"One Newark": A Market For "Lemons"
I've got a new brief over at the NJ Education Policy Forum out today about One Newark. As usual, I present my geekspeak-free (mostly) version of this brief here.
Here's the background: Cami Anderson, the state-appointed superintendent of Newark, has put out a plan to restructure the district's schools. Bruce Baker* and I have written a lot about the flaws in this plan, called One Newark: see here, here and here for our critques. The central problems are:
- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2014/05/one-newark-market-for-lemons.html#sthash.ljEFlLKi.dpufHere's the background: Cami Anderson, the state-appointed superintendent of Newark, has put out a plan to restructure the district's schools. Bruce Baker* and I have written a lot about the flaws in this plan, called One Newark: see here, here and here for our critques. The central problems are:
- Certain schools were targeted for closure, "renewal" (where all of the staff is fired), or takeover by charter management organizations (CMOs), but the sanctioning of these schools, which are supposedly "ineffective," seems to be arbitrary and capricious.
- Newark Public Schools clearly did not take student characteristics into account when rating the schools' effectiveness. In other words: they don't seem to care that a school with many kids in economic disadvantage, or who don't speak English at home, or have special needs, has a far tougher job than a school that doesn't serve as many of these kids.
- The sanctions under One Newark are applied unequally under race and class lines: more kids who are black and economically disadvantaged will see their schools sanctioned, and more teachers who are black and teach the poorest students will lose their jobs.
- To be frank: NPS does not appear to have a very good command of statistical methods. But even when judged by NPS's own criteria, the plans they offer make no sense.
This last one is the focus of the new brief, and it relates to how NPS is "selling" Newark's
5-18-14 Jersey Jazzman
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