Transcript: Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña Announce Gains for NYC Students on State Tests

August 14, 2014

Nakia Haskins: Good afternoon and welcome to the Brooklyn Brownstone School. My name is Nakia Haskins and I am the founding principal. We were founded with parents from the Bedford-Stuyvesant community and we opened our doors in 2008, 2009, with pre-K to first grade classes. We have met our grade capacity and we are now a pre-K to fifth grade school. And our teachers have done a wonderful job and given us the honor to have the mayor come and announce New York State ELA and math scores for the city at our building. So I would like to thank them for their hard work and the effort that they’ve put in for this great honor. And it is my pleasure to introduce Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, thank you so much, Nakia – and to everyone at the Brooklyn Brownstone School, otherwise known as PS 628. To everyone at this school –

[Applause]

– Enthusiastic school – all the teachers, all the staff, all the school safety, but – I have to say from my heart, as a public school parent – all the parents who have helped to achieve this extraordinary accomplishment, this is a great day. You should all be proud. Give yourselves a round of applause.

[Applause]

Nakia, your leadership has been incredibly effective – as you said, founding principal and taking this school higher every year. And you have a lot to be proud of. So, thank you for the great work you do for our children.

[Applause]

I want to thank our Chancellor, Carmen Fariña; our Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams; our New York State Assembly Chair of the Education Committee Kathy Nolan; and New York City Council Chair of the Education Committee Danny Dromm, who are all here with us. And we are all here to celebrate this school and to celebrate good news that’s actually happening all over the city with the test scores we’re seeing.

But let’s talk about what this school achieved in the New York State math and English exams, because it’s extraordinary. Comparing 2013 to 2014 – to the scores just announced by the State Education Department – the percentage of students at or above proficient level in math at this school rose from 20.3 percent to 36.8 percent. That is absolutely extraordinary – in one year. But as they say in the late night advertising, ‘But wait! There’s more!’ – the percentage of students at or above proficiency level in English rose from 27.5 to 44.1 percent. That is amazing.

[Applause]

This school is doing a lot of things right. It’s partly the great leadership, it’s partly the parents’ involvement, but it’s also the work that’s being done to invest in and strengthen teachers. That is making a huge difference and Nakia’s been very focused on the effort to always develop and improve her teachers. She’s doing everything possible to ensure that teachers get the training they need – the ongoing training, constantly helping them to get better – to develop a special training series focused on helping students to think analytically – not just to take a test – to think analytically for all they’re going to do in their education and in their lives thereafter, and then that gets reflected in the test.

So this is a deeper approach. This is the big picture approach – preparing our children for life and for their careers ahead. It also helps them to be ready to express that through a test. And you can see the difference it’s making when our teachers are supported in their efforts to get to the root of things and help our children think more effectively, more analytically, more critically. And, obviously, Nakia’s efforts and the efforts of everyone at the Brooklyn Brownstone School have paid off, but – even better news – this school does not stand alone. This school is a trendsetter for something that’s happening citywide. This is a good day for the whole New York City school system.

Again, comparing 2013 to 2014 – the scores just announced for this last school year – the percentage of New York City students in grades three through eight who are at or above proficiency level, across all our schools, in math rose from 29.6 percent to 34.2 percent citywide; in English, rose from 26.4 percent to 28.4 percent citywide. That’s progress across this city. It’s good news, and it is a sign of many things to come – it is a beginning. We have an immense amount of work ahead. It’s very nice to have a moment when we can celebrate some good, but it is never a moment to rest on our laurels – it’s only a chance to reload and go deeper, because we have a lot of work ahead.

And we’re working to do things in a very fundamental way, because this school system needs a lot of work. Even with this progress, we know – I’m going to very clear and consistent – we need to do a lot to improve our schools. And so we’re remaking this system in a variety of ways, which I’ll talk about in a second.

Remember, the test scores are one indication of some progress – and we’re happy about them – but it’s also important to note what the chancellor and I believe fundamentally: tests like this are only one measure. So I’ll say that when the test scores are good and I’ll say it when they aren’t so good – they’re only one measure. A school is not the sum of its test scores. There’s a broad consensus among educators – the best way of measuring student learning and achievement is to use multiple forms of assessment. So we value the information we’re getting from these test results but we have to look at a lot of other measures to truly understand where we are and where we need to go.

And, again, we recognize the improvement that this indicates, but we have a long way to go, because the goal is to have 100 percent proficiency for our children. We know how hard that is. We know how difficult that path may seem, but that is the goal – to reach every child. So, good news inspires to more action, and we know there’s a lot of action we have to take.

