Logical Gaps in the NJ Ed Reform Debate
Not much time for another full length post today. There are numbers to be crunched. But, I did feel it necessary to clear up a few issues regarding NJ Education Reform proposals, including those laid out yesterday focused on a) reforming teacher evaluation to focus on student assessment data, b) tying evaluation to compensation, tenure and dismissal policies, c) ending last in first out, and d) requiring mutual consent in placement/hiring of teachers to specific school locations.
And of course, these policy proposals are framed with the usual urgency.
Here are four overarching claims based on reformy logic being applied in the New Jersey policy debate:
We must act now!
The argument that we must act now, before it’s too late, because things are so awful. First, it’s rather hard to argue with a straight face, and certainly not with any data, that NJ’s public education system is so awful. NJ performs at or near the top among states on national assessments, and NJ low-income students (qualifying for