New Jersey has announced the schools that are targeted for aggressive intervention.
It will not surprise readers of this blog to learn that most of these schools serve children of color and children of poverty. Many, most or all of these schools will be closed. If Governor Christie has his way, many new charters will open to replace public schools.
According to the Education Law Center of New Jersey:
In early April, NJDOE released the list of schools in the new classifications. An ELC analysis of the list shows:
- 75 schools are classified as Priority Schools based on low scores on state standardized tests; 97% of the students attending these schools are Black and Latino, 81% are poor, and 7% are English language learners.
- 183 schools are classified as Focus Schools based on low graduation rates or large gaps on state tests; 72% of the students in these schools are black and Hispanic, 63% are poor, and 10% are English language learners.
- 112 schools are classified as Reward Schools based on high achievement or high levels of growth on state tests; 20% of the students in these schools are black and Hispanic, 15% are poor, and 2% are English language learners.
Priority Schools – those potentially targeted for closing – are almost all Black and Latino, very poor, with many students who do not speak English as a first language. The student mobility rate in Priority Schools is a staggering 24%. These schools are located in some of the poorest communities in the state.
Reward Schools – those receiving financial bonuses – are clustered in the highest wealth districts in the state and serve a small percentage of Black and Latino students. These schools also have low poverty rates, few English language learners and little student mobility. Many of the Reward Schools are magnet high schools and vocational schools with highly selective admissions.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This question stems from my ignorance about charter schools as, thankfully (for now), these are not in my state:
If schools are closed so that students are required (and this may not be the correct word) to attend a charter, but charter enrollment is by lottery–how is this possible? If a student isn’t chosen via lottery, where do they go?
Or is the expectation that a closed school, in essence, becomes a charter school? If this is the case, how will this be better? Same students, I would suspect, but different staff? Is this a work-around to across-the-board mass firings?
Any enlightenment from those in the know would be greatly appreciated.
And, I will continue to pray that our legislators continue to beat this animal down.
when a school is unable to raise its scores for five straight years, it may be closed, it may by “turned around” (fire the staff), it may be turned into a charter.
No one is forced to enter a lottery for a charter.
Charters are supposed to accept everyone, but in practice the lottery acts as a screening device, as the least functional families never apply, and the charters tend to end up with small numbers of special ed and ELL.
As regular schools close, charters open. Sometimes charters open without any school closing, and they skim off the most motivated students,which weakens the public school.
Will the outcome of these supposed reforms be any different than “separate but equal” wherein the poor minority students receive a totally inferior education? Speaking of lawsuits, how about for inequitable funding?
From nj.com 2011:
NJ education commissioner, Christopher Cerf, has experience in public-private school partnerships. He previously led Edison Schools, a for-profit company that became the largest private-sector manager of public schools. Cerf left the company, now called EdisonLearning, in 2005.
Christie is also connected to for-profit education companies, including Cerf’s.
From 1999 to 2001, Christie was a registered lobbyist at a law firm that lobbied New Jersey government on behalf of Edison Schools, according to filings with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission. While the firm was representing the multinational education company, Chris Cerf was its general counsel.
The firm, Dughi, Hewit and Palatucci, also represented Mosaica Education, a for-profit charter school operator, and the University of Phoenix, a for-profit online university. At the time, the firm listed two lobbyists, Christie and William Palatucci, a longtime political ally of the governor who is a named partner in the firm.
[snip]
Since Christie’s campaign for governor two years ago, he has criticized the state of urban education in New Jersey, saying public schools and teacher unions have perpetuated a failing system.
Angel Cordero, who helped create the Community Education Resource Network, an alternative school for dropouts, applauded the plan for public-private schools.
“It’s time we think out of the box and break up the monopoly” of the teachers unions, he said. “This is the perfect storm right now. People are ready.”
Perfect storm, indeed.
Diane: Copied, adapted, and sent this posting to Republican legislators in Washington state and to congressional aides in D.C. That’s for the data.
New Jersey public schools have become the brunt of political snips because Gov. Christie takes every opportunity to say how our schools are failing. There is some information that is conveniently missing in the Governor’s public tirades. The urban districts, where, there is rampant poverty, high numbers of ESL families and extremely high unemployment are never mentioned. It is more convenient to say schools are failing, when in fact the number of schools that meet or exceed expectations outnumbers the “failing” schools. What is more disappointing is that the Governor attended and graduated from one of NJ’s highest ranked public school systems.
A deep concern is how the language for the NJ reward system creates a paradigm that will not allow districts not already ranked as reward schools to actually qualify for rewards. This is hidden deep within the vast ESEA Flexibility Waiver Request.
What they really need to do is get rid of whole language failing instructional methods in these schools and actually TEACH kids to read. They don’t want to hear that though. These kids are being set up to fail. It’s easier to blame it all on the ESL and the Special Ed. population I suppose. Any administrator in ANY of these NJ schools should be ashamed of himself/herself for supporting failing instructional methods. Shame on all of them! Shame on Christie for being such an ignoramus! These are children’s futures at stake and no one seems to give a damn. The illiteracy rate in this country is sky-high and none of these idiots care.
Diane Ravitch……please do something!
I think we all need to give Chris Christie a standardized test in Chinese and see how well he does.
Whole Language High Jinks (PLEASE READ)
Click to access Moats2007.pdf
Is it that they’re so scared of educating minority and immigrant children? This is truly the dumbing down of America. These politicians and money people will do anything to keep minorities down and out. They are doing it through failed instructional methods (whole language) in urban classrooms across this country. Do your research. You’ll see I’m right.
If you ask me, I’d say we have a failing governor in New Jersey.
It’s time for some real “aggressive intervention” on all of our parts. This is happening in too many urban school districts across our country. It’s time to speak up and let the truth be known. Teachers: PUT YOUR SCRIPTED PROGRAMS DOWN! They are an insult to educators nation-wide! Administrators: STOP SUPPORTING THESE FAILED TEACHING METHODS! Parents: EDUCATE YOURSELVES AS TO WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS! Diane Ravitch: PLEASE DO SOMETHING!!!
Well, it certinly does its best to encourage teachers to move to wealthier communities–at least if money and ease matter in selecting jobs. And if not….?