Q&A
Discussion on assessment of health and sex education programs
1:20:21
·
4 min
Council Member Eric Dinowitz engages in a discussion with Despina Zaharakis about the assessment of health and sex education programs in NYC public schools. Dinowitz expresses concern about the lack of comprehensive assessment data for these programs and questions the DOE's ability to measure their quality and impact.
- Dinowitz highlights the importance of assessing the quality of health and sex education programs beyond just their existence
- Zaharakis acknowledges that while there is some data from surveys like YRBS, there is no centralized assessment for individual students or schools
- The conversation reveals a gap in the DOE's ability to measure the effectiveness of health and sex education programs across all schools
Eric Dinowitz
1:20:21
Thank you, chairs.
1:20:23
Well, first, I just have to say I couldn't agree more with what you said about our high stakes tests driving everything and every decision principles, unfortunately, I think are forced to make.
1:20:35
So many of, their incentives are based on these very narrow tests, and, unfortunately, important issues like health and sex education are are left by the wayside.
1:20:45
What assessment data?
1:20:46
We've talked a lot about training, number of teachers with licenses on sort of the front and on the back end.
1:20:53
Are you assessing every single child to ensure their competency in health and sex education?
Despina Zaharakis
1:21:00
There is no assessment that we can implement centrally to you know, it's it's a course.
1:21:07
So I is that what you were asking?
Eric Dinowitz
1:21:10
That's assessments.
1:21:11
Right?
1:21:11
Whether it's a portfolio, some sort of assessment to demonstrate what students have learned.
1:21:18
That's the purpose of an assessment.
Despina Zaharakis
1:21:20
Yep.
1:21:20
That would be the course that is offered to to the students and what that instruction, you know, that teacher has put in place for that course.
Eric Dinowitz
1:21:28
Right.
1:21:28
But the existence of a course doesn't mean it's a quality course.
1:21:33
The existence of a curriculum doesn't mean it's being implemented well, and that's the purpose of assessments to see in one one purpose, to see what the students our students are learning.
1:21:45
And so is there any assessment data available for the impact related to the impact of these courses on our children?
Despina Zaharakis
1:21:52
We don't have an assessment, an assessment itself, to assess children.
Eric Dinowitz
1:21:57
How do you assess the quality of the programs?
Despina Zaharakis
1:22:02
We can't assess the quality.
1:22:04
What we can do is ensure that we are training teachers to provide quality health education, just like, you know, we can't externally assess the quality of any instruction that's happening at an individual school, except for where there are standardized tests to test the children.
1:22:23
You know, we don't know the quality of an arts program or anything else.
Eric Dinowitz
1:22:27
I I mean, in in your report here that you've shared with us, you share some, quantitative analysis.
1:22:34
So they exist.
1:22:37
I mean I mean, they're they're here.
1:22:38
It says, 54% more middle school students reported recent condom use.
1:22:43
6% fewer high school students, report lifetime sexual activity for school wellness council funding.
1:22:50
3% more middle school students reported recent condom use when it's the health teacher consist so so there there is data.
1:22:56
There is assessment data, and so that's what I'm asking about.
1:22:59
So you have some here.
Despina Zaharakis
1:23:02
So yeah.
1:23:03
So there's assessment data like the YRBS, the youth risk behavior survey, right, that is administered to high school students.
Eric Dinowitz
1:23:11
To all high school students?
Despina Zaharakis
1:23:13
Sorry?
1:23:13
To
Eric Dinowitz
1:23:13
all high school students?
Despina Zaharakis
1:23:14
No.
1:23:15
It's a subset chosen of schools chosen, I believe, by the CDC and the Department of Health.
1:23:22
Every But
Eric Dinowitz
1:23:23
you as the DOE have the power to or the ability to assess individual schools to see the impact of their health education curriculum.
Despina Zaharakis
1:23:31
This is all anonymous.
1:23:33
Right.
1:23:33
And these are researchers.
1:23:35
Like, we've
Eric Dinowitz
1:23:35
So is attendance data and so is Regent's data on school report cards, but the assessments are still done.
1:23:41
What is, what's in the law that's preventing you from assessing the schools on the impact of their of of the quality of their education?
Despina Zaharakis
1:23:51
Assessing the schools on the quality of so that you know, I need to think about that in terms of because we're you know, we don't departments don't assess the teachers.
1:24:04
Principles assess teachers.
1:24:05
Right?
1:24:06
The ins the instructional quality and outcome.
Eric Dinowitz
1:24:09
Alright.
1:24:09
I I I'd love to to follow-up further on this because this is a very important topic, and we wanna make sure that our kids are are learning these things in school and that there's demonstrable results from this.
1:24:22
2 other questions.