And what does that look like? Well, you’ve seen some of it already. Starting in just a few weeks, a major step forward – going up from 20,000 full-day pre-k seats to over 50,000, starting this September 4. That’s going to be a big change for this school system. Afterschool seats for middle school kids is going to be a big change for this school system. More teacher training across the board – no one epitomizes the value of teacher training more than this chancellor, and she’s one of the most accomplished teachers this school system has ever seen, and she believes in training teachers all the time.

[Applause]

Greater parental involvement, because this is something that was left out of the equation, and we’re going to make it central to the equation. And the community school model – you’re going see 100 by the end of this term, where we bring healthcare – physical healthcare, mental healthcare – community services into the school, families into the school –  a united front to help our children. These are just some of the things we’re going to do.

And by the way, when it comes to the curriculum we need, let’s be clear – we want to aim high. We want to aim high. We think you have to provide the teacher training if you want to aim high. You have to get parents involved as key allies if you want to aim high.

[One person claps]

Thank you.

[Laughter]

You have to – it’s good to see the Community Education Council is out in force. You have to start kids earlier and stronger and better if you want to achieve. But we aim high, which is why we do believe in the Common Core curriculum. We want to handle it right. We don’t want to just declare it’s there and then not do the work necessary to support it. So we’re making the investments and making the changes of strategy to actually live up to the Common Core, and that includes a Common Core curriculum at the pre-k level. You can’t have higher standards without higher investment to reach those standards, and we are making those investments for our children and to help our teachers be better all the time.

It is a very challenging world out there. I can tell you, in our household, there’s an ongoing conversation about Dante and college ahead. And Dante knows that it’s a much more competitive context than when Chirlane and I applied for college. And all young people know the economy is in many ways more challenging than ever. We need to keep raising the bar on achievement, help our children truly be ready, but it begins with a mindset. We want to teach them to think critically. We want to teach them those analytical skills. We want to help them with a lot of support early and often, not just hold them to a high standard and talk about it, but invest in it regularly. And we think we can make that happen.

So, today is an indicator of something. It’s an indicator of progress, but it’s a reminder of how much has to be done. Now, we say this path includes constant development of our team. Our teachers are a crucial, crucial asset. You develop that asset, you support that asset, you honor that asset. We want good morale among our teachers, but not just because of happy talk, because we constantly support and uphold and uplift them.

You see it in the approach we took in the contract, which focuses on teacher development. You see it in the fact that this summer, under Carmen Fariña’s leadership, principals and teachers alike have been training and training and training – it’s like they’re all going to the Olympics – they’ve been training all summer to be the best they could be. Over 900 principals attended professional development sessions this summer – over 900. And this July, thousands of teachers went to training sessions to improve their craft in the middle of the summer. This work will continue and deepen as part of the contract. Teachers will devote 80 minutes every Monday to professional development – every week. More and more focus on training so they can be the very best.

There’s a lot we’re working on, and we’ll be announcing a lot more on the education front in the coming weeks. But we’ve got some momentum now – we’ve got some forward motion, we’re going to build upon it.

It’s important to say, before you hear from my colleagues, that we know that these test scores reflect a school year that was in transition – the first half of the school year under the previous administration, the second half of the school under our administration. And we want to give credit – the credit that’s due to the previous administration for their part of the equation. That’s only fair and right. It’s well known that I disagreed with the previous administration on a number of issues related to education, but it’s also important to note some of the things they did right. They were right to put additional substantial investments into education. They were right to focus on the Common Core curriculum. So – and this year, they bridged the two administrations. Everyone contributed to the progress. And it gives us a platform for going much farther.

And I am convinced that we have a leader in our school system who’s going to guide us all to that higher height. And I can tell you, wherever I go around this city – Carmen, don’t listen to this part, I don’t want it to affect – thank you, that was very nice of you to follow that instruction – when I talk to teachers, they are so proud of having a teacher as chancellor. When I talk to principals, they’re so proud to have a principal as chancellor.

[Applause]

When I talk to parents and grandparents, they’re so proud to have a parent and grandparent as chancellor – and they’re so proud to have a real New Yorker as chancellor. And when I talk to elected officials – and that’s not an easy group – they love the fact that she speaks from the heart and she’s always attentive to all of the people that make up this school system. Let me present to you, our chancellor, Carmen Fariña.

Chancellor Carmen Fariña, Department of Education: Well, thank you. I really am very happy to be here today. As the chancellor said, this is not – I’m the chancellor –
[Laughter]

Mayor: I guess that would be a promotion.

Chancellor Fariña: I now know there are more than one chancellor, there’s at least two others that I speak to on a regular basis. But I do think that one of the things that’s really important today is to reemphasize what the mayor has said.

We have made progress – it’s never going to be enough – but I want to reiterate that there is a difference between the test scores of the last two years and those three and four years behind, and I think given the fact that we have raised the bar for all our kids, that it is really important to honor the fact that they are working harder than ever and that while the work is harder, their achievements are there.

