Chris Christie Promises to Open More Charters

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1. drext727 says:

   March 8, 2016 at 2:04 pm

   Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
   Christie is real special. May Trump will select him as Secretary of Dry Erase Boards and bury him in a basement somewhere.

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   • Ellen Lubic says:

     March 8, 2016 at 9:52 pm

     Christie is angling for the job of VP under Dictator President Trump.

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     • drext727 says:

       March 8, 2016 at 9:58 pm

       Agreed. That’s why I suggested a basement or closet to hide him in that doesn’t lead to being president.

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     • ciedie aech says:

       March 9, 2016 at 1:05 pm

       Aghhhhhgh.

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2. Chiara says:

   March 8, 2016 at 2:08 pm

   Another ed reform “rock star” revealed to be a complete fraud.

   I read Bobby Jindal left that state’s education system in shambles with bogus bookkeeping that made him a national celebrity but left the people of his state with a huge problem. The same is true in Pennsylvania.

   Why do states run by ed reformers end up disasters as far as “public education”?

   I”m still waiting for one of these bold leaders to “improve public education” and it’s been 15 years. If “improve public education” means testing, opening charter schools and handing out vouchers maybe we can admit that now?

   When do we get to the part about improving public schools? Most people don’t consider cutting funding “improving”.

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3. Chiara says:

   March 8, 2016 at 2:12 pm

   Since I know all the professional politicos will be running from Chris Christie now, here’s a reminder of how much ed reformers revered Donald Trump’s right hand man just a few short years ago:

   “New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie on Wednesday declared himself an ally of President Obama and his administration on education issues.
   Speaking at the governor’s mansion, known as Drumthwacket, after private talks with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Christie said he and Duncan “have a lot in common … in the education reform agenda.”
   “He has been a great ally to try to reform education for kids across America,” Christie said.
   Christie, who is considered a rising star in the Republican Party, praised Duncan as an “extraordinary leader on this issue.”
   He also said, regarding Obama and the education agenda, “I consider myself an ally of his.”

   I can’t wait to see Donald Trump’s education agenda. I picture Trump University for K-12.

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   • Michael Fiorillo says:

     March 8, 2016 at 3:39 pm

     Trump University for K-12: it’s gonna be yuge!

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4. Demetria Mudar says:

   March 8, 2016 at 2:14 pm

   Really wishing that the calls for ousting Christie would come true. He is a disgrace.

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   • ciedie aech says:

     March 8, 2016 at 3:57 pm

     If I could “like” this ten times, I would!

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   • Donna says:

     March 8, 2016 at 6:05 pm

     I used to walk down Commerce Street almost daily and see the large posters of Christie’s face and Scami Anderson’s face with blood red letters LIAR across their foreheads. They have been taken down for a while now that Ras Baraka is complicit with Christie, Cerf, Hespe, et al. Christie can attack Baraka all he wants – it is an act. Just an act. Baraka was the first to sign the letter kissing Christie’s ring and thanking him for more charters. Please sir, may I have another?

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5. Rick Lapworth says:

   March 8, 2016 at 2:37 pm

   So…..the problem is poor “performance”; constituents are not happy with test scores and all they purport to measure. The solution….invent and implement new and untested/unproven charter schools, because they are somehow the magic-bullet to cure all our pedagogic woes.
   Really?

   So, if crimes rates in a city went up, the citizens would all blame the police force for not “doing their job”, and demand that alterative “charter police forces” be legislated and mandated? The citizens would forget that cops should not be blamed for increased crime and that all they can do is to decrease the incidence of crimes, but they cannot get into the mind-heart-soul of criminals and turn on the magic-switch called “I will act in a moral and responsible manner and make positive contributions to society”.

   Yet failing to make the wrong analysis and correct diagnosis, the citizens mandated charter police force would probably do nothing to decrease the frequency of crimes, yet it might catch a few additional criminals, which is an increase in suspects caught (but does not directly correlate, and surely is not causal, to the motivation and incidence of crime).

   Hopefully, this analogy demonstrates the folly of blaming current public schools for poor performance (which probably has a lot more to do with family structure, support, or problems in that sphere), and the error of mandating alternative charters.

   Do we believe we should be allowed to force legislatures and cities to build new alternative charter hospitals whenever there is some kind of epidemic? As if the existing ones were to blame for the epidemic? Oh, but the ignorant masses cry “sicknesses are increasing, it must be the doctors’ fault”.

   Strange logic there!

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   • Laura H. Chapman says:

     March 8, 2016 at 4:22 pm

     Rick. Your reasoning about a “response to an epidemic” comes to me while I am reading a book titled Pandemic: Tracking Contagions from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond by the science writer, and scholar, Sonia Shah. There are many versions of the folly you describe, not just scapegoating but also the complicity of so-called “institutions of authority,” intended to serve the public interest, in defeating action on behalf of the common good. The author gives many examples from history, and the present, in addressing disease.
     She describes the diminished capacity of the once trustworthy World Health Organization, overtaken by starving it of public funding and (all too easily) turning to so-called voluntary contributions from corporations, philanthropies, and “donor” countries.
     By 2015, 75% of the budget came from donations with strings attached to the donors’ interests, not global health priorities. The Gates Foundation had become the third largest financier of global health initiatives and now sets the agenda at WHO. The Gates approach to malaria for example, is “” rather than the scientific consensus that it was much safer and more feasible to control it–not pursue total eradication. The integrity of WHO has been compromised by tethering its budget and hiring policies to private interests. One consequence: WHO was unable to respond as it should have to the Ebola epidemic. (pp.116-118).

