New Jersey’s Standards Review Committee
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that the favorite way for the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE)/Gov. Christie to blow off immediate responsibility for anything is to create a Committee. The latest being the New Jersey Standards Review Committee. I can’t help the feeling of “here we go again.” Of course, since Gov. Christie announced (blindsided CCSS ardent supporters?) that New Jersey would be taking a formal look at the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), we were all wondering who would have seat at that particular table.
Following several weeks of speculation, NJDOE released the outline of the Committee. While there are actual educator seats and some new faces, like PTO, so are there the usual suspects: PTA, NJSBA, NJPSA, Chamber of Commerce, BIA, etc. I’m still not clear why two precious seats should ever go to entities that know nothing about education. Sorry, folks, the Chamber and BIA should have absolutely no say in what a first grade student learns or how.
Of course, as a special ed parent, my concern is the inclusion of our voices. When do special ed parents get a seat at the table? Initially, I was really pleased to see SPAN listed under the Parent seats. I wrote and asked if I could be the SPAN representative, hopeful that a leadership award bestowed upon me earlier this year by them might help my prospects. Unfortunately, SPAN said no, only an employee of SPAN can represent them. So, the one required special ed parent seat will be going to an employee of SPAN – not as a representative of parents, but of SPAN.
Effectively, that is also the issue with PTA. And, unfortunately, we all know where PTA’s allegiances lie. It’s not a difficult guess to think that PTA will fully support doing absolutely nothing to the standards when they take millions from the Gates Foundation.
So, what about PTO? Even having been on my district’s K-8 PTO board a few years ago, I didn’t really know the structure of PTO. It always struck me that there never appeared to be Education Lessons From A Sparkly District: New Jersey’s Standards Review Committee:
