The debate over the performance of charter schools isn’t new in New Jersey, but it’s growing louder -- and possibly more strident -- with Gov. Chris Christie’s vow to expand them in number and scope.
But a related dispute also is being carried out both in and outside of the state over how to evaluate the performance of charters, an argument that pits academia against advocacy.
Over the past several months, a flurry of data has been parsed and prodded to determine how New Jersey’s 73 charters schools fare against the state’s traditional public schools. And often depending on the numbers being used, the answers have varied significantly.
The state’s charter school advocates, both inside the state Department of Education (DOE) and within the schools and their umbrella organizations, have pointed to a handful of charters as some of the highest-performing schools in their respective cities, if not in the state.
Compared with district averages, most charters have done better, they say, especially in eighth
At a time when school superintendent pay is all the talk in New Jersey, NJ Spotlight talks withWilliam Attea, senior associate and chairman of the national school leadership search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. The Illinois-based firm has been conducting nationwide searches for more than two decades, including in scores of New Jersey districts, most recently in Marlboro, Moorestown, Westfield and Lawrence. It is now conducting a search in Livingston for an assistant superintendent.
Question: How does New Jersey rate when it comes to superintendent searches?
Answer: New Jersey is looked upon as an attractive place to work. You have some very good school districts, and we always get very good response. The one problem we have had in New Jersey is you have a pretty rigid certification system. The lack of reciprocity with other states is one
The man who will decide whether Cathleen P. Black, a publisher with no educational leadership experience, is qualified to lead the nation’s largest school system is himself a career educator known for his efforts to better prepare teachers for the classroom.
David M. Steiner, the state education commissioner, at a hearing in Albany in January. He started in the job in October 2009.
But David M. Steiner, the New York State education commissioner, is also a well-regarded figure among the school reform movement, whose guiding principle is that American students are best served by a results-driven, businesslike approach to education management.
In the debate over Ms. Black’s qualifications — or lack of them — Dr. Steiner has quickly emerged as a focal point in what is widely expected to be a contentious process. State law requires all school chiefs to hold a professional certificate in educational leadership and to have at least three years’ experience in schools, two qualifications she lacks. The law allows for the education commissioner to grant a waiver to “exceptionally qualified persons.”
In introducing herself this week to a surprised city as the next New York City schools chancellor, Cathleen P. Black asked for the one thing that may prove to be impossible.
Cathleen P. Black, chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, was named this week by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to replace Joel I. Klein, New York City's schools chancellor since 2002.
“I have no illusion about this being an easy next three years — quite the opposite,” said Ms. Black, a publishing executive without political or education leadership experience. “But what I ask for is your patience, as I get up to speed on the issues facing K-12 education.”
But there will be no cushy learning period for Ms. Black.
Jim Enochs of Ceres, Stanislaus County has the biggest pension in the entire California State Teachers' Retirement System – a hefty $285,460.
But he says he’s just as worried as anyone that the soaring cost of public employee pensions is driving the Golden State into a permanent financial hole.
Meanwhile, if you think he’s one of those guys who worked the system to spike his benefits and then bailed out at the first opportunity – please, he asks, think again.
“I am not the least bit embarrassed by my retirement,” he said in a recent interview.
But, he added: “I do understand, when the taxpayers say they’re mad” about what experts have taken to calling California’s pension bomb. “It ticks me off, too,” he said.
Enochs, 75, spent a lifetime in Modesto schools, first as a government teacher and then, for 21 years, as superintendent of schools.
His innovative “The Fourth R: Responsibility” educational program won national acclaim and
SAN FRANCISCO, November 9, 2010—California can significantly improve the way it funds public schools by making strategic changes now, according to a report released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
The PPIC report outlines a strategy to reform California’s school finance system—widely considered to be inadequately funded, inequitable, and overly complex. There is unlikely to be additional money available soon to address the first of these concerns—the level of funding. But the system can be made more equitable and transparent, and doing so would prepare the state to make the most of any additional resources in the future.
"Given California’s budget problems, school finance reform isn’t likely to happen overnight,” says Margaret Weston, PPIC research associate and author of the report. "But small investments over time can add up to a big change. This approach wouldn’t require a major investment in a single year and would ensure that no district would see a decrease in funding per pupil.”
The funding system today is a product of piecemeal changes made over four decades. Before the 1970s, each school district levied its own property taxes and the revenue made up the bulk of funding for district schools. But a Supreme Court decision in 1971 found this system unconstitutional and the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978 lowered the amount of property tax revenue available to schools. As a result, the burden of financing public schools shifted largely to the state. K-12 education is the largest area of spending in the state budget, and schools are allocated money based on a complex array of laws and formulas. Similar districts serving similar students currently get widely varying amounts of money per pupil. Districts with higher per-pupil costs—those with many disadvantaged students, for example—don’t necessaril
