UPDATE & ACTION: @GovMurphy Promised To Ditch #PARCC. Is He Going Back On His Word?

Gov. Murphy promised to end PARCC testing. Tell him #KeepYourWord!

Update and Action Alert!

Last week I wrote about S-3381, Sen. Teresa Ruiz's bill to change the state's high school graduation requirements that, if signed into law, could have a devastating effect on thousands of New Jersey high school seniors. 

S-3381 now has a companion Assembly bill. A-4957 was posted by Assembly Education Chair Pamela Lampitt, although as of this writing, it has not been assigned to a committee. The Senate bill will be heard in the Senate Budget room tomorrow at noon.

All of this is moving very quickly, and for no good reason. Both bills are expected to be voted on by the full legislature this week, so quick action is needed (see below for specific action items).

Yesterday Save Our Schools NJ posted an extensive update. You can read the full text here. These are the main concerns: 

The NJ Appellate Court indicated that the current high school graduation testing requirements, which were imposed by the Christie Administration in 2016 and ruled illegal by the Court on December 31, 2018, will stay in effect until the Court rules on the Murphy Administration's request that all current juniors and seniors who had partially or fully met those requirements by December 30 2018 be allowed to graduate under the testing options specified in those requirements. In its December 31 ruling, the court had originally indicated that the Christie graduation requirements would be struck down as of January 31. Those testing requirements are available here.

...

If the Court does not grant the Murphy Administration's request regarding current seniors and juniors, there would need to be some other way for those students to meet the high school graduation testing requirements. If the Court grants the Administration's request to allow current seniors and juniors to graduate under the Christie 2016 regulations, that problem would be solved. 

... 

Currently, NJ law requires students to take a single 11th grade basic skills test of English and math in order to graduate. The Ruiz bill would require students to take as many standardized tests as imposed by the NJ Department of Education and for those tests to be a demonstration of "college and career readiness," even though many students do not intend to go to college and even though this terminology is vague enough to allow a gubernatorial Administration to abuse it. The Ruiz bill also requires students to take the college and career tests before they qualify for any other graduation options, which could force current seniors to take PARCC 10th grade ELA and Algebra 1 tests in order to graduate. 

... 

With the additional time granted by the Appellate Court, there is no need to rush this legislation through. These bills would be a substantial change that is likely to have a major negative impact on our children. They should not be pushed through with back room deals, as is currently happening. Parents, students and other education advocates should be able to testify and the legislature should understand the broad-reaching consequences of these bills before they vote to impose them on our children. (emphasis mine)

Here's why we need to fight the Ruiz/Lampitt bills:

• This would be a major change in our law with no study of the impact on kids or costs to districts
• Doubles down against the promise made by Gov. Murphy to end high school exit testing
• Leaves the class of 2021 and beyond without a clear path to graduation
• It's unclear if the bill actually protects the classes of 2019 and 2020. As written, they may have to take PARCC in order to graduate.

Here's why we need to support S-558/A-672, posted by Sen. Nia Gill and Asw. Mila Jasey respectively:

• They provide immediate relief to all current high school students
• They provide breathing room for the NJDOE to come up with a new assessment system. The current 40-year-old statute has never been reviewed.
• They provide time for the legislature to hold hearings on the use of high school exit tests. Research since the 1970's shows that exit testing is very bad for low-income students, students of color, English language learners and students with disabilities. 
• Only 12 states have some form of exit testing; it is not federally mandated
• More tests = more money spent 

Take Action Today!

Gov. Murphy's office does not believe there will be parent backlash on the Ruiz bill. But, people who've already called his office are reporting frazzled staffers on the other end of the line. 

• Keep calling the Governor's Office: 609-292-6000. Tell him #KeepYourWord: veto S-3381/A-4957 and support S-558/A-672.
• Tweet @GovMurphy. Tell him #KeepYourWord: veto S-3381/A-4957 and support S-558/A-672.
• Call Speaker Coughlin's regional office: 732-855-7441. Tell him to support S-558/A-672 and reject S-3381/A-4957.
• Tweet @SpeakerCoughlin. Tell him to support S-558/A-672 and reject S-3381/A-4957. 
• Call your state reps. Tell them to reject S-3381/A-4957 and support S-558/A-672. Find yours here.
• Share this post and encourage others to take action as well

@GovMurphy Promised To Ditch #PARCC. Is He Going Back On His Word?

