Jersey Jazzman
What I Would Ask Exxon/Mobil's CEO at Education Nation
Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of Exxon/Mobil and noted expert on education, will be doing a "one-on-one" during NBC's Education Nation. He will join a host of celebrities, politicians, businesspeople, and educators in discussing our nation's school system. Here's what I'd ask him if I could: "Mr. Tillerson, in 2012, you received total compensation equal to $27.4 million. "
Groundhog Day in Perth Amboy
Third time's the charm? The Board of Education unanimously voted Wednesday night to place Superintendent of Schools Janine Walker Caffrey on paid administrative leave. Board members authorized Board of Education President Mark Carvajal or his designee to hire an acting superintendent and to contact the county superintendent’s office for assistance. Caffrey said she found the timing of the boa
RIP Jean Anyon
Anyon was a scholar who documented the most obvious thing in the world: Professor Anyon, who died on Sept. 7 at 72, was one of the first people to study that landscape in detail — and among the first to assert that without accompanying social reforms like job creation, antipoverty initiatives and urban renewal, the problems of education in urban, poor areas would never be surmounted. “The struc
OCT 03
Another Reformy Practice Not Grounded in Research: SGOs
Like all teachers around New Jersey, I have been attending workshops and working with my administrators and colleagues on a new, reformy project: Student Growth Objectives. My SGO will count for 15% of my annual evaluation - a percentage mandated by state code - because I teach an "untested" subject: in other words, I don't teach math or language arts between 3rd and 8th Grade, just like
OCT 02
New Depths of Sanctimony From Arne Duncan
Anthony Cody listens to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and discovers our Reformy Czar slathers himself in sanctimony the way a 13-year-old boy douses himself in Axe Body Spray: Secretary Duncan: Also inhabiting this bubble are some arm chair pundits who insist our efforts to improve public education are somehow doomed to fail, either because they believe the government is incapable of meanin
SEP 29
Eli Broad's Made Men
Back in the spring of 2012, I pointed out that being a graduate of the Broad Superintendents Academy Book Club was a great way to get on the gravy train to Reformyville. Penny MacCormack and Mike Miles - both graduates of Broad, just like NJDOE Commissioner Chris Cerf - were making big consultancy bucks: Last week, ACTING Commissioner Chris Cerf of the NJ DOE had to explain to the legislature how
SEP 28
As Perth Amboy Turns
And the soap opera continues in New Jersey's Reformiest District™: The Board of Education will decide whether to put Superintendent Janine Caffrey on administrative leave for a fourth time at a special Oct. 2 meeting, Caffrey said. Although Caffrey decided she will not reapply for her position and will finish out her contract which expires June 30, she was still the recipient of a Rice notice
Why Isn't Diane Ravitch On My TV?
So it's now official: Diane Ravitch's new book, Reign of Error, is a New York Times bestseller, debuting at #10 on the hardcover non-fiction list. Congratulations to Diane on this outstanding literary achievement. In contrast, Michelle Rhee's book of last spring, Radical, never made it on to the NY Times list. It did terribly in the Amazon.com sales rankings; folks working in the publishing indus