1. Deceptive reports on graduation rates - under Klein, the DOE issues highly suspect annual graduation reports; even the State Education Department does not believe the DOE's data. Students who drop out are often masqueraded as "discharges," a process which essentially removes them from the official records.

2. Wasteful spending - under Klein, the DOE has spent countless millions on no-bid contracts, including $80 million to IBM for a computer data storage and retrieval system that replicates one the state is developing. Outside consultants, many of whom know nothing about education or school systems, have also benefited from this profligate spending.

3. Bloated bureaucracy - under Klein, the number of DOE employees at Tweed headquarters has increased 28%, from 1,832 in 2003 to 2,337 in 2008. When school opened in September, 18 DOE executives were making more than $190,000 a year. Despite the increase, fewer employees are educators as Klein prefers business managers and lawyers to execute a model of education that focuses on outputs (i.e., test scores) and ignores the complexities of teaching and learning.

4. Harmful high-stakes testing - despite the decades of research that points to the harm of holding children back a grade, Klein and Bloomberg have made the state ELA and math tests high-stakes for 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 8th grades.

5. Flat test scores - despite all the money and energy focused on raising test scores, the NAEP test scores for New York City have stagnated during the Klein years, with no gains in 4th and 8th grade reading or 8th grade math.

6. Harmful and flawed school progress reports - this year, Klein gave every NYC school a single letter grade to rate its progress. Not only were the grades simplistic and demoralizing, they were wildly inaccurate with some persistently violent and failing schools receiving As, and some highly successful and sought-after schools receiving Ds and Fs.

7. Faulty periodic assessments - in his zeal to collect data, Klein has mandated periodic assessments every 6-8 weeks. Last year's tests, developed by Princeton Review and NWEA, were a fiasco - schools complained that the tests were unaligned with their curricula and took up valuable teaching time, and that test results were late and inaccurate. This year, McGraw-Hill received an $80 million contract to develop the periodic assessments, yet schools say the results are just as problematic.

8. Disruptive and pointless reorganizations - the chancellor has completely overhauled the school system twice, leaving schools adrift and confused as to where to find necessary support and services.