In this superb article in the New York Times, David Kirp shows how the public schools of Union City, New Jersey,succeeded despite all the obstacles of poverty.
The article summarizes his fine book “Improbable Scholars.”
Union City created excellent schools without charters and without Teach for America. And without Cory Booker or Mark Zuckerberg.
Let’s celebrate the good work of the teachers and principals of Union City!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Uh oh…Union City is going to be in big trouble. Bill Gates, Mike Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch, Eli Broad and the Walton family will be pointing their very rich guns at you. No TFA? No Michelle Rhee? No breaking of the teachers union? OH MY GOD! What a mess. How is any of this possible?
Oh, this will now make Union City a target for those looking to get cheap real estate, and make this the next Red Hook.
FIRE DUNCAN! Hire Ravitch!
I’m certain the government will find something bad here since progress is being acheived without corporate intervention.
Watch out for a drone strike!
Actually, although the sardonic, ironic tone of your excellent comment, is quite obvious—and funny—you actually DO raise a legitimate concern that the families, students and teachers of Union City must take seriously.
Union City is closer to midtown Manhattan than Brooklyn Heights. It’s very, very accessible to the corporate headquarters of most major media corporations and home to the world’s financial elite.
Why WOULDN’T they want to “smother the baby while she’s still in her crib”? This is a much more convenient location than if this same story was being played out somewhere in Indiana or Michigan.
Union City is a stone’s throw from so many of the members of the “Privatizer Mafia”—from Rupert Murdoch and his well-compensated shill, Joel Klein, to Billionaire and Public School Enemy, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, to Chris Christie, who, sitting in the most powerful governor’s office in the country, could do great damage to the Union City schools if he so desired.
And why wouldn’t Christie—and these others do so? If the Union City schools continue to succeed, they’ll become a model for all public schools everywhere; one that will directly contradict the heart of their specious narrative about the supposed “epidemic of failing schools” which can’t possibly be “saved” without turning it over, in part or whole, to private ownership and/or management.
Quite literally, the so-called “education reformers”, A.K.A, The Privatizer Mafia, CAN’T AFFORD the success of Union City’s schools, particularly if they’re among the faction of privatizers that IS “in it for the money”, as opposed to their more ideological funders, who already have “the money”; now they’re just obsessed with the power, and the control.
All of us need to watch this closely, keeping our eye on the ball, and jointly act like watchdogs, eagles, or a hive of vigilent, pro-active bees—ready to defend the hive where so many dwell. Otherwise, we could likely wake up one day to find Union City’s schools “taken over for the good of the children”—soon coming to OUR neighborhood as well.
Another way to think about Union City is to congratulate them. Then, Union City could serve as a demonstration that despite a variety of problems, it is possible for district public schools, with strong early childhood programs to make considerable progress, despite societal problems.
Some of what I read on this website is that public schools can not do this. When Cincinnati eliminated the high school graduation gap between white and African students, and maintained that, not many other districts came there to learn. Perhaps, given the blessing from Kirp and Ravitch, there will be many who visit Union City and learn from it.
Hope so.
I am going to bet that because this Union City success was done without TFA, charter schools, firing teachers, teacher evaluations tied to test scores, etc., the usual ed reform suspects will ignore the story and continue their corporate education reform drivel.
Like Dr. John King lecturing the U.S. Senate on the importance of Washington imposing test-based teacher evaluations on the rest of the country.
Because Dr. King, with his two years of teaching experience and his two years running a charter school with a large attrition rate, knows what’s best for the country.
While HIS kids attend private school and face limited or no testing nonsense.
THIS is what should come to mind when one hears the words “education reform.” Results without predatory capitalism, false idols, and the Emperor with his new clothes.
Pre-order Kirp’s book here:
http://www.amazon.com/Improbable-Scholars-American-Strategy-Americas/dp/0199987491/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360511431&sr=1-1&keywords=improbable+scholars
Hmm . . . no mention of “21st Century skills”, “digital learning”, iPads, smartboards, or RISC. Instead, the focus is on development of a strong educational ethos and the seven great virtues (justice, temperance, wisdom, courage, faith, hope, and charity).
And yet they succeed!
Clearly, this is a model to stamped out by the Gateses, Bushes, Duncans, and ALECs of the world.
My district was charting a similar course of self-improvement, but It’s been more difficult since NCLB, RTTT, APPR, CCSS, federal/state aid cuts, and tax caps came along.
