Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All Week
Two Newarks
So the big plan to "save" Newark's schools, One Newark, was announced this week, and - surprise! - the big winners are the charter schools:As part of a comprehensive plan to overhaul the state’s largest school district, Newark Schools Superintendent Cami Anderson wants to increase access to charter schools by expanding them into district-owned buildings.The district also plans to convert
Local Control Is a White People Thing: Ask Asbury Park
Is it wrong of me to feel a little embarrassed when someone catches something reformy going on in New Jersey that I completely missed? Luckily, some Facebook friends hipped me to this pick-up from the always excellent folks at Schools Matter, quoting the Asbury Park Press:ASBURY PARK — Where is the democracy?That’s the question several community members here are asking after the state monitor over
DEC 15
Will the Star-Ledger Editorial Board EVER Get Education Right?
Once again, the Star-Ledger's editorial board can't get the basic facts about education correct; this time, it's the Newark teachers contract:Under the new system, 190 of the best teachers have received merit pay bonuses so far, in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $12,500. The greater bonuses went to those teaching hard-to-staff subjects, or in the lowest-performing schools. When you add up these pe
DEC 14
Michelle Rhee Is Really Bad At Her Job
Leonie Haimson tells us that Reformy John King, New York's Education Commissioner, is so scared of continuing parental outrage at his test-obsessed policies that he has to basically turn his "listening tour" into a scripted political rally:The Brooklyn stop on Commissioner King's "listening tour", asdescribed here, featured one of the few friendly audiences he has faced, overw
No Love for the Merit Pay Fairy in Newark
As I wrote before, merit pay in Newark is turning out to be a big, fat scam imposed on the teachers who bargained in good faith to accept it into their contract. The teachers aren't getting nearly what they were promised, there is little reason so far to believe that merit pay has increased teacher effectiveness, and there's plenty of reason to believe that much of the merit pay bonus money is not