What's harder than navigating 'Spaghetti Junction' on the Garden State Parkway? Figuring out what it takes to graduate high school in New Jersey. We thought we had it fixed, but not so fast...

Parents, educators and education activists cheered last month when the New Jersey appellate court struck down the requirement that high school students must pass the PARCC Algebra 1 and English Language Arts 10 tests in order to graduate high school because it violated state law requiring students to take only one exam in 11th grade to graduate. 

There was plenty to cheer about. The test is awful, and was never designed for its current use. From its inception under Gov. Christie, it was met with sustained and vociferous pushback from parents, educators and testing experts. And it has turned our public schools into test-prep and data-collection factories, gavage-feeding our students more and more grade level inappropriate info lest educators be found sleeping at their desks. This despite the fact that New Jersey consistently ranks in the top two or three states in the country for quality public education. The test is so bad that out of the 24 states originally in the PARCC consortium, only one other remains: New Mexico, which consistently finishes at or near dead last. In its first year of administration, we had the second highest opt-out rate in the nation, bested only by New York. But Gov. Christie and his buddies down at the DOE (with plenty of help from some powerful state Democratic lawmakers) couldn't have that egg on their faces, so they forced it on our kids as a graduation requirement.

State graduation requirements have changed so many times in the past five years, that it's clear the DOE has no idea what it's doing. And it's hurting kids. Here are just two of the many, ever-changing grad requirement charts on their website. Want to bring a high school kid or their parents to tears? Have them take a look at all of them and figure it out.

Confused yet?

Gov. Phil Murphy made dumping PARCC one of his signature campaign issues. We grudgingly gave him a pass when he said he couldn't eliminate it for this school year because too many wheels were already in motion. But, when the appellate court rendered its decision, there was much cause for celebration. Until...

A bill introduced... in the state Senate would change state law to accommodate rules created by former Gov. Chris Christie’s administration rather than repealing or revising those rules to comply with state law. The proposal would allow the state to keep in place the current graduation rules, which include the controversial requirement that students pass PARCC exams...

State Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, said she introduced the bill after discussing the ruling with attorneys for Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration. The state no longer gives a standardized test to all 11th grade students, so its options were limited.

 “The easiest way to go about it, we all decided, was to have a legislative fix," said Ruiz, chair of the Senate’s Education Committee. (emphasis mine)

At least she admits it was a back-room deal. But, sorry Senator, you're wrong. Here's "the easiest way to go about it", courtesy of Julie Larrea Borst, Executive Director of Save Our Schools, NJ:

The governor should move immediately to announce an emergency suspension of the graduation testing requirement for the class of 2019. The Legislature then should extend that temporary suspension for a few years, to protect students in subsequent classes and create an opportunity to review New Jersey’s exit testing policy. (emphasis mine)

This review should include representatives from all stakeholder groups, including—and especially—educators, parents and testing experts.

Borst continues: 

Assemblywoman Mila Jasey and Sen. Nia Gill have introduced bipartisan legislation (A672/S558) that would accomplish that, suspending exit testing without interfering with the federal accountability testing requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). 

A review of New Jersey high school exit testing is long overdue. New Jersey adopted exit testing 40 years ago, when the idea was first gaining traction nationally. Over the subsequent four decades, however, multiple studies have documented that exit testing produces no educational benefits; increases high school dropout rates; and feeds the school-to-prison pipeline. Exit tests are particularly damaging for low-income students, students of color, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities. (emphasis mine)

The very students Sen. Ruiz calls "her kids" are the same students most hurt by PARCC testing, but even more so by a high school exit test, and yet, she's introducing S-3381 to the Senate Budget Committee next Monday instead of the Education Committee. 

What is the rush? Since its inception, the call for slowing down, reflecting, analyzing and studying has been loud and clear, but has fallen on many deaf ears on both sides of the aisle in Trenton. To whom are elected officials beholden, and why isn't it the students and parents of New Jersey?

High school exit exams are not federally mandated. In fact, only 12 states require them. And they come at a cost. At a time when the state is strapped for resources, we do not need multiple PARCC tests administered to high school students when the law only requires one.

Never mind the fact that the Murphy administration's own attorneys are in on this fix, presumably with his blessings. If Ruiz's bill passes, Gov. Murphy must veto it or face serious backlash from everyone in this state who voted to end the Christie reign of error. Parents, educators and concerned citizens must call our state representatives and the governor's office and demand an end to the nightmare of standardized testing.

What can you do?

• Call Gov. Murphy at 609-292-6000 and tell him to veto S-3381
• Comment at the governor's Facebook page.
• Tag @GovMurphy on Twitter. Tell him to #KeepYourWord. 
• Call your state representatives and tell them to support the Jasey/Gill bills. Click here to find contact info for yours. 
• Tag your state representatives and members of the Senate Budget Committee on social media. Those members are:

  Sarlo, Paul A. - Chair  Cunningham, Sandra B. - Vice-Chair  Addiego, Dawn Marie      Andrzejczak, Bob     Cruz-Perez, Nilsa      Diegnan, Patrick J.  Greenstein, Linda R.  O'Scanlon, Declan J.  Oroho, Steven V.     Ruiz, M. Teresa  Singleton, Troy  Thompson, Samuel D.

• If possible, attend the Senate budget committee hearing on Monday, 1/28 at noon, committee room 4, and share your concerns. 

NJ FY16 budget: education death by a thousand cuts

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

On June 30th, Gov. Christie will no doubt sign the FY16 budget which includes this: 

Having already violated the state's School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) by underfunding NJ schools to the tune of $6 billion over the past 5 years, the governor, with the approval of the Democratic-majority state legislature, will once again pull precious resources from public schools to give to charters. 

The Education Law Center reports:

This budget leaves districts without any of the $1 billion increase they should have received had the SFRA been properly funded in 2015-16. 

The bottom line from this budget is another round of painful cuts to essential programs, staff and services for many underfunded districts across the state.
... 

[T]he legislators also adopted Governor Christie's proposal to strip $37.5 million from district budgets and give extra funding to NJ charter schools. According to an analysis by the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services, eight districts, including Paterson, Irvington, Trenton, Jersey City and Plainfield, must transfer from $500,000 to $2.3 million in extra funds to charter schools. Newark stands out as charters in the city will reap a $24.5 million windfall, a major reason why the district is facing a massive $50 million budget deficit. By giving Newark charters extra funding, the State-operated district must make even deeper cuts to teachers, courses, support staff and remedial programs for students in the district's public schools. (emphasis mine)

As a result, the district is looking to cut $20 million from the central office budget (not a bad thing), and $10 million from the teacher salary line item (not a good thing).

I don't need to spell this out. This is what Gov. Christie wants: death by a thousand cuts. If a district is this much in the hole, many parents are going to look at charters as a viable alternative. With their low class sizes and (arguable) success rates, many parents simply won't take the chance. So, where does that leave the public schools? As Julia Sass-Rubin of Save Our Schools reports:

This dramatic growth in the number of charter schools seats is coming at a significant price to local school districts, particularly as the charter schools are educating a much less challenging population of students, leaving the local public schools with a concentration of high-poverty, non-English speaking, and special needs students but without the resources they need to provide those students with a high-quality education. 

Local public schools are being gutted of resources and forcibly closed because of inadequate funding, yet the Christie Administration diverted $100 million more to charter schools this year and next year, than what is called for under the charter law. 

This truly is a social justice issue, as a small group of edupreneurs work with the Christie Administration to grow their revenue stream at the expense of local public schools. (emphasis mine)

While I've come to expect this from Christie, Cami, Cerf, Hespe and all the rest, I find it reprehensible that some of our Democratic leaders in Trenton have abandoned the party's core values by turning their backs on their constituents. Unfortunately, many are simply following marching orders from the party bosses who are close allies of the governor. But I wonder how they sleep at night knowing how much they've sold out the very people who voted them in to office. The public trust is broken. The number of Trenton legislators who can truly be counted on to look out for the welfare of the majority of our state's citizens is dwindling.

