Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All Week
Why Is Michelle Rhee Wrong About Everything?
Michelle Rhee is consistently wrong about everything.She was wrong about teaching to the test. She was wrong about her grading of state education policies. She was wrong about truancy. She was wrong about student surveys and VAM. She was wrong about the effectiveness of her "reforms" while leading the Washington, D.C. schools.Michelle Rhee was even wrong about her own record as a teacher
APR 06
Uncommon Comes To Camden: Let The Segregation Begin!
Camden's State Superintendent, Paymon Rouhanifard, shares much in common with his friend form the good old days in NYC, Newark State Superintendent Cami Anderson. Anderson, for example, believes she can simply ignore the law whenever she wants, as she does not answer to the citizens of Newark, with whom she has lost all credibility.So, apparently, does Rouhanifard:Two more Renaissance schools enro
APR 05
Charter School "Success": There's ALWAYS a Catch
Camden's public school district is being systematically dismantled to become a "portfolio" district of "choice." This is, of course, all part of the formerly secret plan that was implemented by Former Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf -- a plan paid for by his mentor and patron, California billionaire Eli Broad.What barely gets mentioned in the discussion of Camden's charter schoo
NJ Field Tests PARCC: Who Are You Gonna Believe?
According to the mandarins at the NJDOE, the new, computerized, Common Core-aligned PARCC tests have had a field test this week that was just oh-so-super!State Department of Education officials said 60 percent of the schools that will administer the PARCC test next spring are participating in the practice run. Other districts, like South Orange-Maplewood, are working with neighboring schools to mo
Dear Bill Maher: Here's Why You're Wrong About Tenure
Dear Bill Maher,Let's dispense with the fanboy stuff first: I think you're great, I really liked Religulous, I think ABC screwed you over, and you come closer than anyone around today to keeping the spirit of America's greatest political philosopher, George Carlin*, alive.But on teacher tenure you are just dead wrong:What exactly is the argument for teacher tenure? According to the teacher's union
For the LAST Time: Hoboken's Charters Enroll Very Few Poor Children!
As a special service to the parents, taxpayers, and citizens of Hoboken, I present to you a handy guide that will once and for all dispel the notion that Hoboken's charter schools have a "student body [that] matches the demographics of the city pretty closely."Ready?Clip-'N'-Save!Your Guide To Student Demographics in Hoboken, NJ!According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey
What Is a "Bad" School?
My GI tract decided to get into a fight with a virus this week, which left me with some extra time to read as I tried to keep down Gatorade and saltines. One item I found especially interesting was a series of reports in the Asbury Park Press about the Asbury Park school district. Reporter Nicquel Terry lays out a lot of facts, even if the conclusions aren't exactly obvious:The soaring price of f
What Our Latest Analysis of One Newark Means
Step #1: Bruce Baker and I wrote a report this past January about the Newark Public Schools restructuring plan, One Newark. This controversial scheme calls for closing some schools, "renewing" others -- basically, firing the entire staff and making them reapply for their jobs -- and turning over others to charter management organizations like TEAM Academy (the Newark branch of KIPP), and
HoLa Hailers Have a Hard Haul Hatin' on Hoboken High
UPDATE BELOWNot all charter schools are havens for "white flight." But the ones that are have honed their defensive arguments down to this:We're awesome!We educate the same kids as the public district where we get our funds (even if we don't).The local public schools suck. And the comparison to us is valid, because we educate the same kids as the public district where we get our funds (e
This Is Your Brain On TFA
I often get the sense that something happens to the brains of people who do their two years or less at Teach For America and then, rather than continue to teach, go on to "stay in education" as "leaders." Maybe their self-granted halos are a little too tight.Take Newark State Superintendent Cami Anderson:So, as a college student, I organized a group of female athletes to challe
Field Trip Report: Mr. Jazzman Goes to Trenton
If you are ever asked to testify before a legislative committee for your state, you should go.Not just because, as I found out this week, it's a singular experience - which it is. No, you should go because... well, because these are the elected representatives of your state, and they want to hear your opinion, and that's not only a great honor but a great responsibility.Others, apparently, have a
Who Will Clean Up the Reformy Messes?
I really wanted to let this story die the death it so richly deserves. But I just can't let this pass without comment:I wrote a lot about Perth Amboy, a small city on the Raritan Bay here in New Jersey, over the past few years.I wrote about how Janine Caffrey, a lightly experienced administrator who took over the district's schools, was turned into a folk hero by Tom Moran of the Star-Ledger on th
NJ Charter School Segregation Scoreboard: 1-1
Let's start by acknowledging the insanity of New Jersey charter school approval process. For all intents and purposes, one unelected official -- the Commissioner of Education -- gets to decide which charters survive and which fall. It doesn't matter what the elected school board members of the local community, which has to pay for the charters, may think about the applications: all that has counte