Progress Report
Carvalho Edition
This is a Carvalho progress report, so it's going to be short.
I know I'm in the middle of a DeSantis philippic (that one's for you, Dr. Nelson), but everybody's doing a one-year anniversary review for LAUSD Superintendent and world-class suit wearer Alberto Carvalho so I thought I'd add my two cents.
To be clear, Carvalho is not DeSantis. DeSantis is a fascist with big dreams of political power and white supremacy. Carvalho is what he's always been: a corporate functionary that loves the limelight. He's a luxury-box CEO with a head full of slogans who always knows where the camera is.
Carvalho and DeSantis are both "my way/highway" guys of course, but Carvalho is a traditionalist, even though he may think of himself as an innovative disruptor. He's fond of pre-packaged commercially-available gimmicks--We'll take some of that readin' science!--a technology true believer and data disciple.
Carvalho is steeped in education reformster (h/t Peter Greene) patter--the jargon is strong in this one--and has got a slogan to suit any occasion. "Ready for the world!" "Not skill set, but will set." "The impossible becomes the inevitable." And of course, in an "inspired and inspirational" turn of phrase: "One size fits none," aka School Choice! Choice! Choice! .
Carvalho's policies predictably align with the reformster set of preferred outcomes -- bust the union, public funds for private entities. (Note: Carvalho talks endlessly about "equity," and has been featured on a panel at the U.S. DOE's "Equity Summit Series" alongside fanboy Pedro Noguera, dean, USC Rossier School of Education. Yet, Carvalho seems uninterested or oblivious to the fact that school choice actually increases segregation.)
The two aspiring strongmen butted heads when Carvalho was still in Miami-Dade when they tangled over masks and testing. Carvalho also fought with the governor, appearing to side with teachers. But did he?
In between jobs, Carvalho spoke with A Martinez at NPR where he was asked about the testing dust-up with the governor:
What I'm asking for is let's not use the test results in a punitive way that will influence the evaluation of teachers or the designation of school grades. Why?
Good question. Carvalho's a savvy operator and often boasts about getting rid of "F schools" in Miami-Dade, as he did in the middle of his goodbye letter to district parents reported by CBS Miami: "We have eliminated F schools and have been recognized as an "A" rated school district for three consecutive years."
Could his pushback against testing have had more to do with protecting his record than caring for teachers? Asking for about 30,000 friends.
Carvalho has been in the L.A. job for 367 368 days since giving the the City of Angels the gift of his presence officially on Valentine's Day 2022. He's presumably taking a little time to get his west-coast legs after bolting the shithole of FloriDeSantis, as his accomplishments have been fanciful. Howard Blume listed them in an L.A. Times article earlier this week:
- Began a school-by-school data review process so principals know exactly where students stand.
- Added costly academic “acceleration days” to the calendar to give students a chance to boost grades and fill learning gaps. Critics called the first two days a failure, but not Carvalho, who intends to roll out an improved version during spring break.
- Rebooted tutoring after dismal participation in prior years.
- Filled teacher vacancies temporarily with former teachers who’d been promoted to nonclassroom positions.
- Sped up projects to add air conditioning and heating to work spaces in cafeterias and kitchens.
Late last year, [Carvalho] announced that the district would be using artificial intelligence to create acceleration plans for every student, based on data such as math and English proficiency and attendance. These individual reports would create recommended learning strategies that could be powerful tools to help guide students.
"High school students will see at a glance if they are on track to graduate, Carvalho said. “But the beauty about this IAP is that there is a series of recommended actions."
What a riot. Does this guy really think nobody's thought of that? For ten years, as I worked next door to his office, I watched the counselor at my school keep one of these plans for every one of five hundred-plus kids starting in middle school. He met with them. He met with their parents. He included "recommended actions."
This is just magical thinking rooted in ego. Believing that putting together
"a document which will live on the website that can be printed — easy to understand, written at a fifth-grade reading level"
and which
"would include steps such as signing up for tutoring, acceleration days and after-school programming and working online “at your own pace from home.” The reports also are to include activities and Parent Academy classes for parents to support their students.
will somehow have everybody going to tutoring and graduating is not just simplistic and egotistic and lazy. It shows that you have no idea what actually happens in the schools you're in charge of.
Oh, it's your special plan. And it has computers. Well then, I guess when you connect it to the mentoring you can't staff and the tutoring company you can't afford, and the late buses you can't spare, it should work out okay.
