After four years of Governor Chris Christie, we are used to loud complaints about how terrible New Jersey’s schools are, how poorly they perform compared to Tennessee (Arne Duncan’s favorite), how expensive they are, how large the achievement gaps are.
Bruce Baker shows that none of this is true: New Jersey’s schools perform very well indeed, and they exceed expectations.
Baker documents what he says and concludes:
“To summarize:
“NJ schools do better than expected on NAEP given statewide poverty rates, ranking among the highest states.
“NJ schools have gained more on NAEP than nearly all other states (when correcting for starting point)
“NJ’s 8th grade achievement gaps are relatively average (when correcting for income gaps). The only NJ achievement gap that is greater than average is grade 8 reading.
“NJ’s 4th grade achievement gaps are among the smallest among states (when correcting for income gaps)
“So congratulations, NJ… you’re doin’ pretty well. That’s not to say by any stretch of the imagination that we should be complacent. We’ve still got Massachusetts to catch up to in most cases. They, not Tennessee or Louisiana are giving us a run for our money. And as I pointed out in my most recent post, we need to give serious consideration to reinvesting in our neediest communities. Prior investments (including early childhood programs) may provide partial explanation for why our fourth grade achievement gaps are so relatively small. But we’ve backed off substantially on funding fairness in recent years, the consequences of which are yet to be measured.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The dishonesty of the so-called reformers is just off the charts, and so is their contempt for the intelligence of the public.
They seem to think they can continue to attack the public schools as failing, yet avoid their own responsibility for that. They want it both ways:to attack the “status quo,” while evading the fact that they are they and their policies are status quo.
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Well said, Michael.
The “reform” narrative is so false, even my students can see through their propaganda.
“…they and there policies are the status quo.”
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Correction: “their”
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“But we’ve backed off substantially on funding fairness in recent years, the consequences of which are yet to be measured.”
That day is surely coming…since the NJ BOE has compounded the future issues with bad regulatory policies, but why should NJ be left out of the destruction of public education that is “sweeping the nation?”
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