Archives for category: New Jersey
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Jersey Jazzman Hits It Out of the Park

By dianeravitch
October 13, 2012 //
9

New Jersey blogger Jersey Jazzman has written a brilliant and funny essay on “America’s Most Invasive Species: The Wonk.”

This is the kind of article that reminds you how serios humor can be.

He noticed that wonks thrive at conferences. At these conferences, panels of wonks deliberate what to do about issues in which they have become experts without actual experience.

Wonks are not to be confused with scholars, who devote themselves to deep study. Nor should they be confused with practitioners.

Their rise to power and prominence may suggest a parallel with hedge fund managers, who have financialized the economy via buying and selling, the manipulation of paper, not by producing anything.

Categories Cerf, Chris, Education Industry, Education Reform, Humor, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), New Jersey

Reform=Disrespect? Reform=Privatization?

By dianeravitch
October 12, 2012 //
5

Jersey Jazzman has developed an equation: reform=disrespect.

Another way to put it: these so-called reformers don’t like democracy.

He detects a growing opposition to the top-down methods of the privatizers.

Something is happening in Jersey, and the rest of the country: slowly, a groundswell of opposition is building against the corporate reform agenda. People are starting to resent the idea that a California billionaire like Eli Broad has more influence over the directions of their children’s schools than they do. Paterson and Jersey City are also straining under their state-imposed yoke. Camden is pushing back against plans imposed from outside its borders. Even the ‘burbs have had enough.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, New Jersey, Privatization

A Teacher for the New Jersey Legislature

By dianeravitch
October 7, 2012 //
6

Categories Education Reform, New Jersey

Why Camden School Board Rejected Charters: UPDATE!!

By dianeravitch
September 27, 2012 //
6

When the news broke that the Camden, New Jersey, had rejected four charters, their reasons for doing so were not clear. This article in the Philadelphia Inquirer provides some more detail and context.

The charters had powerful political support: Not only from Governor Christie but from George Norcross, whose foundation was in partnership with KIPP to create a five-campus school that would enroll as many as 3,000 students.

The largest application came from the partnership of the Norcross Foundation Inc., a charity created by the family of Donald Norcross and his brother George E. Norcross III; the charitable foundation of Cooper, which George Norcross chairs; and one of the nation’s largest charter-school operators, the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP). George Norcross is a managing partner of the company that owns The [Philadelphia] Inquirer.

The four proposals would have a large financial impact on the district:

Companies could build and operate the schools and receive from each student’s home district up to 95 percent of the amount the district would have spent for that student.

The effect of the new schools on the existing district factored into some board members’ decisions Wednesday, they said.

Between $18 million to $22 million for each proposal would be diverted from the district in per-pupil costs, according to a quick estimate by the district business administrator, Celeste Ricketts. Because the Renaissance proposals could mean the shift of more than 4,000 students from the district and result in consolidation of schools, Ricketts said, she could not estimate the total loss or cost to the district if the proposals went through.

I am not clear how many students are enrolled in Camden, but it is not a large district. It sounds as though the board was invited to outsource its responsibilities, its students, and its budget to private operators. Just the kind of thing Governor Christie likes.

UPDATE: A reader informed me that Camden has an enrollment of about 13,000 students. The charter proposals would have drained away almost 1/3 of the district’s enrollment and a large part of its budget. No wonder the board said “no, thanks” and defied the power structure, both Republican and Democrat.

Categories Charter Schools, New Jersey

The Scoop on Camden’s Rejection of 4 Charters

By dianeravitch
September 27, 2012 //
4

Jersey Jazzman, our reliable New Jersey blogger, has the story about the decision by Camden’s school board to turn down four charters that the Christie administration and the local Camden Democratic boss badly wanted.

The charter lobby may have overplayed its hand. Looks like popular pushback. Looks like local board doesn’t want to hand over the keys to charter operators. Showdown ahead.

Categories Cerf, Chris, Charter Schools, Education Reform, New Jersey

Reverse Robin Hood Reforms in New Jersey

By dianeravitch
September 12, 2012 //
0

Bruce Baker provides clear and convincing evidence that school reform in New Jersey is heading in the wrong direction, aided by NCLB waivers.

The schools that have been identified as the “priority” schools will be targeted for aggressive interventions, including mass firing and closings. The overwhelming majority of these schools enroll poor black and Hispanic students.

The schools that are identified as “reward” schools serve few needy students. To them them hath, more shall be given.

As Baker shows, the funding formula will take from the neediest and give to those who are already doing just fine.

Reverse Robin Hood: Stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

Categories Federal Waiver, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), New Jersey

NJ Plans to Punish High-Poverty, High-Minority Schools

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2012 //
14

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.

Categories New Jersey, Poverty, Privatization

Bruce Baker Explains What’s Happening in Newark

By dianeravitch
September 4, 2012 //
0

Newark is one of several districts targeted by the education reform industry, where there is a heavy concentration of money and effort to prove that reform works.

Mark Zuckerberg offered $100 million for reform.

Broad-trained superintendent Cami Anderson is in charge of the district.

Mayor Cory Booker is a leader of the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ Democrats for Education Reform  (which may explain why he objected to President Obama’s criticism of equity investors like Romney’s Bain).

The main reform vehicle is charters.

Study after study shows that charters don’t get different results on average than public schools if they serve the same students.

Here is Bruce Baker’s portrait of the effect of charters on Newark schools.

And here is another by Baker that shows who is enrolled in Newark charters.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, New Jersey

Plaudits for US Public Education

By dianeravitch
September 3, 2012 //
19

NASA’s rover called Curiosity landed on Mars on August 5.  It is now exploring that planet, in a spectacular demonstration of space technology.

Professor Ralph E. Shaffer wondered about the team of scientists and engineers responsible for this great breakthrough. He discovered a website with bios of the 141 people involved.

He wondered, where did they go to school?

This is what he learned:

104 of the 141 were products of American public schools. The others didn’t say where they went to school or went to private school or were educated abroad.

Professor Shaffer thinks this should serve as a rebuke to the reformers who love to decry the quality of our schools.

I wish his discovery would change their minds.

Not likely, considering that one of the loudest critics is Governor Chris Christie. He is a graduate of Livingston High School in Livingston, NJ. He must have really bad memories. Maybe he was bullied.

Categories Education Reform, New Jersey, US Education

Elect This Woman to the Assembly in New Jersey

By dianeravitch
August 26, 2012 //
6

Marie Corfield is a teacher in New Jersey who is running for a seat in the state Assembly.

I have met her and I can tell you she understands education and cares passionately about kids.

She deserves your support.

New Jersey is a state now controlled by a governor who insults teachers and their unions. He glories in his vulgarity.

He does not know that New Jersey is one of the top-scoring states on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

He doesn’t believe in public schools, even though he is a public school graduate.

He is promoting privatization through charters and for-profit online schools.

The only way to check his assault on public education is to elect people who know what the schools need and who will support them.

Elect Marie Corfield.

Categories New Jersey
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