I hear the familiar refrain of "Fuck the teachers; let them figure it out." I'm wondering what it would look like to have a computer program access every "strategy" and every "material" on the planet and put together a unique sequence and pacing plan for each of the 170 students I had in my last in-person year. Or do I just get the individual files and recommendations and figure out the lesson plans--thirty of them per class--myself? We need less artificial intelligence around here and more of the real kind.
I also hear "Tell me you don't understand teaching without telling me you don't understand teaching." Predictably, I also hear the giant sucking sound of district dollars being diverted to some very lucky, well-connected companies. Am I wrong to be so cynical? I may be cynical, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
All in all, this is perhaps not as ambitious a first year as we were led to expect.
When he got the gig back in December of '21, he did it with a unanimous vote of the board and riding a wave of puffery from fans with stars in their eyes:
Excited about the vision of new LA superintendent AlbertoCarvalho. He is bringing new energy to move this district forward. pic.twitter.com/c5hqBGxbg6
— Pedro Noguera (@PedroANoguera) March 9, 2022
What followed was a public relations blitz, a "whirlwind tour" where he "repeatedly pledged that more high-quality schooling would be nurtured into reality because, he said, more is urgently needed." Imagine going to sleep at night believing all your students were going to do their homework because they "needed" to. Magic.
Anyway, during his coronation and first 100 days during the development of his strategic plan, Carvalho made oodles and oodles of promises. When you listen to Carvalho talk himself up, except for his personal story which he has told so often it feels flat and rote, he sounds like a carnival barker as he bloviates about all the things he's done and everything he's going to do. It's part campaign stump speech and part sales pitch.
"sweet spot of progress"
"putting our collective shoulder to this important boulder"
green spaces, college-readiness, social emotional, eliminating racism, identifying environmental threats and addressing them through a lense of equity
But even when he puts it in writing, like with the 100-Day Plan he released in February 2022, it sounds a bit like being sold a used car. Hint: The plan contains lots of promises.
The Super followed up with his 2022-2026 Strategic Plan to get every student "Ready for the World." To say Carvalho's "Strategic Plan" may have overpromised is a massive understatement. It mostly looks like advertising for a timeshare company or, as I'm now familiar with, a Medicare Advantage plan. I saw virtually nothing about HOW he and his team propose to achieve these goals. And without "employees" and "labor partners" (don't say teachers unless you're discussing evaluation), I don't see how he'll accomplish any of it. At least he gave himself four years.This car is fast, and it will never give you a bit of trouble.
If it doesn't work, I'm sure he'll find someone to blame.
A couple last things and we'll get out of here. A lot of the self-promotion and overpromising is just ego. Now, a lot of bosses like to pretend they don't make mistakes, but faking the number of students at "Acceleration Days" and withholding the truth about the data breach are important indicators and not good ones.
There are also little things. I'm just saying that it's an open question why the "core beliefs" swapped out empowerment (2.2022) for collaboration today (irony?).
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Whatever. I'm sure it has nothing to do with collaborating with teachers.
And the Blume article that got me started on all this had the following headline in print:
When it comes to Year One of the Carvalho Common Era, everybody's got a take. The Daily Breeze in the South Bay asks the right question the right way with "One year in, LAUSD’s Carvalho has made many promises, what about results?" Yahoo got into the act with "Carvalho's first report card as LAUSD superintendent: a few stumbles, but he can do better."
Howard Blume got me started thinking with his Los Angeles Times requisite front-pager on the Super. It's a pretty good job and the headline is was a gem. Anyway,
My sense is that. like every school superintendent ever, Carvalho's tenure--no matter how long it lasts--will be judged by how he manages his workforce. Teachers and support staff are looking for a bargaining partner, not a bully, and if the Super thinks he can strong-arm staff or ignore them, maybe he should talk to his predecessors. If he can find them.
Carvalho's own Strategic Plan, though it mostly ignores teachers except regarding evaluations, does contain the following:
"The ambitious goals we have set for ourselves and for our students require a clear focus on the recruitment, development, and retention of talented and dedicated staff."
Like much of management throughout the galaxy, Carvalho regards labor as the enemy, an impediment to his agenda, an obstacle that stands in the way of his vision. But as far as I can tell, he has a bunch of big ideas without much of a clue how to accomplish them. He's going to need help beyond programs, partnerships, and publicity. He's going to need teachers whether he likes it or not, whether he likes them or not.
Carvalho needs to stop posturing and get to work. Why?
In his own words, from his "Opening of Schools Address" last August:
"Because our students cannot wait. Our society cannot wait. The world cannot wait."
Well, we're waiting.
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