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6. Kim Kaufman says:

   March 8, 2016 at 3:04 pm

   Assuming Christie doesn’t get indicted.

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   • drext727 says:

     March 8, 2016 at 3:17 pm

     Only the poor get indicted….like teachers

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7. Robert Rendo, NBCT says:

   March 8, 2016 at 11:18 pm

   Maybe Christie will be severely compromised from all the crappy ball park food he eats. He is a monster and bully, and should be shown some alternative path.

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8. Rick Lapworth says:

   March 9, 2016 at 6:43 am

   Thanks for the connections Laura. So too have our public education institutions been compromised by too much input from special interest groups, privatization interests, small minorities of stakeholders making too big a demand, and all the other competing voices and visions of what our public schools should be.

   Sad thing is that for the most part those we serve (kids, parents, families and communities) don’t participate enough in the dialogue; critical stakeholders are silent and those with the most money get heard. So much for democracy; it’s become dollar-cracy.

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9. ddigregorio2014 says:

   March 9, 2016 at 8:43 pm

   David C. Hespe
   Commissioner
   New Jersey Department of Education
   100 River View Plaza
   P.O. Box 500
   Trenton, NJ 08625
   Dear Commissioner Hespe,

   Out of concern for my son’s education and the education of all his classmates in Englewood Cliffs Public Schools, I have requested the next PARCC test be administered via pencil and paper. I have requested this for the following reasons:

   1.Article after article both in professional journals and the press clearly show students perform better across the board with the pencil and paper version of PARCC.
   2. In order to prepare students for a computer administered PARCC, emphasis on computer operation and keyboarding in the lowest grades have pushed aside teaching handwriting and other important “analog” skills so important for child’s development.
   3. The inordinate amount of tax dollars used to purchase technology to make administering a test via computer possible – especially in the lowest grade levels.

   On the local level, it has been unclear if districts are free to choose how to administer the test, so I contacted your offices at the DOE. After speaking with several officials, a conference call was organized between me and Don Mitchell, your deputy commissioner and his legal council, on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 3:30 p.m. They cited the following regulation as your authority dictating to districts how the PARCC test can be administered:

   6A:8-4.1 Statewide assessment system
   (a) The Commissioner, in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:7A-10, may implement assessment of student achievement in the State’s public schools in any grade(s) and by such assessments as he or she deems appropriate. The Commissioner shall report to the State Board the results of such assessments.

   Since the regulation is vague, I have asked Mr. Don Mitchell and his legal council for clarification in writing whether you, Mr. David Hespe, require all districts to administer the PARCC test by computer. I would also like to know what the consequences would be, if any, were a district to administer the pencil and paper test as they saw fit.

   Should you insist on the computerized version, students would not perform as well as they might have, and this would be a poor reflection on themselves, their school, and the entire state. As a parent, I would be very upset knowing my child could have performed better.

   I ask that you clarify this to all districts, including my own in Englewood Cliffs in the coming days. Thank you in advance for your attention regarding this important matter.

   Sincerely,

   David Di Gregorio, Parent
   Englewood Cliffs, NJ

   CC:
   Superintendents
   Press

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   • dianeravitch says:

     March 9, 2016 at 9:19 pm

     David,

     I am glad that you wrote that letter. I write and work on computers frequently. I read the printed text before publication, if it is a book or article. I read my blog posts too,but I don’t catch my errors online as readily as I see my errors on paper. That’s a fact, apparently, for children taking tests. It is more challenging to take a test online than to read and write on paper. I don’t know why, but it is so.

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   • ddigregorio2014 says:

     March 9, 2016 at 11:28 pm

     Thanks Diane. I am waiting to hear back. I wish there were more I can do. My son came home with a Pearson math work sheet requesting the use of a calculator – in 2nd grade!! I wish it would all go away – PARCC and the rest and we get back to basics using the best teaching methods.

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10. ddigregorio2014 says:

    March 9, 2016 at 11:27 pm

    Thanks Diane – I am waiting to hear back. I wish there were more I can do. My son came home with a Pearson math work sheet requesting the use of a calculator – in 2nd grade!! I wish it would all go away – PARCC and the rest and we get back to basics using the best teaching methods.

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11. Máté Wierdl says:

    March 10, 2016 at 8:41 am

    “If Newark Mayor Ras Baraka gets in his way, Christie said, he would run right over him.”

    After his embarrassing performance in the primaries, he needs to do macho stuff to have his powerful self image back. Pretty apish, isn’t it?

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