One of the things that I think is particularly important is that we’ve also not only increased to the degree that we have, but we’ve also started lowering the Level One kids in our system – and that, to me, is a particularly important thing that we need to focus on. We are working on the kids who came the furthest behind. In math, we rose from 29.6 percent to 34.2, and for anyone who thinks this is a small gain, it may seem small in numbers, but if you knew what it took to get those gains actually, mathematically, they’re much higher than you would think of. They’re not as high as I would like them to be – and certainly something we’re going to be focusing on this year. In English we rose from 26.4 percent to 28.4 and, again, it’s an increase, but it’s an increase that also says that we’ve lowered our Level One kids and that to me is very important. For people who are not cognizant, Level One are the kids who are not proficient in any way and Level Three and Four are the kids who are already proficient. But under this new high standards, even level two kids are almost at proficiency level, so moving in this direction is really quite good.

I, like the mayor, don’t think tests is every way that you check achievement, and one of things I’m proudest of is the amount of professional development that we have put in place. This summer alone, we had professional development in almost every area. For 900 principals to come on their holidays, to come and listen for whole days and listen to other principals talk about how they can improve their administrative practices, to me is quite amazing. I just finished reading all of the reviews of the elementary school principals in particular, and to a person they said, Carmen we get it, we’re going to focus on grade two; we get it we’re going to do more family engagement; we get it – content area work is going to be a new emphasis – and I think that’s really important.

I won’t be happy until at the end of this year I can stand before you and say we’ve doubled or tripled the amount of proficiency that we have in our system, but I do think making sure that people are listening with active ears is very important. Everywhere I go – and I would actually put elected officials first, because they have been part of what has helped us convince parents that Common Core is something that works for all kids – the scores are lower, but these kids are going to be ready for the workforce in ways that other students haven’t been before, and I’m very proud of that.

I think also that the fact that we have a UFT contract that honors innovation, that honors teacher professionalism, that honors the amount of time that teachers are going to spend talking to parents – an additional 40 minutes per week of parent engagement time.
Yesterday I went to visit a parent’s home to research my MSQI middle school initiative – you should know – and what I found most amazing – we went really prepared, as educators tend to do, to let the parents know we were ready to offer them. But lo and behold, this family blew us away because they literally sat there and told us all the things they want to do for us. The mother had just been the PTA president at a school, and she was going to middle school ready to take over. She goes, I did this, I started the prom, I started a school store, and I started this, and I’m ready – all in Spanish by the way, didn’t speak a word of English.
And I want to say to parents very consciously, you don’t need to speak the language to help your child at home. And these were parents who were committed. The father said, I’m a carpenter by trade and one of the things I want to be able to do is go into middle school and show kids how important it is to know how to work with your hands. And also – when we mentioned they have a drama club – he says, and I’ll help them learn how to do their stage – you know, the stuff that they do for plays.
I think it’s really important to understand that families have a lot more to offer. And with 40 minutes a week, every parent having 15 minutes of dedicated one-on-one time with their teachers, making sure that all the workshops for parents are how to help your child at home with Common Core. We have already made a commitment to all parents that have IEP’s. We’ll have their meetings with their teachers early in the year.
We know that having parents, professional development, and community-based organizations involved in the kids’ education is important.  So I just want to say, I do think this is wonderful news. I think it could be a lot better and will be, and I promise you that. And one of the things I’m particularly excited about is having a full year to prove that our promises to you can be met. Thank you.
[Applause]
Mayor: In Español, in particular the part about you can contribute regardless about what language you speak.
Chancellor Fariña: You see, I get coaching. Even chancellors need coaching. En Español.  
[Chancellor Farina speaks Spanish]
Chancellor Fariña: That was not a direct translation but it got the message.
Mayor: It’s okay. It’s all good. So our borough president – I am a Brooklynite who happens to be living in Manhattan right now – our borough president has devoted so much of his life to the safety of our children and the uplifting of our children. So he’s been on the front line in every way. He understands how powerful it is to show our kids they can make progress, to show them that they really are our hope for our future. I’d like to present the borough president of Brooklyn, Eric Adams.

[Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams speaks]

Mayor: That’s creative. [Laughter]. I wanted to introduce our next speaker by asking a question of the parents here today. How much do you think that full-day pre-K for every child in this city is going to making a difference? Do you think it’s going to help us?

[Applause]

Do you think it’s going to help us?

[Applause]

Then I want you to join with me in thanking one of the people who made it possible, because in Albany there was a fight over the resources to have full-day pre-K for every child in this city. One of the strongest, most consistent, most forceful champions was the chair of the Education Committee of the Assembly. And she would not stop until the mission was won – Chair of the Education Committee, Assemblymember Kathy Nolan.

[Applause]

[Assemblymember Kathy Nolan speaks]

[Applause]

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you.

Assemblymember Nolan: And this way Queens is in the house.

Mayor: Queens is in the house. The chair of our Education Committee in the Council is not only a passionate advocate for parents and children, and particularly for those who don’t happen to speak English, and he puts us all to shame when he speaks Spanish so well. But more than that, he’s a former teacher. And so I think it’s an interesting thing happening here – we have a chancellor who started out as a teacher, who became a principal, who became chancellor – first time in a generation; and we have an education chair who was a teacher; we have a principal of this extraordinary, successful school – born and raised New Yorker, became a teacher, worked her way up to principal, as she just told me, lives in the neighborhood, walks to work. Perhaps you see the picture I am painting. We have the talent and the ability right here in our city, right here in our school system, to make the changes we need to make – and we’re going to make them. One of our best allies, one of our strongest supporters in this effort is Councilmember Danny Dromm.

[Applause]

[Councilmember Danny Dromm speaks]

[Applause]

Mayor: Thank you. Okay. So, we’re going to a moment of Español. We’re going to on-topic questions. Then we’re going to do off-topic questions. Hold on – getting this step in the right place, there we go. En Español:

[Speaks Spanish]

With that being said, let’s do on topic first.

Question: So you’re talking about doubling and tripling results, achieving 100 percent proficiency. We’re obviously a far way away from that, but how big do you expect gains to be at the end of your first full year, this time next year?

Mayor: I’m not in the position yet to project a specific number, I don’t think that would be responsible. I think we can say that with every passing year, all of these investments are going to have more and more impact. I always say, with pre-K, which we’re going to start to experience in just a few weeks, it’s going to build a very strong foundation for our kids, it’s going to mean it trickles up. It’s going to be felt every grade ahead as those kids advance, there will be more and more kids on grade level, which will lift all boats. So the fact is, I think we’re going to continue to do better, and we’re going to keep making substantial investments, but I don’t think it’s right to put a number on it yet.

Question: Former Chancellor Dennis Walcott credited the gains of school choice, charter schools and accountability on the rise in test scores. What do you think of that, particularly since the administration seems to be moving away from that.

Mayor: Well, I think the thing to look at here is that—first of all, if you look at the scores for the traditional public schools, and you look at the scores for the charter schools, in one area the traditional public schools are stronger, in another area, the charter schools are stronger. So it’s a mixed bag to begin with right there, if you look at the whole system. I think the second thing to think about is, the traditional public school system has a pretty universal approach. We will take in all kids, regardless of proficiency, regardless of language, regardless of special needs. We will keep them in our schools the whole time, we’ll support them the whole way through. Some charters do a great job of that, others take a different approach. Some charters focus a lot on test prep, others have a more balanced approach. In our school system, we serve everyone, and we are moving away from test prep, and into teaching and learning. So I think it’s hard to judge, with all those moving parts, exactly what you hear from this set of scores. I think we’ll know a lot more in the coming years as we deepen our approach. I think we’ll see the evidence that a more holistic approach works, an earlier approach works, that investments in teacher training work, we think that’s going to be proven in short order.

Chancellor Fariña: I would say also that it’s important to note, that when you work in an atmosphere of trust and where people value your professionalism, that you’re bound to work harder, and you’re bound to work more efficiently. So I would say accountability, whereas it’s important, if you’re working out of fear, then you’re stymied at some points. So I really feel that there’s enough praise to go around but, going forward, our accountability is going to be not so much so the school report cards as an absolute grade, but what is the progress that kids are making under really good teachers and principals.

Question: Could you say a little more about how you are going to hold schools accountable? So if they aren’t making progress, if they’ve been struggling, what are you going to do, and if you’re not going to use test scores to judge that, what are you going to use?

Mayor: Well, test scores are part of it, as ‘multiple measures’ means—I’ll start, and Carmen can jump in—‘multiple measures’ means you look at a whole host of things. You look at student grades, you look at evaluations, you look at a whole bunch of stuff that’s not just a single standardized test. I remind people, for those of us as a certain age, long ago, standardized testing started to be questioned in this country, for its fairness, for its accuracy. It has a role to play. It does provide a certain measure that can be helpful, but it’s not the whole picture. And let me offer a quote to you that I think might be helpful at this juncture. This is from our United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. He says, “You have to look at multiple measures. You look at value added over a couple of years, not just one. You have multiple observations too, from principles or peers, and you can ask the children with student surveys.” That’s a snapshot that says that educators around the country understand that you need to look at a lot of different measures to get the whole picture. What we’re not going to do is overly rely on high-stakes testing. We’re not going to grade schools anymore based on a high-stakes test, we’re not going to create a high-pressure test prep atmosphere. We actually want to figure out what’s going on, and I think this school is a great example. Here’s a principal really focused on teacher training, and was able to move a lot of things forward. Not, as you heard, not because she said, go out and do test prep all day. She said, go out and teach children to think analytically, and we’re going to give you the training to do that. So we feel confident, there’s a lot of measures we can use, and they will be used effectively. Do you want to add?

Chancellor Fariña: I would say it’s about not pointing fingers and saying, you’re a bad school if you do this, but let’s look at what it is that you do and what support do you need. I would say, certainly, our summer professional development that so many people attended was based around what do we think principals – let’s just talk about principals’ needs. So, we came up with a very concrete message – we’d like to see all second graders on reading – on grade level by the end of second grade. We’d like to see all seventh graders receiving social, emotional and academic support this year. We’d like to see all tenth graders on track for being college ready, and staying in college – getting there is not the whole message. So, I think we’ve given principals a very clear guideline of what we expect from them without putting the fear of God in them, saying that if you don’t it this, this and this is going to happen. We’re still using our quality review and to this extent Phil Weinberg – Deputy Chancellor Phil Weinberg and his team are doing a fabulous job. And one of the things that we’re doing this year – there’s going to be two visits to every school, right? Every school this year – we have schools that haven’t been visited for seven of eight years and are still living on the report card from way back then. So, we’re looking at every school in terms of what do we, as an administration, because – schools fail, that means we’ve failed. So, I want to look at us too. What do we need to put in place? More strength for our English language learners – what does that department look like? More strength for our special education students – what does that look like? So, I do think it’s about how do we strengthen the schools, how do we guide them to make the right decisions – but also, how do we celebrate their successes? And that is really crucial. This has got to be a culture of looking for the best principals in the best schools in the city and saying, okay, now how do you share what you know with other people in the city?

Question: Mr. Mayor, in terms of the Success Academies – they made some large gains. Has that changed your outlook on any of the charters, or them in particular?

Mayor: Look, I’m happy when any of our schools do well. So, it’s good news when we see progress on test scores – again, test scores are one of a number of measures we have to look at. My view, again, is, first and foremost, the first responsibility I have, and the chancellor has, is to the 93 percent, or so, of kids in our system who go to traditional public schools. The vast, vast majority – and all the things we’re trying to do to fix and uplift our traditional public schools. That’s our priority. We’re going to continue to work with the charter schools – but remember, the charter movement is very, very diverse – a lot of different approaches. And again, we believe in the more inclusive approaches. We believe in the approaches that share best practices most effectively. We believe in the approaches that don’t overly focus on test prep. But we’re going to work with everyone for the betterment of our school system.

Question: On one hand it seems –

Mayor: Wait, wait, wait – hold on – we’re right here. We’ll come to you in a second.

Question: Just a very quick question – I was just wondering when will students be able to see their – get their test scores?

Mayor: When will students see their test scores? Last week in August.

Question: It seems on one hand we’re celebrating the progress that the numbers give you here but, at the same time, it tells you that two thirds of the students across our system aren’t even up to standard. Would you still say, even with this progress, that we have a crisis in education?    

Mayor: Well, a couple things – as the chancellor just said – this is a new standard, and a higher standard and, by the way, the right standard. You’ll remember, we’ve gone through three phases in just a decade. We used to have a less than honest approach in the state of New York where we didn’t reflect the accurate reality of how our kids were doing. To the great credit of the Board of Regents, there was a recalibration a few years ago to more accurately portray the truth of our achievement levels. That brought scores, all across the board – recalibrated them all downward to a much more honest place. Then came – across the state, exactly – all elements of the state. Then came the focus on Common Core, which was necessary but, as many people have noted, had to be accompanied by investments in teacher training and other investments – I think, like pre-k, afterschool, etcetera. If you’re going to meet a higher standard, you’re not just going to snap your fingers. You have to invest and work the system along toward it, which is what we’re doing.

So, it does not surprise me with the bar having been raised, and raised again, that the scores would not be where we want them to be. The progress gives us a sense of momentum in some of the things that we have to do a lot more of – but no, I want to be real clear, cause I’ve said it a lot of times. The school system, overall, is not where it needs to be. And we – I’m going to bring you up, just one second – that’s not where it needs to be. We know we have work to do all over this city. I said a few months back, and I mean it – we need to have a reality where every neighborhood school in this city is a place that parents feel very good about sending their kids. We have to have a reality, which we’ll have soon, that every child at pre-k level gets full day pre-k. There’s a lot of foundational changes we have to make and we’re not going to rest until we make them. So, progress, yes, but a very long road ahead.

Chancellor Fariña: Had these result been able to have been translated into the test that was given three years ago, and more – this would have been in the 90s, so let’s look at it in that particular way. Also, the fact that we’re lowering the number of Level One students, which are the lowest levels of kids, to me is also progress, which is not necessarily in all your sheets, and I think that’s really important. But, this doesn’t mean that our kids aren’t reading and writing. It means, that in order to be ready for the work force of tomorrow, you need more than just to be on average level. You need to be on proficiency and mastery level, which is really different than what we’ve expected in the past.  We’ve almost lived in a fool’s paradise because we put kids in college – many of which needed remedial work.

Mayor: That’s right.

Chancellor Fariña: They got into college and then after year one, they never lasted more than that. We want to say that we want to get into kids into college college-ready so they graduate after four years then get a good job after that.

Mayor: And this is also a question of the future of our city and the future of our economy because we see right now, we don’t have enough engineers in New York City. And we have to change our school system to produce more and more kids – more STEM programs – more and more kids ready to be part of the work force that we’re going to have, not just today. 20 years from the now the workforce is going to even require more and this school system has to align to that. So, that’s a lot of the investments we’re making. I’m taking media questions – there.

Question: A question on admissions and test scores and since the state has said that test scores can’t be used anymore as a main criterion for admissions – what is this going to mean for competitive middle schools and high schools that used to pick kids that had primarily Level Four scores. They can’t use those Fours now [inaudible].

Chancellor Fariña: Well, first of all, many of our middle schools’ admissions already use things like attendance and behavior and some teacher recommendations. So, I think we’re going to be looking at those more extensively and certainly asking people to do multiple, multiple criteria for admissions into the middle schools that are district based. We have committees working on some of the other admissions procedures and we expect to be able to announce some of that probably by the end of September.

Mayor: Wait. Someone who hasn’t gone yet – yes –

Question: Question for Chancellor Fariña en español, si puede?

Mayor: En español.

Question: So, I think you already answered this a few minutes ago, but you were saying testing is not the only measure. So what are the other [inaudible] talking about, en español?

Chancellor Fariña: [Speaks Spanish]. Attendance is muy muy importante. We’re finding that attendance is really –

Mayor: En español.

Chancellor Fariña: Que attendance – help me here, [inaudible], is there a word for attendance? La atencion. Asistencia en la clase es muy importante…[Speaks Spanish]

Mayor: Thank you, [inaudible], for that assist. One or two more on-topic. You two have gone. Anyone who hasn’t gone? On-topic, on-topic – yes.

Question: Mayor, there are some pretty profound differences by racial and ethnic groups [inaudible]. What’s your reaction? What do you think when you see that?

Mayor: I couldn’t hear you well enough because of the truck. Let’s give you one more chance to restate that please.

Question: [inaudible] and striking differences in the test scores by ethnic and racial [inaudible]. What’s your reaction? What are your thoughts when you see that?

Mayor: We have a lot of work to do. It’s part of a history of disparity that has to be addressed. And it has many causes and we have to address them across the board. We talked a lot about the Tale of Two Cities – it exists in our schools and we have to address it. And that means full-day pre-k, that means after-school programs for middle school kids, that means teacher training, that means parent involvement, that means community schools, and a lot of other things you’ll be hearing from us. But we have to get to the foundations here. But I can say that the progress we’re making indicates the ability to reach more and more kids. And as Carmen said, the fact that they’re making progress – particularly among Level One kids – is a step towards a more equal and comprehensive approach. Please.

Chancellor Fariña: One of the groups that still has a long way to go is certainly black and Hispanic males. And this is actually a growth, in this particular test results, and something that, you know, we feel very strongly about. So we are expanding a lot of the single-gender schools. So that seems to me what’s going to make a difference for some of our kids. We just opened a school in Staten Island for black males – one of the Eagle Academies that’s been expanded. We have programs such as Urban Ambassador, ESI – programs that are looking at what does it take to keep minority males in school and then be successful? So I think we’re looking at every single sub-group that’s here to see – more dual language programs so that kids who speak a second language can use the proficiency in their second language to improve whatever language they’re not proficient in. So we’re looking not only at overall scores, but sub-scores and how do we move in that direction.

Mayor: Last one on topic. [inaudible] Henry and Melissa at once. Henry then Melissa.

Question: It’s the same question.

Mayor: It’s the same question? What, you guys are collaborating now? Is this a joint production? Okay, good – I’m glad you’re open about it.

Question: We’re not able to see the changes in Level One and Level Two proficiency. Can you just –

Mayor: Talk about the Level One to Level Two.

Question: We know you referenced it –

Chancellor Fariña: We brought our resident expert for this.

Mayor: You have to introduce yourself.

