Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All Week
If You Don't Know Much About Education, Don't Write About It
I spend most of my time on this blog writing about education. Why? Because I'm a teacher and a student of education policy, so I have informed opinions about the subject.I don't spend a lot of time writing about venture capitalism and the tech sector. Why? Because I don't know much about it.I wish the Silicon Valley-types who are trying to take away teacher tenure would pay the same sort of courte
More Reformy Billionaires Wasting Money: Jersey City Edition
Last week, I told the story of how New Jersey's reformiest billionaires, David Tepper and Alan Fournier, are planning on wasting at least $3 million on a "principals training" program in Jersey City run by SUPES, an unaccredited, for-profit group with a tainted past and questionable qualifications.Obviously, Tepper and Fournier don't get a lot of good advice on how to spend their hedge f
The Vergara Decision Ignores The Most Obvious Thing In the World
Everyone in the edu-blogosphere is talking about the Vergara decision, which finds that teacher tenure and seniority laws in California are unconstitutional (that's the state's constitution, not the federal one).I don't want to give away too many of my thoughts here, as I have a major piece coming out this weekend about Vergara in a pretty darn large media outlet here in Jersey (I'm such a tease..
JUN 09
Unions to Corrupted @GovChristie: "Keep Your Promises"
Good:UPDATE, 2:35 p.m.: Six more unions have filed a separate lawsuit against Gov. Chris Christie's pension plan. They are the Communications Workers of America, the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey, the American Federation of Teachers, the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and the Service Employees International Uni
JUN 08
Why Is Bill Gates Making $#!+ Up?
Bill Gates gave a rather prickly interview last March that apparently has only been released this weekend. Lyndsey Layton of the Washington Post questioned an increasingly defensive Gates about his patronage of the development of the Common Core State Standards.I'll leave it to others to dissect the particulars of Gates' answers about the CCSS and instead address a small but still, to my mind, ver
UPDATED Chartery Snake Oil: Tennessee Grade
UPDATE, 6/10/14: So Bluff City Education has responded to this post. I won't waste my time or yours arguing semantics; I'll only point out the author apparently has no argument to make against my data and/or analysis.And I'll point out, once again, what really bugged me about Aycock's original piece:Yes, reducing poverty is an essential piece of the puzzle in solving the achievement gap. However,
Asm. Ciattarelli to NJs 1%: Keep Calm and Count Your Money
I'm sure the taxpayers of New Jersey's 16th legislative district will rest comfortably tonight knowing that their Assemblyman, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, is looking out for their financial well being. I ran against Ciattarelli in 2011 and 2013, so I was particularly interested in this piece he wrote for the Star Ledger today about that oft-touted Christie phrase, 'shared sacrifice'.As a public s
JUN 07
NJ GOP is not stronger than Superstorm Christie
For those readers old enough to remember, this image is a parody of the fierce reaction to President Gerald Ford's infamous but false response to NY City's 1970's financial crisis. Even though he never said those words, he might as well have because his reaction to the city's request for financial help was part of his political undoing. My point is not to rehash what happened 40 years ago so, gent
On watching “Mr. Holland’s Opus” in Jersey in June
By now, hundreds of teachers throughout the state, most non-tenured, have received non-renewal notices. A few tenured teachers also are likely to lose jobs because their positions have been eliminated. But thousands of older, more experienced teachers have decided to retire because they cannot put up with the stress created by New Jersey’s governor and those who convert his […]