ABSTRACT
This chapter faces both a manufactured and real crisis. For Andrew Cuomo, portraying the public schools as failing provides a rationale for breaking the public school monopoly and, like Wisconsin's Governor Scott Walker, for attacking teachers and teachers' unions. The Rochester City School District is not only not providing the figures; a district administrator sent a letter to school principals asking them to provide the names of any teachers who encourage parents or students to opt out and to report teachers who were absent on testing day. Fred Smith, who is described as a testing specialist and retired NYC public schools administrative analyst, blasts the standardized tests and the chancellor for their lack of transparency, accountability, and the way in which the scores are manipulated. Two members of the New York Alliance for Public Schools echo the concerns author have raised regarding the influence of the Bill Gates Foundation and other so-called philanthropic organizations and the privatization of public services.
