Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

UPDATE: Jersey Jazzman: Star-Ledger, Once Again, Misses the Story

Jersey Jazzman: Star-Ledger, Once Again, Misses the Story:


NJDOE to Camden: "Who Cares What You Think?"

When will the people of Camden understand that the state knows what their children need better than they do? When will they stop demanding a say in how their city is run? [all emphases mine]
Changes imposed by the state midway through the school district’s review of urban Hope Act school proposals have “tainted the process” and created “a process that’s a sham,” according to one of four school board members in open revolt against Department of Education edicts. 
“The process is not good, not credible,” board member Raymond L. Lamboy said after the revisions were disclosed last week. “They are constantly changing the process, which gives the impression that this is being done to arrive at a foregone conclusion.” 
Not only was the board caught off guard, so were the three current school proposers — Benjamin 



Star-Ledger, Once Again, Misses the Story

This one pains me, because I like Jessica Calefati of the Star-Ledger; she's done some good work on education. But, I'm sorry to say, she totally blows it here:
When DaShawn Boyd enrolled last fall as a freshman at Bard Early College High School he considered himself a top student. The 15-year-old had earned mostly A’s at Camden Middle School.
But a few weeks into the school year, he discovered things were different. "I was failing math, a subject I had always done well in," DaShawn said. "I started to realize I was failing because I hadn’t learned enough math before I got to high school."