Alice Brown: Hi, everyone. I’m Alice Brown. I work for our Deputy Chancellor Phil Weinberg in the Division of Teaching and Learning. We will have that posted for you so you can see in detail the changes. But our – we did see about a five percent decrease in our Level One’s and – I am going to just check that, as I say, just to be sure – but we will have the full – not only all of the data for you online, but we’ll have a [inaudible] for you giving you this information.

Mayor: So why don’t you take a minute to – take a minute to find it, so we can –

Brown: Sure.

Chancellor Fariña: [inaudible]

Mayor: Come tell them while – give her a moment to find her exact number while you stall nobly for a moment.

Chancellor Fariña: Okay. One of the things – as we restructured at Tweed, we put several departments back in place. And I’ve said this over and over again, but I think it bears repeating in today’s context. We have instituted professional development in every subject area, with a big increase in STEM, because as we move forward we want to do a lot more work with STEM because we think that’s also a way to engage our male students. Females also, but we do think that a lot more use of technology moves everybody in the right direction. Number two – we have reinstituted the intervention department. We have an entire department now that has done a lot of research on what are the best interventions from early childhood to middle school to high school. And they are prepared – and have done it all summer long – they alone have instructed over 1,000 teachers this summer in how to use programs for the students who are lacking decoding, fluency, comprehension, and very strategically based on that. And we’ve also put back in place our guidance department. And if we are going to move kids forward we also need their mental well-being. Kids do not do well in school if they’re not coming to school free of trauma, free of stress. So by having a guidance department that now is going to be training guidance counselors – our first full-day all-citywide guidance counselors meeting is going to take place in October and deal with issues that I know Danny is particularly interested in, but there’s certain things like suicide prevention, bullying, how to talk to kids that have high-stress issues. So we’re looking at this as a holistic approach. This is about dealing with all the issues that we know kids bring to school, and also making sure that we have four full parent conference days coming up dealing with some of the same issues. You found it, Alice? Good.

Brown: You can say it – it is about five percent.

Chancellor Fariña: It’s about five percent that we moved kids. And that’s a very significant number.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Say it again?

Question: What’s the percentage of students in Level One for math and English?

[Commotion]

Assemblymember Nolan: 69 percent of New York City students are Two and up. That’s a big step up. And remember, a lot of kids who are a high Two – because I’ve lived this – are a point or two based on how the top scores work – they’re really very close to or at proficiency. So, the main goals that this administration is focused on is getting those number of One’s to be a lot less. That’s a really valuable achievement, because those are kids that are struggling the most. Frankly, a lot of boys are high Two’s – I’ve lived that. And, you know, it just becomes almost educational semantics. The real good news is there are fewer Level One’s. So it’s about – when you say 70 percent of the kids are now Two and up, that’s a pretty good number.

Mayor: Now the ball comes to you. Go.

Brown: Okay. So.

Assemblymember Nolan: Sorry.

Mayor: That’s okay. We like your passion, Kathy.

Brown: We do. 33.9 are at Level One, 31.8 at Level Two – that’s the breakdown for math. And for ELA’s, 34.7 and 36.8 at Level Two.

Chancellor Fariña: And it gives us a great baseline to improve upon.

Mayor: Right. Okay. We’re now switching over – hold on – it’s been a long press conference. Let’s go to off-topic. Jonathan.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I’m wondering if we can get your thoughts on the situation in the last few days in Ferguson, Missouri? And additionally to that, you know, that incident was set off by a person being killed by a police officer – obviously, we’ve had a similar situation here with the Eric Garner case. Why do you think things have developed so differently there and here?

Mayor: Well, I think we have a very different reality here. I’m not an expert on Missouri, but we have a very different reality here obviously. We, for decades and decades, have had the tradition in this city of respecting and properly managing peaceful protest and the right of people to express themselves. And I give the NYPD a lot of credit and I give the people of this city a lot of credit. You know, there’s been many many times when people have raised their voices passionately, but the norm in this city is peaceful protest and non-violence. And the NYPD does, I think, an extraordinary job of creating a secure environment while also leaving the proper space for people to express themselves with their constitutional rights. All I can say is I don’t know the details of what’s happened in Missouri. I think it is a different situation in a number of ways, but some of the images are certainly troubling. I don’t like to see, you know, journalists under arrest. I don’t like to see situations where there’s such an intense show of force that may not be entirely necessary. But I can say safely that the way we do things here I think is the right way. There’s a tremendous respect for the democratic process, while maintaining security.

Question: Do you agree with Hillary Clinton that the civilian deaths in Gaza have to do with the fault of Hamas for sending over rockets to Israel?

