Gorman trashing CMS? Not really

Updated 6:30 p.m. -- first of all, here's a link to the transcript that's easier to scan than hours of video.

A report on WBT radio about former Superintendent Peter Gorman's comments at an education conference got some buzz over the weekend,  as people circulated the audio clip with their own commentary.  By the time it was filtered through County Commissioner Bill James,  Gorman was calling board members crazy and describing Bright Beginnings prekindergarten as  "the worst."

Neither is true.  Jeff Sonier,  the reporter who did the WBT report,  was kind enough to forward me the full video links to a Sept.  27 Hamilton Project conference on  "Promoting K-12 Education to Advance Student Achievement,"  which featured Gorman as a panelist.  What I saw was hardly Gorman Gone Wild.  Instead,  it was a long,  nuanced discussion of education reform,  most of which will sound familiar to anyone who heard Gorman speak during his five-year stint in Charlotte.

There is one surprise,  which Sonier correctly reported:  Gorman tells the panel that CMS research found that  "the worst after-school program you could be involved with in Charlotte was the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools after-school program;  the quality was just so poor."  (It's at about the one-hour mark in the video of the first session,  on "The Power and Pitfalls of Incentives in Education.")

That was news to me. On June 28, shortly after Gorman resigned, the staff gave a routine update on the after-school enrichment program to the board; the PowerPoint gives no hint of quality problems. I know where to look for some research reports that don't get much public airing,  but I found nothing evaluating after-school.  CMS spokeswoman LaTarzja Henry said this morning that officials have been looking for such a report since WBT asked last week:  "We have been unable to locate any research that suggests that."  I emailed a public-relations staffer at News Corp.,  Gorman's new employer,  asking that Gorman point me to the research and/or clarify his comments.  I got nothing but a prompt  "no comment."

New: At day's end, spokeswoman Tahira Stalberte says CMS officials believe Gorman was talking about a report on after-school tutoring, not the after-school program. But she said Gorman himself has not made that clear to CMS, and neither the report nor anyone who can talk about it will be available until tomorrow. Here's a story on the after-school question.

The after-school program serves school-age students.  Gorman did not discuss the quality of Bright Beginnings,  which provides full-day education to 4-year-olds whose skills put them at risk of falling behind in kindergarten.  The cost of that program has been controversial,  and James has been critical of spending county money on pre-K.

As for school board "craziness,"  it's no secret to CMS-watchers that Gorman had his clashes and frustrations with board members.  But the video doesn't show him  "poking fun at his former bosses,"  as Sonier's WBT clip indicates.  Gorman introduces the after-school comment by praising the board for being willing to spend money on research and evaluation,  even during a budget crunch.  During the second session,  on start times, grade configurations and teacher assignments,  Gorman does make the quoted remark that "there's a huge disconnect with what goes on at a school board meeting and what goes on in a school,"  and that  "I often viewed my job ... as to protect our staff from the craziness that goes on at a board meeting"  (all this is at about the 35-minute mark).  But he prefaces that comment by saying  "I enjoyed the board I worked for,"  and follows up by talking about the unlimited number of public comments that open many meetings.  "You might as well say,  'Why don't we try to get as many people to come and try to take us off target as possible,' "  he says.

In a third panel on "New Assessments for Improved Accountability,"  Gorman talks about how the current teacher evaluation system overstates the number who are successful  --  a theme he sounded for at least a couple of years in CMS, as he pushed to change the way teachers are evaluated and paid.

Sonier and WBT are right about one big point:  Gorman has refused to speak to local media about CMS since the June day he handed in his resignation,  and that does lead people to wonder what was on his mind when he left.  For those with time,   the Hamilton Project discussion provides some intriguing insights on what he thinks about incentives for students and teachers,  starting schools later and making performance pay work.  But it's hardly throwing CMS under the bus, as the Pundit House blog labeled it.

With the exception of the after-school comment  (I'll report more on that if and when I can find the research he's talking about), Gorman struck me as positive about CMS.  If anything,  he erred on the side of optimism.  For instance,  he talks about closing  "large, low-performing middle schools"  and sending the students to K-8 schools.  "We didn't then put the children in low-performing elementary schools,"  he says.  I suppose that depends on how you define "low-performing,"  but some of the elementaries that added grades 6-8 logged among the district's lowest scores in reading, math and science in 2011.  When I asked Gorman about that issue before he left,  he said was pinning his hopes on principals' plans to reverse that kind of performance.