Sorry for hogging this post. From Cloaking Inequity:
On February 27 I will be in New York City to give a lecture entitled “Accountability: What Was, Is, and Could Be” at New York University in Pless Hall Rm. 634 from 3:30-5. I will discuss the birth of accountability, then a concise of mixed method research on the efficacy of the current form of accountability and conclude with a discussion of Community-Based Accountability.
http://cloakinginequity.com/2013/02/10/accountability-lecture-julian-vasquez-heilig-nyu-feb-27/
SO, the teachers were allowed to figure out what was needed and allowed to teach it while still following goals and objectives. WHAT A RADICAL IDEA. Pearson won’t like it and will try to find a way they don’t follow CORE Curriculum. One of the key elements is they have helped the students and parents buy into the programs. With out this any program is doomed to fail. They see the schools as relevant to their education.
Good job, Union City.
Already shared this with my network.
Every person I have met who has turned around a poor performing school has had the same plan. It is just this plan outlined in the N.Y. Times article on Union City. My friend Richard Arthur working with the superintendent in 1970 Marcus Foster turned around the most violent and criminal high school in the U.S. at the time Castlemont High School. They had gunfights all the time on campus and the principal previous to Richard was gunned down in their office. After Richard took over no more fights of any kind. Over 50% dropout to almost zero and 5-65% to college in 4 years. Then the SLA assinated Marcus Foster and tried to kill Richard twice. Richard had a family and he moved back to the L.A. area where he helped to found Whitney High School which is one of the highest performing public high schools in the U.S. for over 25 years. Richard is still alive.
Why doesn’t anyone want to replicate these real victories by properly dealing with our youth? What do they really have in mind?
Congratulations to the educators, students and families in Union City.
So glad to hear about a group of district school educators who acknowledge the positive impact they can have, along with strong funding for early childhood education. Glad many other district educators agree that these results are possible elsewhere.
These results are more than possible. This happens everyday in many public schools throughout our country.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t fit the privatizers agenda.
Condoleezza and Joel are concerned about national security and all…sowing the seeds of fear, uncertainty and doubt helps further their cause, which has nothing to do with improving teaching and learning for all children.
Congratulations to all our successful educators, parents, children and their schools.
Whether it’s Brockton High, IS 318, or Union City, it’s always nice to see a successful traditional district / district school celebrated.
Mr. Kirp’s op-ed omits several things that are interesting, however. Union City High School was created by consolidating two high schools. It also sounds like the high school’s principal has created a “no excuses” culture. And a top-level glance shows that the district has seemingly managed to provide children with resources and relatively small class sizes by keeping teacher salaries low. Of the 105 K-12 districts in NJ with more than 3,500 students, overall Union City spends the 4th most per student, but it ranks 88th in media teacher salary.
Tim, what is the median teacher salary in NJ and in Union City? Also, what accounts for the much higher than average spending/student? Extra $ from the state? Other?
Joe, yes, Union City is one of 31 districts in NJ, formerly known as “Abbott districts,” that receive extra funding from the state. You can read more about their history and the levels of funding here: http://www.politifact.com/new-jersey/statements/2011/dec/01/chris-christie/Chris-Christie-claims-31-former-Abbott-districts-r/
I did a little more digging on salaries and found a more recent version of the report I cited in my first post. Between 2009 and 2010, the median teacher salary in Union City grew by 14%, and it is now much closer to the state median, $59,750 to $60,006. It is still far below the median salary in many nearby districts, not just wealthy ones but also some other Abbott districts.
Union City does appear to be an outlier in terms of how much it spends on support services per child (2nd most in the state, behind only Newark, at almost twice the state median) and on operations/facilities (third-highest in the state). But many of the other Abbott districts spend similarly and perform dismally.
I suspect that Union City’s success has to do with a combination of what Kirp’s op-ed focuses on — an emphasis on early childhood, ample funding, and strong leadership — and plenty of buy-in from the community with respect to a ‘no excuses’ model.
This guy “gets it”. I’m nominating him for the Professorial Education/Public Policy Hall of Fame. The book and article should be required reading for everyone in education. The review was music to my ears.
This was how we changed the culture of my first teaching assignment in Washington, DC. In 1992, we were awarded the Department of ED Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. I never thought I’d be nostalgic for the good old days. But all things considered, I am.
The most salient points and how we did it:
Learning by doing replaced learning by rote.
Teachers were urged to work together.
Principals and AP’s become educational leaders, not just disciplinarians and paper-shufflers.
Sometimes the best way, is the old way.