאטיסטיקס צייגט אז קר"י איז איז די ארימסטע שטאט , און זענען הבא בטענה.