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Beth Fertig

Beth Fertig is WNYC’s education reporter, and also covers city affairs. She’s been on staff with the station since 1995, and previously covered City Hall during the Giuliani administration, and the U.S. Senate campaigns of Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton. She also covered transportation and infrastructure. Beth covered education all along, but as the station’s news department grew bigger she was able to spend more time examining the city’s public schools and the reforms of the Bloomberg administration.

"If New York City’s public schools were a city, they’d be one of the ten largest cities in the United States," she says. “With over a million students and another couple of hundred thousand employees the Department of Education is a fascinating microcosm —or macrocosm. And with the federal stimulus dollars, and the Obama Administration’s interest in school reform, there is a lot happening in education right now."

Beth is a New York City native who discovered her love for journalism at her college newspaper at the University of Michigan. She also has a Masters degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. Her first job after college was as a reporter for a chain of weekly newspapers in Boston. Her boss told her she had a flair for quoting people exactly the way they spoke, so she began interning at the former Monitor Radio network to see if she would enjoy working in radio. She did and she hasn’t looked back since.

Beth is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio. She’s won many local and national awards, including the prestigious Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award for Broadcast Journalism for her series of reports on an effort to privatize some struggling city schools. She also won an Edward R. Murrow award for an investigation of a subway fire. And she’s won awards from the city's Deadline Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the New York Press Club--which gave her a special award after the 2001 terrorist attacks for a profile on the friendship of two WTC survivors. Beth was also sent on loan to public radio station KRVS in Lafayette, Louisiana in 2005 to cover the cleanup and recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.

In 2008, Beth took time off from WNYC to write her first book. It’s called "Why cant u teach me 2 read? Three Students and a Mayor Put Our Schools to the Test" and was published in the fall of 2009 by FSG Books. The book grew out of a 2006 WNYC radio series on the low graduation rate for special education students.

Beth Fertig appears in the following:

School Closings and Open Slots

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, and Clara Hemphill, senior editor at The New School's Center for New York City Affairs, talk about Thursday's vote on more school closings and the start of the elementary school selection process. 

Comments [9]

City Forges Ahead on Eliminating Teachers at 33 Schools

Monday, January 30, 2012

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city is moving ahead with plans to close and reopen 33 struggling schools even though it means replacing about half their teachers or, according to some, he's proceeding because it means replacing half the teaching staff.

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Stimulus Dollars Protected Classrooms: Fed Study

Saturday, January 28, 2012

New York and New Jersey were able to avoid big cuts to instruction in their public schools thanks to the U.S. government's stimulus spending, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 

Comments [1]

Aspire Prep Says It Should Not Be Closed Based on One Bad Year

Wednesday, January 25, 2012


To hear its principal, Steven Cobb, tell the story, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/school/587-aspire-preparatory-middle-school">Aspire Preparatory Middle School </a>experienced the perfect storm in the fall of 2010. The state made its annual math and reading tests harder to pass that year and, like most schools, Aspire did poorly. 
Then, just as the school was adjusting to meet the tougher standards, the staff was hammered, Mr. Cobb said. Eight of his 34 teachers were out sick for extended periods during the last school year. 
"I had a teacher that went out on maternity leave for seven months," he explained. "A teacher who was hospitalized for six months. Teachers with legitimate medical issues that were out for over 100 days."
In a small school with about 500 students, Mr. Cobb said having almost a quarter of his staff chronically absent was devastating. Christopher Joanis taught seventh grade last year and recalled the revolving door of substitutes.
"I was actually next door to two classes that were manned by substitutes. I would stand out, many times, having to manage that. Kids would be sent to my room if they were a little out of control in the other classes," he said.
Meanwhile, instead of immersing themselves in new strategies -- as they had planned over the summer -- teachers said they had to help the substitutes with basic lessons. As a result, when the kids were tested last spring, less than a quarter of them passed the English Language arts exam.
With those low scores, Mr. Cobb says he fully expected the F he received on his latest report card. But he didn't expect that would put him on the list of 19 schools that Department of Education officials have recommended be phased out. 
Mr. Cobb made all of those points during a public hearing Monday night on the school's fate. About 150 parents, teachers and students filled the school's auditorium and loudly cheered for the principal. 
Grace Lovaghio, a vice president of the local Community Education Council for District 11, asked, "Why bring in another school? Why not bring those resources to Aspire?"
Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm took notes throughout the hearing. She told the audience that Aspire was on the state’s list of <a href="http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/accountability/LowAchieve/2011/PersistentlyDangerous2011List.pdf">Persistently Dangerous Schools</a>. She also said its low scores put it within the bottom 10 percent of all city middle schools. 
Asked later if last year could have been a fluke because of the absent teachers, Ms. Grimm held firm.
"This is a big system," she said. "Could I find another school that had similar problems last year and the children did O.K.? I probably could."
If anything, until 2010 Aspire was considered the solution to persistent failure. It’s one of three small schools, along with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/school/588-bronx-green-middle-school">Bronx Green</a> and <a href="http://">Pelham Preparatory Academy</a>, that replaced Whelan middle school in the Northeast Bronx. 
All three schools have higher test scores than the school they replaced. Aspire earned Bs from the city until its grade fell to a C in 2010 when the state made its exams harder to pass.
This year, Mr. Cobb said his staff is already turning around the school. Nobody’s been ill. Student attendance is up. And teachers said they are now immersed in a new curriculum that gives students 20 percent more time for math and English Language Arts. 
The Panel for Educational Policy is expected to approve the city's recommendations to close the 19 schools at its Feb. 9 meeting.