So, suburban taxpayers, why should you care? Let me put it to you this way: How would any of you feel if our taxpayer-funded public libraries, or any other publicly-funded agencies, suddenly started denying access to people based on their disabilities, socioeconomic status or the language they speak? How would you feel if a wealthy billionaire donated money to open a shiny, new library with all the latest bells and whistles, but you have to win a lottery to step inside? And your taxpayer dollars were diverted to that shiny, new library thus reducing the quality of services provided by your local library? And how would you feel if you managed to win one of those golden tickets only to be eventually told that you aren't the 'right fit' so you can't go there anymore?

This is what's happening in urban districts all across this state. Your tax dollars are being used to aid and abet the segregation of our state's highest-need school districts. And the FY2016 budget is only making things worse.

We cannot stay silent.

At a time when the Newark school district is bleeding money and students to support the rise of segregationist charter schools, this is not how I want my tax dollars spent. Taxpayers in the suburbs need to care because public education is about educating all students; not just yours, not just mine—all of them. As a society, as a nation, we are ultimately judged on how we treat the least of our brothers and sisters. In this budget, the state is turning its back on the least. 

If you don't want your tax dollars spent like this, if you believe that all students deserve access to a thorough and efficient education, call Senate President Steve Sweeney at (856) 339-0808, then call your state representative. The link to contacts is on the right. The budget has to be signed, sealed and delivered by Tuesday, June 30th, so don't delay.

Adding: The longer this continues in our urban school districts, the more I'm reminded of this movie:

An open letter to Rowan University President, Dr. Ali A. Houshmand

Dear Dr. Houshmand,

I understand that you have invited Gov. Chris Christie to be the keynote speaker at next month’s commencement ceremonies and that you are bestowing an honorary degree on him. Why?

As you well know, Rowan University started out as a teachers college, and in fact in 1937, the school’s name was changed to New Jersey State Teachers College at Glassboro. Your school’s own website describes it thus:

"The college gained a national reputation as a leader in the field of reading education and physical therapy when it opened a clinic for children with reading disabilities in 1935... The college was one of the first in the country to recognize these needs and was in the forefront of the special education movement." (emphasis mine)

Correct me if I am wrong, but no other New Jersey governor has treated public education, students and teachers with such vile contempt as Gov. Christie. No other New Jersey governor that I know of has denigrated, demonized and tried to destroy one of the best public education systems in the country the way Gov. Christie has. He has cut billions from education funding, which has resulted in 10,000 educators losing their jobs. He has contributed to and expanded the racial and socioeconomic segregation of our urban school districts with policies like One Newark. He has accused teachers of being ‘greedy, selfish and disgraceful’ and using our students as ‘drug mules’. If you need more proof, here it is, and as blogger, TeacherBiz said in her post on this issue, if that’s not enough, just Google it.

It would be bad enough if this were an isolated political bent, but it’s not. Gov. Christie’s attacks on public education are part of a well-organized, highly funded nationwide campaign to privatize public education, destroy teachers unions and turn the teaching profession into a low-paid, high-turnover test proctor service. If you are not aware of this, then again, I must ask, ‘Why?’ As an educator and president of one of the state’s premier teachers colleges, how can you not know what is happening in K-12 education, how can you not be up in arms about it, and how can you bestow honors on someone hell-bent on destroying one of the bedrocks of a democracy, and something that New Jersey does better than almost every other state in the country?  

To bestow an honorary degree on Gov. Christie would be a slap in the face to all the hard working education majors graduating that day, not to mention all the alumni of the school of education, every education professional working in New Jersey, and every single child who attends a New Jersey public school. It also sends a powerful message that you support his destructive public education policies. Do you really want that as part of your legacy?

Christina and Joseph Nappi have started a Change.org petition calling on you to reconsider your decision. Mr. Nappi also wrote a letter to the South Jersey Times imploring you to reconsider. The petition and letter are picking up steam on social media. I urge you to please reconsider this decision. I urge you to take a stand for public education and against the corporatization of one of the last vestiges of a strong democracy. Unless and until educators stand up against the privatization juggernaut, our children don’t stand a chance. You can lead the way.

Thank you.

'Cosmos', The Spanish Inquisition and Education 'Reform' in NJ

Within the first 5 minutes of the new ‘Cosmos’ series hosted by astrophysicist, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, he takes a not-too-subtle jab at creationists and climate deniers when he describes the explorers and dreamers over the course of human history who dared to imagine what was out there in space, and how we all got here.