Mayor: Unquestionably. The original sin here is that Hamas attacked civilians in Israel with rockets and then cynically placed their military assets in the areas of their own civilian population. And it’s disgusting that – you know, using innocent civilians as shields during military actions is absolutely inappropriate. Attacking innocent civilians wantonly – which is what the rocket attacks were meant to do – is absolutely inappropriate. Look, we all hope for a peaceful solution. There obviously is another cease-fire. I hope this one lasts and that we can get to a long-term peaceful solution. And I hope the notion that all militaries need to do all they can do to avoid civilian casualties becomes the norm all over the world, because it’s something the United States military has more and more focused on, is trying to do all it can to protect civilians, even in the middle of warfare, and we need to see that become the norm. But no, there’s no question—Hamas is the reason for this conflict.

Question: Several members of Congress today called for the federal government to get involved in the Eric Garner case, Hakeem Jeffries and Gregory Meeks. What did you make of that call for the Federal Government –

Mayor: Look, I’ve said many times, and Commissioner Bratton has as well – if the Justice Department decides to get involved, we respect that and we will cooperate fully. So that’s a decision for the Justice Department to make.

Question: Mr. Mayor, Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley wants teenagers moved out of the Rikers Island facility. There was an article today that said violence at Rikers started increasing under Bloomberg. Are there any immediate plans to move the teenagers? Have you made any progress in that specific area to get the teens out of there?

Mayor: The immediate plan is less about moving than handling them very differently. As you saw in the city budget, we’ve made very substantial investments in corrections, and in the work at Rikers Island. There has to be a very different focus on mental health because, as you know, more and more of our inmates proportionally have mental health issues, and a different approach to our younger inmates, and Commissioner Ponte is dedicated to those reforms. He is a nationally recognized reformer, and I have met with him regularly – I met with him as recently as last Friday – and our conversations about the resources that he needs, which I have said very clearly will be at his disposal, and the ability to move a program of reform quickly and energetically, which I certainly have supported. So I think the real question is what we can do to take what is a very broken situation, change the culture, change the standards, change the approach, change the focus on mental health. And we’re going to do that rapidly. What we received was an unacceptable state of affairs and we’re going to change it.

Question: I am a correspondent for a Japanese paper. You made a comment on costumed characters in Times Square a couple weeks ago, after a guy in a Spiderman costume was charged. And even last weeks, more many guys were arrested here. And just tell me more details, how the city will deal with this program?

Mayor: Sure. There’s going to be a lot of pieces to this equation, but the bottom line is, it’s not appropriate for anyone to compel one of our visitors to give them money to take a photo. It’s just not appropriate. So those who are out there, playing by the rules and treating our visitors appropriately, that’s one thing. But those who have been harassing visiting tourists, that’s not an acceptable state of affairs. NYPD and community organizations are working to improve that situation. I think you’re going to see a very different reality over the next few weeks. I have been handed a note – I have not seen former Councilmember Al Vann, where is he? Where is he? How far in the back? Al Vann, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome! Welcome and, Al, the credit where credit is due, my former colleague, I understand you made very substantial investments in your time in the Council in this school, and that’s one of the reasons for its success, so let’s give Al Vann a round of applause for that. Okay. Melissa?

Question: Mayor, the family of P.J. Avitto has filed a claim against the city [inaudible] I believe you said it was “unacceptable bureaucracy.” Does the city bear some responsibility [inaudible]?

Mayor: You know, I have not seen the specifics of the lawsuit, and I don’t intend to comment on legal actions against the city. I think the bigger picture here is, there will obviously be a whole discovery process and a lot of facts will come out in that process. But I think the big picture is, we’ve got a lot of work to do across the Housing Authority on security. This is a challenge that has been developing over decades, and we’re going to address, but I would be careful about analyzing a particular moment and a particular tragedy without a very meticulous investigation. Over there, I saw something. Go ahead.

Question: Hi Mayor, we know that you took subway to your inauguration on your first day of work, but recently there are several bed bug reports.

Mayor: There were several what?

Question: Bed bugs. Bed bugs.

Mayor: Bed bugs? That’s a new one, okay. Or that’s an old one come back, okay.

Question: Well the N train and 7 train, which has dramatically influenced the Chinese community in New York City – I wonder would you also be scared, when you’re riding the subway, to see them, or how would you respond to this problem?

Mayor: I feel very safe and secure and healthy when I ride the subway, but if there’s a particular problem in one part of our subway system, we’ll certainly work with the MTA – and obviously the MTA runs the subways – but we will work with them to try and resolve that. We want to make sure everyone’s safe. But in my own experience, things have been going well in the subways, but I’ll certainly look into that.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Louder.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Yeah, DOE is looking into that.

Chancellor Fariña: We removed the person immediately and we have an investigation ongoing.

Mayor: Okay. Thanks everyone!