Dinowitz asks panel how nonprofit partners can help develop assessments and rubrics

Thank you.

And I could tell you, this is, you know, when I became chair of the education committee, I said, like, I know we have to have a hearing on this issue because I kind of felt I knew where we would be, which is.

Not sure where, right?

So this is not the end of this conversation.

Everyone here who's testified and beyond will be an integral part of, you know, making sure all the things we're asking for, whether it's the communication, whether it's the rigor, you know, whether the professional development, we're going to hold the DEWE accountable to make sure that's all there.

I do want to ask, though.

Supervising Superintendent Chang, I think, as well as the other superintendent who's here, spoke about partnerships with nonprofits and industry.

And I'm wondering from your perspective, what obligation you feel or what role you play

you think you should or can have in developing the sort of assessments and rubrics that would demonstrate the level of rigor and engagement per the portrait of the graduate?

You know, we're a service provider.

We train teachers.

We also have fellowships for students each semester.

But in our work to train the teachers, we certainly follow through on what they're doing each semester.

That's Kevin's whole job.

We hired him just now.

Just today?

No.

And you already put him up on the panel?

I'd say a month ago.

But he'd been working with us already for a few years.

And now his full-time job is being that person who checks out whether our– we have journalism educators who train the teachers.

Kevin's job is going to the schools to make sure that–

They're not hitting too many roadblocks because they need a lot of support.

And that's why our fellowship gives them two more years beyond that, because it's really hard to learn a whole profession, journalism, and then teach a bunch of kids how to do it.

So when you're asking really about...

Rubrics or what I'm asking is that is we're talking about portfolios we talk about some sort of assessment you've heard it mentioned throughout the day some sort of assessment and some sort of assurances that you know a kid from Canarsie

is doing the same type of work and it's held to the same standard as a kid

From Bedford Park.

Now I get what you're getting at.

Okay.

So, all right.

Kevin, Kevin.

So outside of Press Pass, I've also worked in education for 20 years from Harlem Children's Zone to you name it.

I worked in high school for five years.

I was a career and all that to say what I've seen this summer alone, I have 50 interns, right?

Coming from city schools all over the city.

The biggest issue is.

While they can all come up and say how great their school is, oftentimes they don't even know what's happening at the school up the block or in the same building.

So unless we can figure out a way to get all the schools on the same page, you know, we're all going to do journalism.

We're all going, and it doesn't have to be journalism, but we're all going to do the same things so that we're all judged on the same basis.

Because even with regents, right, and again, I worked at a high school.

We knew if we had students with IEPs, all we had to do was get them to take the test three times, even if they failed at all three.

As long as you took it three times, we can ask the city to just waive it.

Right?

And this was happening with most of the black and brown students that I worked with.

But then I go to a Bronx Science or a Brooklyn Tech, and they look at the regents like, this is just one of the things we have to do today.

And they're going to do 15 other things, and they're going to be successful at all 15, but then you have the same...

Students who live on the same block with them go to the same corner store, and they're not getting the same services.

So unless we can figure out how we can get everyone on that same page, and I think it starts at some of our local schools.

It starts with some of our smaller districts.

But overall, there's no reason a student in Canarsie isn't getting the same education as someone in Park Slope.

Great.

Yeah, agreed.

And I would hope and think that if, you know, the DOE shouldn't be creating their whatever assessments, whatever portfolio they're asking the kids to do, they shouldn't be doing that in silos, that you have expertise in journalism,

that you can and should be partners with the DOE in that work.

You know best what good journalism looks like.

And I would just hope and think the DOE would lean on you for that and that you it seems like you are willing and able partners in that work.

All right.