Imagination alone isn’t enough. This adventure is made possible by generations of searchers, strictly adhering to a simple set of rules:

• Test ideas by experimentation and observation.
• Build on those ideas that pass the test.
• Reject the ones that fail.
• Follow the evidence wherever it leads.
• Question everything.

He might as well have been talking about the education community, which for over a decade has been at the mercy of the ‘reformy’ Inquisitors who just refuse to accept the mountains of research and evidence that disclaim their ideology because it all leads back to one thing: poverty. But poverty is messy, and they can’t profit from it. But they can make a profit from charter schools, merit pay, union busting, mass firings of teachers, SGOs, SGPs, standardized testing, and all the other garbage they keep throwing at teachers and students.

So, with help from the likes of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Broad Foundation and The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) they manufactured an education crisis and, packaged and marketed it to as many elected officials—both Republican and Democrat—as possible around the country.

But something very interesting is happening, something they probably didn’t expect: parents, teachers, community leaders and students from coast to coast are fighting back because the reforms are archaic and outright damaging to students, the teaching profession and public education. And the fight is alive and well here in the Garden State. We are blessed to have the likes of Blue Jersey’s own, Jersey Jazzman, Rutgers Graduate School of Education Professor, Dr. Bruce Baker, suburban-mom-turned-education-activist, Darcie Cimarusti, aka Mother Crusader, and retired Star Ledger reporter, Bob Braun, among the many New Jersey bloggers reporting from the front lines (because you won’t find much coverage in the mainstream news).

‘The Fight’—as I like to call it—was on full display last Wednesday in Trenton. For hours, a standing room only crowd of educators, parents and concerned citizens testified in front of the New Jersey State Board of Education about the horrendous physical, emotional and financial effects of education ‘reform’ on one of the best public school systems in the nation. I documented much of the testimony here and here. NJEA gave each board member a binder full of over 1,000 letters from educators all over the state detailing their uphill battles against draconian budget cuts, stifling standards and endless, mindless test prep. The testimony was moving: some speakers cried, others yelled, some spoke softly but carried a big stick, one brought pictures of her own two children for the board to see who is really being affected. These were not greedy teachers or union thugs. They were passionate, articulate, well-educated members of the overall community that supports public education.

Today, ‘the fight’ takes center stage in Trenton once again, as the legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Schools hosts a hearing on Superintendent Cami Anderson’s controversial One Newark plan which, in addition to closing schools, seeks an end run around the landmark TEACHNJ law (aka ‘tenure reform’) so she can fire veteran educators to hire more low-wage, low-skilled Teach for America recruits, because you know, anyone can be a teacher in 5 weeks! I’m surprised I haven’t seen an infomercial yet. “For just 3 easy payments of $19.95 you too can pad your resume—er, teach for a couple of years in a really challenging school district because experienced educators are so overrated (and overpaid)—before moving on to that high-paying white collar executive career you’ve always dreamed of!”

The Good Ship Ed Reform has run aground in Port Newark. It’s listing to port and it’s taking on water. Christie’s poll numbers are tanking (and he’s been mum on all the craziness in Newark), Cerf is off to Amplify—you know, that company he has no idea as to whether they have contracts in New Jersey—and Cami’s gone into hiding. We still don’t know if she or anyone else from her staff will be at today’s hearing.

But we do know this: it should be filled with a whole lot of people with a whole lot of facts to disprove One Newark. Senator Ron Rice (D-Essex) is all over this; he’s sponsored legislation that would include public input on any school closings. And Senate Education Committee Chair and architect of the TEACHNJ law, Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), is not happy that Anderson wants to play fast and loose with the law. Her resolution objecting to the waiver passed both the Senate and the Assembly.

I’m really hoping that the confluence of all these events is a sign that the planets will align; that fact—not fiction—will once again begin to drive education policy; and that the education reform inquisition will be burned at the stake.

It would be this funny if it weren't so true.

I leave you with this quote from last Wednesday:

“This whole process was started on a false assumption. New Jersey does not have failing schools.”

We have too high a concentration of students living in poverty in our large urban areas.