State Takeovers of districts with low scores have been a disaster. The reason for low scores is always high poverty, and the state takeover doesn’t change that fact. State after state has adopted this strategy and failed. Turns out that the folks in the State Education Department are not magicians.
The Education Law Center, a civil rights group, calls for an end to the charade in New Jersey.
TIME TO END STATE DISTRICT TAKEOVER IN NEW JERSEY
In testimony before the Joint Committee on the Public Schools, Education Law Center reissued its call for the New Jersey Legislature to move quickly to repeal the provisions in the district monitoring law – the Quality Single Accountability Continuum or “QSAC” – authorizing State takeover of the operation of local school districts. ELC presented the testimony at a December 4 hearing of the Joint Committee soliciting input from the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) and other stakeholders on recommendations for making implementation of the QSAC law more effective.
“State takeover has proven to be a failed strategy for improving the performance of districts identified as needing assistance through QSAC, New Jersey’s school district monitoring mechanism,” said David Sciarra, ELC Executive Director. “It also disenfranchises communities from crucial decisions affecting their schools and has been misused by prior administrations to promote so-called ‘education reform.’ It’s time to bring this sad chapter to an end.”
Before the Joint Committee, ELC noted that the district takeover provisions were incorporated into the QSAC monitoring law in 2005 to facilitate withdrawal of State-operation of the Newark, Paterson and Jersey City districts as quickly as possible. However, instead of exiting these districts as the Legislature intended, the State, under former Governor Chris Christie, refused to return them to local control and engineered the takeover of a fourth high poverty, racially isolated district – Camden. Under Governor Christie’s direction, the State then moved aggressively to close and replace district schools in the State-operated districts through the rapid expansion of charter schools.
In addition to ending State district takeover, ELC also recommended removing the curriculum and instruction component from the QSAC monitoring regime. ELC emphasized to the Joint Committee that QSAC is a mechanism to monitor compliance with basic district functions, such as fiscal, budget, governance and personnel. However, QSAC has proven ineffective as a strategy to support improvements in curriculum and instruction in schools designated as low performing.
ELC further noted that the identification of under-performing schools and requirements for State intervention to improve curriculum, instruction, professional development, student supports and other crucial issues are mandated separately under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). To implement ESSA, the NJDOE has separate rules for intervention in low performing schools, along with regulations mandating targeted resources and initiatives in districts classified as “high need.”
“The curriculum and instruction component of QSAC monitoring layers on top of federal school improvement requirements unattainable, test-based, performance benchmarks for districts, without any accompanying assistance,” said Mr. Sciarra. “From over a decade of experience, it’s now clear that QSAC monitoring does not support, but instead impedes, the intense focus required to bring about improvement and positive change in low performing schools in need of assistance from the NJDOE.”
ELC also recommended that the Joint Committee thoroughly examine the NJDOE’s role in improving curriculum and instruction in low performing schools and the Department’s capacity to bring strong leadership and quality technical assistance and support to these schools. Past efforts to provide such assistance, including the now defunct NJDOE Regional Achievement Centers (RACs), showed the Department lacks sufficient funding, resources and personnel to work collaboratively with principals, teachers and parents in sustained school improvement efforts.
QSAC is useful as a monitoring tool to periodically gauge district compliance with basic fiscal, governance and personnel requirements. But it does little to help districts improve curriculum, instruction and outcomes for students in their schools. ELC is calling for lawmakers to streamline the QSAC monitoring framework and shift its oversight responsibilities to ensure the NJDOE has the capacity to deliver high quality and timely assistance to schools in need of support.
Education Law Center Press Contact:
Sharon Krengel
Policy and Outreach Director
skrengel@edlawcenter.org
973-624-1815, x 24
Devos and her GOP buddies are at it again. This time even though they lost in the elections they still are wanting their power in education. Creepy news similar to what is going on in Wisconsin with sore loser governor walker crying the blues and not wanting to share his toys
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/detroit/2018/12/05/gop-power-grab-or-path-to-better-schools-lame-duck-votes-could-shift-some-education-powers/
If N.J. is successful in stopping the practice, the law center should be invited to Ohio.
Fordham can be put in charge of the invite. (sarcasm)
Reportedly, one county in Ohio has 1/4 of its residents addicted to drugs. Ohio is the state with the most drug-related deaths. And, the state is losing population as a result of out-migration for better paying jobs. But, in Columbus the charter-owned politicians and the billionaire-funded education lackeys had $1 bil. of taxpayer money to squander on failed, privatized education, selling their snake oil as some undefined magic that occurs when hucksters takeover.
Well…there is that.
The ELC is a great group fighting for equality and justice in NJ. Now that Christie is gone from the governorship, there is at least a good chance that real reforms (a much abused word) can be made for the REAL public schools not the privately run charter schools that have been given a lot of air support from the NJDOE.
Ed reformers convened the echo chamber for another rousing session of bashing public schools and promoting charter and private schools.
“Education reformers must draw a distinction between education and schooling as they face opposition to changes to the traditional school system, Sen. Ben Sasse said Thursday.”
Sadly, they still offer absolutely nothing of practical value to any public school or public school family, anywhere.
The Grand Plan seems to be to offer vouchers for education services from a plethora of contractors.
Anything rather than do some actual work for the 85% of students and families who attend public schools, right? Instead they’re honing their abstract ideological position and working on marketing privatization.
“Sasse was born on February 22, 1972, in Plainview, Nebraska, the son of Gary Lynn Sasse, a high school teacher and football coach, and Linda Sasse.[4] He graduated from Fremont Senior High School, Fremont, Nebraska in 1990[5] and was valedictorian of his class.”
Ben Sasse attended public schools in the 1990’s and went on to great success.
I wonder why he believes public schools are only good for training assembly line workers?
He seems to have done quite well attending the “factory schools” he wants to pitch in the trash.
Why can’t some other kid benefit from the same public school education Ben Sasse had?
It just amazes me that all these powerful people who got their start in public schools now work as hard as they can to weaken and eradicate and bash the same system that did so well by them. Ben Sasse should be a public school supporter! Instead he wants to turn the whole system over to private contractors.
I’ll spell it out for you- I-D-E-O-L-O-G-Y. Public schools don’t meet the ideological litmus test, so they must be destroyed. The tens of millions of kids now attending the public schools DC politicians no longer support? Collateral damage.
Can we get one person in DC who supports our kids schools? The actual, existing schools, not the abstract free market magical dream? Can we get one person who adds value to any existing public school, anywhere?
State takeovers have not been successful anywhere, and they usually are a stop on the road to privatization. Privatization has failed to address the needs of the poorest students. In fact, privatization has often resulted in the neediest getting fewer resources and larger classes. Likewise, for all the business and /or economic “strategies” that have been inflicted on public education, including QSAC.
Educators understand the problems of poverty in education better than any other single group. Teachers know that poor students will do better with smaller classes and wrap around services. Poor students require more supports not fewer, and this requires resources.
A long way, you can finish step by step, and then you can’t reach without a foot