To hear its principal, Steven Cobb, tell the story, Aspire Preparatory Middle School experienced the perfect storm in the fall of 2010. The state made its annual math and reading tests harder to pass that year and, like most schools, Aspire did poorly. Then, just as the school was adjusting to meet the tougher standards, the staff was hammered, Mr. Cobb said. Eight of his 34 teachers were out sick for extended periods during the last school year. 

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Parents, Teachers Organize to Save Schools

Sunday, January 22, 2012 - 02:31 PM

The campaign is heating up to stop the city from phasing out — or partially closing — 25 struggling schools. Public hearings are being held at 10 of the schools this week with Department of Education officials.

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Gingrich Singles Out City Janitors for 'Absurd' Salaries

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 11:26 AM

During the Republican Presidential primary debate Monday night in South Carolina, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich singled out janitors' salaries in New York City when he defended his call for paying poor students to work in schools.

Comments [7]

The State of NYC Education

Friday, January 13, 2012

Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and SchoolBook contributor, discusses the education proposals in Mayor Bloomberg's State of the City address.

Comments [42]

Race to the Top Grants Hit Evaluation Roadblock

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - 03:45 PM

The U.S. Department of Education is raising concerns about New York State's ability to fulfill its $700 million Race to the Top grant.

Comments [1]

Gang Intervention: Keeping Watch in City Schools

Monday, December 26, 2011 - 12:00 AM

A new report finds gang activity has been rising in East Harlem. A local non-profit is calling for multiple solutions, including an expansion of the Department of Education's Gang Prevention and Intervention Unit. The unit's director, Norbert Davidson, says his training sessions have reached hundreds of school administrators and also bring in outside agencies to help steer young people away from gangs.

Comments [1]

Scores Stagnate in NYC on National Tests

Wednesday, December 07, 2011 - 10:00 AM

New York City's public school students showed no significant gains on national exams in math and reading this year, despite showing gains in previous years.

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Students Protest as CUNY Trustees Approve Tuition Hike

Monday, November 28, 2011 - 09:30 AM

Students United for a Free CUNY said they'll hold a Manhattan demonstration and march on Monday afternoon. The demonstration is slated to begins at Madison Square Park and continue to Baruch College.

Comments [3]

Schools Chancellor Walcott Preps for His First Marathon

Saturday, November 05, 2011 - 12:00 AM

Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott will be one of the 45,000 people lacing up their sneakers on Sunday for the I.N.G. NYC Marathon. He's been getting support and advice from the city's students.

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Brownsville Parents Urge Chancellor Not to Close Their Schools

Wednesday, November 02, 2011 - 09:38 PM

With fresh concerns that the city will close three of their schools for poor performance, more than 100 parents and teachers turned out for a town meeting in the Brownsville area of Brooklyn, Wednesday night, with Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

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Cell Phones and Classrooms

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, talks about how students and parents deal with cell phone bans in school, and Willyn Webb, educator and co-author, with Lisa Nielsen, of Teaching Generation Text: Using Cell Phones to Enhance Learning describes a few ways teachers can use texting in the classroom.

Comments [40]

Boro Presidents: Parent Panels Need Better Elections

Monday, October 03, 2011 - 04:40 PM

Four of the city's five borough presidents are calling on state lawmakers to force the city Department of Education to reform its Education Council elections, following widespread confusion during this year's vote.

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SchoolBook: Buildings

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, continues the September Schoolbook series, this week focusing on the school buildings themselves.

Space is tight at city schools. Share how your school is managing overcrowding with SchoolBook.

More City Schools Get Low Marks

Friday, September 23, 2011 - 06:06 PM

Twice as many city elementary and middle schools earned D's and F's on their annual report cards this year than did last year.

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SchoolBook: Reform

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to the New York Times/WNYC project SchoolBook, looks at how the debates over reforming schools are playing out in New York City's classrooms.

Comments [9]

Brooklyn Charter School Put On Probation

Friday, September 16, 2011 - 04:40 PM

The city has put a troubled Brooklyn charter school on probation. The operators of Williamsburg Charter High School have been told to end a contract with their charter management company, the Believe Network, because they didn't get approval first from the city.

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NYC Leaving Teacher Data Reports to the State

Friday, September 16, 2011 - 12:45 PM

The city will no longer produce its controversial teacher data reports, based on student test scores. Instead, New York State will be producing that information.

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