Jersey Jazzman:
Mythbusting Chris Cerf at @NJEA: Prelude
Chris Cerf, New Jersey's Commissioner of Education, gave a remarkable speech today at the NJEA convention in Atlantic City. I'll get to the content soon enough, including some busting of the "myths" Cerf tried to sell us today. But before we get to that: let's deal with the elephant in the room, shall we? CHRIS CERF (11/8/13): Look, I think it's important to have a spirited, public deb
NOV 07
Teacher Evaluation Without Research Backing: SGOs
Tomorrow, NJ Education Commissioner Chris Cerf will address the membership at the NJEA's teachers convention. He is supposed to be taking questions. Perhaps someone will ask him why we NJ teachers are wasting our time with these ridiculous Student Growth Objectives or SGOs (also known as Student Learning Objectives or SLOs). Because there is no evidence that they work: There is little evidence
No One Manipulates the Press Like TFA
In general, I like Leslie Brody of the Record: she's smart and fair and usually does a good job. Which is why I found this puff piece on Teach For America in New Jersey so frustrating: Teach for America got a major public relations boost in September when a federally funded study found that on average, its “corps members” slightly outperformed teachers who entered the profession after traditiona
What Happened Tuesday?
I've listened to a fair bit of punditry and read a fair bit of opinion about Tuesday's election results. And it still doesn't make sense to me. I'll leave Virginia out of this because I really didn't follow the race. But here in Metro NYC, we had two big, contiguous races. Both ended in landslides - but for candidates who couldn't be more different: Bill de Blasio is an unreserved progressive wh
NOV 06
Marie Corfield: An American Hero
There's a lot to say after yesterday, and a lot to do starting tomorrow. But before all of that, let's get one very important thing out of the way: Marie Corfield - proud to be a mother, a teacher, and a real Jersey girl - is a genuine American hero. We teachers are generally not a very outgoing or outspoken lot. We obviously didn't get into the profession for the money or the prestige or the so
NOV 04
Video: Chris Christie's Problem With Women
Ever wonder why Chris Christie has such a problem with teachers, but not other public employees? First, consider that about three out of four teachers are women. Then, watch this video a reader sent me: Some think this misogyny is part of Christie's "Jersey-style" charm. Let me tell you something: I was born in New Jersey. And I, like millions of other men from this state, was raised
Teacher Christie Bullied on Ed Show Tonight!
Melissa Tomlinson, the teacher who dared to ask Chris Christie a question and got excoriated in the process, will be on MSNBC's The Ed Show tonight, 5 pm EST. I can't wait to hear her side of the story in her own words. Unpresidential behavior.
Christie's Never-Ending War On Teachers
When Chris Christie isn't yelling at individual teachers, he's busy bashing their unions (11/3/13, Newton, NJ): (5:26) I will tell you, there are the forces that will always fight against us. You see it on TV every day. The folks who believe that the government and your tax dollars are their personal piggy bank to play with and to social engineer. We've got to send a strong message in the last
NOV 03
Big NJ Education Event #2: Newark's Students Stand Up, Nov. 4, 2013
So the day after Chris Christie's war on teachers goes viral, and the same day Diane Ravitch drops by New Jersey... Newark's beautiful and deserving students stand up and say: "Enough!" NEWARK STUDENTS TO ORGANIZE MASSIVE BOYCOTT TO PROTEST CHRISTIE’S CONTROL OF NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOLS Unable to Vote, Newark Students to Rally Against Chris Christie’s Public Education Record the Day Be
Big NJ Education Event #1: Diane Ravitch at Princeton Nov. 4, 2013
As if we didn't have enough going on in NJ education news right now... Diane Ravitch is coming to New Jersey tomorrow, Monday, November 4, 2013: 4:00 PM: Community Forum: Open to all, Princeton High School 8:00 PM: Princeton University The Princeton University webpage says the event is "free and open to the public," but I've been told you should call ahead - check the website.
NOV 02
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: @GovChristie to Teacher: "I Am Tired Of You People!"
UPDATE: I posted this about 12 hours ago on a late Saturday night, and already it has over 30K hits. I've never seen blog traffic like this, especially on a weekend. Is it not obvious that there has been an enormous amount of frustration and anger building up over Chris Christie's condescension toward teachers, parents, and students? And that all it took was one brave act by one brave teacher, Me
BREAKING: Proof That @GovChristie Can't Contain His Hatred of Teachers
UPDATE: I have an exclusive interview with the teacher in the picture below: I asked him: "Why do you portray our schools as failure factories?" His reply: "Because they are!" He said: "I am tired of you people. What do you want?" Christie just can't keep his loathing of teachers to himself, can he? I figured that Chris Christie's handlers had told him he's got th
Marie Corfield for NJ Assembly
Can we talk? Let me be clear: I am not giving up on Barbara Buono's race for governor. New Jersey will pay dearly if we reelect Chris Christie; any Democrat would be better than this utter failure of a leader. The argument for returning Chris Christie to Trenton for another term is, contrary to the protestations of his apologists in the punditocracy, incoherent. If Christie is reelected, I predic
B4K: $$$ For Pols, But Not For Schools!
Yesterday, I reported that B4K - StudentsFirst's "partner" in New Jersey and the reformiest anti-union lobbying shop in New Jersey - pulled out of a half-a-million dollar commitment to help fund a literacy program in Perth Amboy. Why? Because anti-tenure superintendent Janine Caffrey - beneficiary of a public relations campaign paid for by B4K - was dismissed by the PA board of educatio
B4K Reneges On Commitment To Children's Literacy
This is an ugly story, but it's typical of the way well-heeled "reformers" run their little anti-union education lobbying shops these days: Regular readers here have followed the story of Janine Caffrey, former superintendent of Perth Amboy's (NJ) schools and the Queen of Tenure. Caffrey, in her very first year running a district, burst on to the NJ scene with some wild tales of malfeas
UPDATED: The Wheels Come Off In Montclair While a Broadie Superintendent Is Driving
UPDATE 1: Stu in the comments actually makes a fair point: You hurt your cause by using nicknames for the players in your character assassinations. It also doesn't help when you take great liberties, such as when you attribute the assessment leak directly to Penny MacCormack inadvertently slapping tests up on the Internet. That you are an educator in New Jersey who chooses to write to the level o
TFA, Arthur Rock, and The Reformy Campaign Finance Machine
Let's get back to the Reformy Campaign Finance Machine, with an updated scorecard on whose money (so far as I know) is going where: Jusidiction (level) Candidate Greg Penner Lydia Callaghan Arthur Rock Dave Goldberg Sheryl Sandberg Alan Fournier Jennifer Fournier Kent Thiry TOTALS Perth Amboy, NJ (local BOE) Better Schools Now! $8,000 $8,000 $8,000 $8,000 $10,400 $10,400