How Much Reform Can $100 Million Buy Without Addressing Poverty?
(l-r) New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker on NBC’s Education Nation.
In September 2010, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, flanked by then-Newark mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, appeared on Oprah to announce to make an important announcement. “We’re setting up a $100 million challenge grant so that Mayor Booker and Governor Christie can have the flexibility they need to turn Newark into a symbol of educational excellence for the whole nation.” Excitement and expectations ran high, but they weren’t able to deliver on that promise. What happened in Newark became a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of ill-conceived and misguided education reform efforts in urban school districts – the focus of a compelling new book by journalist Dale Russakoff.
In “The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?” , Russakoff delivers a riveting account of celebrity politics, big philanthropy, extreme economic inequality, the charter school movement, and the struggles and triumphs of schools in one of the nation’s poorest cities.
NEA Today recently spoke with Russakoff about what went wrong in Newark and what lessons we can draw from the experience.
While Zuckerberg’s intentions may have been good, educators and many others have long said that philanthropists with no education policy experience shouldn’t lead major school reforms, and your book shows us why. How can a philanthropist best contribute to improving school quality?
Dale Russakoff: Zuckerberg realized he needed to know a lot more about Newark itself. He relied on people who told him what the schools needed, but those people might not have known as much as they needed to. It’s important to work very closely with the people on the ground and in the districts rather than on consultants or other people who say they know what’s going on. There are so many teachers, principals, administrators and and community organizations who are intimately familiar with what they need and who want what’s best for students. Also, Zuckerberg was told there was too much grassroots opposition to change and to avoid getting involved there at the outset. He was told to fight the powers that be rather than engage them, but the reality is there are so many teachers, principals, parents and community members who could have really helped him and his advisors to think about how best to help and do so strategically. Any philanthropist should do due diligence and be in tune with what the community’s needs are.
What was the biggest lesson Zuckerberg seemed to learn from his experience in Newark?
DR: There’s always going to be opposition and there will always be people bent on stopping you at any cost, but I think Zuckerberg learned that you need real How Much Reform Can $100 Million Buy Without Addressing Poverty? - NEA Today:
