A Tale of Two Education Systems: A New Jersey Story

In the name of school 'choice', education 'reformers' have stripped away choice for people of color

We see it time and again in our low-income/high minority, inner cities all across the country: public schools, the glue that holds neighborhoods together, are shuttered or flipped to charters in the name of 'reform', and parents and community members have absolutely no say.

But not so in mostly wealthy, mostly White, suburban America. I live in one such place: Hunterdon County, NJ, one of America's wealthiest counties. About 15 minutes down the road from me is the tiny, gorgeously bucolic, rural, Delaware River town of Stockton. With a population of only 516, the median household income is $93,049, it's 96.5% White, and the median house value is $384,200. 

With only 50 students, Stockton Borough School is New Jersey's oldest and smallest school, and the community doesn't want it to close. But because of declining enrollment, it's not exactly cost-effective to keep it open. But, after a packed community forum, former Stockton Borough Board of Education member, David L. Pasicznyk, wrote a letter to the school district:

"As you have undoubtedly noticed at the recent meeting at the Stockton Firehouse, where approximately 100 supporters turned out, the school is the glue that holds our community together. To have that many supporters (over 20-percent of the borough's population) show up at a mid-week evening meeting should be an indicator of the value that we, young and old, place on the school." 

Board President Dan Seiter told the audience Monday night that the board had heard the community's wish that the school remain open...

Superintendent Lou Muenker will work to create a committee made up of parents, residents of the entire district, teachers, staff and board members to look at ways to increase enrollment at the school, as well as make recommendations on the best use of the facility in the future. (emphasis mine) 

Don't get me wrong; I'm happy that the school will remain open at least another year. Hunterdon County has excellent schools, and I'm sure Stockton Borough School is one of them. I'm happy the school board is fulfilling the will of the people who want the very best for their children—and who are paying the bills. But, Stockton Borough would never dream of closing its school with that many people standing in opposition. However, in this era of education 'reform', school closings are business as usual in urban centers like Newark, Camden or Philadelphia—where parents' voices are simply ignored—or Chicago, where parents and community members went on a hunger strike to try to get the board of education to listen:

The larger issue, the protesters say, is how the district and city government ignore the input of local parents and students, especially when that input comes from racial minorities. In 2013, the city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, closed 49 schools — a move that was met with widespread resistance and disproportionately impacted minority communities. 

“What school district in their right mind would demonize and run away from parents that are activated to improve their schools?” protester Jitu Brown previously told The Huffington Post. 

“They just ignore us because they were hell-bent on closing this school and several other schools in this neighborhood, as if there’s no hope for black kids in neighborhood schools, and that’s just not true,” he said. (emphasis mine)

School closings—no matter where they are—are disruptive. But, if you live in wealthy, White America, the odds of that happening against your will are slim to none.

How many parents, students and community members all across this country have packed urban board of ed meetings, fighting to keep their neighborhood schools open? Fighting to prevent the destruction of their communities? Fighting against privatization? Fighting for their democratic right to determine how their tax dollars are spent, while those in charge turn a deaf ear? How many parents, students and concerned citizens in cities all across this country have marched in the streets against the destruction of public education in their neighborhoods? How many of these concerned citizens have been ignored by school boards that are often appointed rather than elected?

Too many. 

Want to see what people of color have to go through to get their boards of education to listen to them? Check out NJ Communities United's Facebook page. These dedicated parents and community members are relentless in their efforts to make their voices heard in Newark, even going so far as to follow former NJ Education Commissioner turned Superintendent, 'Reformy' Chris Cerf, to a swanky charter school function after he abruptly left a board of ed meeting right before the public address portion. I'm sorry I wasn't able to embed this video, but scroll down their page until you see it:

This would never, ever happen in New Jersey's mostly wealthy, mostly White suburbs. Nor would it happen in almost any other upper middle class suburb in any state in this country. But for far too many people of color who live in our urban centers, this is a daily occurrence.

Money and skin color speak louder than words in America. Money and skin color open doors of opportunity in every area of life, and it starts with education. This is the great Civil Rights conundrum that education 'reformers'—many of whom are people of color, all of whom are 'choice' zealots—have wrought upon the very communities they are trying to 'help'. They say zip code shouldn't matter, but they are the very ones making it harder for students in certain zip codes to choose the education they want.

'Choice' does not equal 'access'.

The Ten Commandments of Public Education

I. Public schools are open to everyone. Thou shalt not call charter schools public because they aren't.

• Charter schools do not have elected boards that answer to the public 
• Charter schools are not subject to the same laws and regulations as public schools
• Charter schools can and do cherry pick the best students
• Through convoluted business deals many charter school operators make enormous sums of money but the schools perform on average, no better than public schools 
• Education is a right of every citizen in the US. Closing schools, and denying students access to a thorough and efficient education (New Orleans and Newark are 2 recent examples) takes away that right.
• 'Choice' does not equal 'Access'. A lottery does not guarantee every child who wants to attend a charter will be able to attend—and graduate.

II. Thou shalt not take the name of teachers in vain.

• No bashing, trashing, demoralizing or name calling
• We're not greedy, lazy or selfish
• We're not all inept or incompetent. As in any profession, there are some who are not doing a good job. It's the administrator's job to take all legal steps necessary to help the educator, or file tenure charges.
• We are not sitting around waiting to collect a pension
• We are not responsible for the physical, emotional and psychological baggage our students carry with them to school every day
• We are not responsible for poor parenting
• We are highly educated taxpayers, neighbors, citizens, voters and productive members of society who deserve to be treated with the same respect as any other profession

III. Keep holy the instructional time, the professional development time and yes, the down time.

• Our professional development time should be spent developing our craft, collaborating with peers and strategizing for our students—not doing meaningless busy work like data collection
• Many educators put in 60+ hours a week, so burn out is a real issue. If educators are burned out, they are less effective. With the increased emphasis on testing and test prep, the amount of work educators are now expected to do is simply unrealistic
• We want to teach to students—not to tests

IV. Honor thy educators

• We are the solution—not the problem
• We want a seat at the table
• Education 'reform' that is done to educators instead of with educators will fail. Just ask Michelle Rhee.
• Tenure is not a recipe for 'bad teaching'. There is no correlation between tenure and 'failing students'. Tenure means due process—'innocent until proven guilty'. The court of public opinion is not the place to decide the fate of an educator. It should not take years and enormous amounts of money to remove an ineffective educator from the classroom. States have already revised tenure laws to shorten the length of the process. NY and NJ are perfect examples. 


• Don't sugar coat us with compliments, praise and syrupy-sweet pronouncements, and don't tell the world that educators should be paid more while simultaneously trying to destroy basic job protections and slashing funding which will deter highly qualified and capable graduates from making a career in education. With all those dogs who ate all that homework, our b.s. radar is pretty high.

V. Thou shalt not kill public education

• Fund public education! Every dollar that is cut is another nail in the coffin. 

VI. Thou shalt not lie cheat on test scores

• Cheating is cheating. When you do it, everyone suffers—especially students. This goes for public as well as charter schools. 

VII. Thou shalt not steal mine student data 

• No selling to/sharing with for-profit education companies
• No selling to/sharing with people and businesses that have no educational experience
• No selling to/sharing with public media that will use it to attack educators

VIII. Thou shalt not bear false witness against public education

• The effects of poverty have been proven to impede brain function and a child's ability to learn
• The US has the second highest child poverty rate in the industrialized world
• When poverty is factored out, US students rank among the best in the world
• We do not have 'failing' schools. We have segregated schools in high poverty neighborhoods.
• We do not have an epidemic of 'bad teachers'. We have many educators who face enormous challenges working in high poverty schools that are underfunded and understaffed.
• Good prenatal care has been proven to help students perform better in school, yet the US has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the industrialized world
• We do not have a high school dropout 'crisis'. The US high school graduation rate for students who earn a diploma in four years is almost 80%; it's about 90% for those who earn it in four to six years.
• Some reasons students take more than four years to earn a diploma: military service, prolonged illness, moving either out of the country or for migratory work, going to work to help support the family
• Testing does not improve teaching or student learning
• Testing does not fix chronic poverty 

IX. Thou shalt not covet thy neighborhood public school's best and brightest students

• Charter schools skim the best students from the top and counsel out or simply do not provide services for the most challenging and therefore most expensive students, who are then sent back to the underfunded public schools

X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighborhood public school's resources

• Every child who leaves a public school to attend a charter school takes up to 90% of their per-pupil funding with them, but the public school's fixed costs don't decrease. This combined with unprecedented funding cuts to public education depletes valuable resources and renders public schools less able to do their job.

The gentrification of Camden's schools Part II: Love is all you need

gentrification—noun 1. the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.

In Part I of my interview with Camden educator, Keith Benson we talked about his views on the state takeover, what his students face on a daily basis, and whether he thinks the charters coming into the city can truly address the needs of children living in chronically high poverty. Part II is at the end of this post.

Camden has been in the news a lot lately. Earlier this week on her show, Radio Times, Marty Moss-Coane of Philadelphia's public broadcasting station, WHYY, interviewed David Sciarra, Executive Director of NJ's Education Law Center, Stephen Danley, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Administration at Rutgers University, who also writes the Local Knowledge blog, and Carmen Crespo, parent activist and member of the grassroots pro-public education group Save Our Schools NJ about the separate and unequal state takeover of Camden's public schools. Last month she interviewed Camden Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard, the TFA alum and former Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer of Newark Public Schools. 

The public outcry against the decimation of public education in the poorest, most dangerous city in the country has been well documented here, here, here, here and here. There is much more, and I encourage readers to search for themselves.

Notice that all but the WHYY link are to blogs, and there are more blog links below. Apartheid is alive and well in NJ and around the country as scores of black and brown children living in high poverty are being discriminated against, their schools closed, their neighborhoods up-ended, and their voices silenced. And yet the mainstream media is perfectly content to ignore it while rolling out the red carpet for Campbell Brown. And if you're reading this and still have no idea who she is and what she's up to, start here.

But I digress. When last we left Keith, we were just starting to talk about Bing Howell and his 'portfolio management' plan for Camden's schools, which Keith calls "racist, insulting and exploitative".

Who is Bing Howell?

Yea, because shaking up is just what kids in high poverty districts need.

Kevin Shelly of the Courier-Post describes* the former Broadie, former NJDOE 'reformer', and architect of the Camden School District's 'Renaissance' thusly:

Howell serves as a liaison to Camden for the creation of four Urban Hope Act charter schools. He reports directly to the deputy commissioner of education, Andy Smerick. Howell’s proposal suggests that he oversee the intervention through portfolio management — providing a range of school options with the state, not the district, overseeing the options. He would be assisted by Rochelle Sinclair, another DOE employee. Both Howell and Sinclair are fellows of the Los Angeles-based Broad Foundation.** (emphasis mine)

Please take a moment to peruse the intervention proposal, aka: 'portfolio management' plan. Nowhere does it say anything about how to address individual students' needs. Nowhere does it say anything about addressing poverty, post traumatic stress disorder, hunger, homelessness, lead poisoning, fetal alcohol syndrome, autism, dyslexia, language barriers, physical and mental abuse, and all the other issues children living in chronically high poverty endure. Nowhere does it address the crumbling infrastructure in some of Camden's schools. But it does say plenty about decreasing the number of 'seats' in traditional public schools and increasing the number of 'seats' in charters and nonpublic schools: 

Numbers don't lie. They don't want to improve public education; they want to improve 'choice', aka 'options'. But as we've seen time and again in one high poverty city after another, in one charter school after another, 'choice' ≠ 'access'. Oh there can be choices, and parents can have access to those choices as in, they can mark an 'X' on an application to several schools and hope they get in to one, or hope they hold the winning lottery ticket to the shiny new charter school (can I buy one at the corner store?), but the chances their child will actually gain access to that charter, will actually step foot inside and remain there until graduation are dependent on a whole host of criteria way down in the fine print that's printed with invisible ink.

And here's what Keith has to say about it all:

The new state-appointed superintendent, Paymon Rouhanifard, has just completed his first full school year at the helm. What changes did you notice under his leadership?

I know the superintendent pretty well. He's a very smart and likable man. Having said that, I don't know whether he has direct control over the direction the Renaissance Schools and that process are heading. I don't know if it's a reflection of what he, specifically, would like to have done. That was put into motion well before he got here with the Urban Hope Act and the portfolio management plan that was laid out in 2011 by Bing Howell, who is now in Tennessee.

The plan is insulting, racist, exploitative and marginalizing. The community has been shut out, and it's not going to benefit students one bit. When you look at some of the curriculum and pedagogy that they've put online, some of it is absolutely dreadful. And I would never have my child in a school that does any of those things. They're not creative, they're rote, they're 'no excuses', there are no opportunities for students to develop their own individual self interests. And you combine that with the fact that the 3 charter operators can open up to 5 schools each, that affects a lot of students. 

I find it insulting that, out of all the excellent graduate schools of education in the state, they're handing over our professional development to Relay, which was started by the founders of KIPP and Uncommon, and which has absolutely no experience in dealing with our population of students. The fact that they can give professional development to public school educators shows just how much of a foothold these private, charter operators have gained in our district—a district where the public has been silenced and pushed aside for years. The citizens have no way to address their grievances concerning this. 

For more on the new professional development plan, see this post by blogger Ani McHugh (aka. TeacherBiz).

Does the board still hold public meetings? Are parents and community member still going to meetings and speaking out? 

Yes. It's been increasingly contentious. It's unfortunate, but that's what happens when you have a board of education that is completely beholden to the mayor's and superintendent's agenda. There are no checks and balances which exist in other school districts with elected boards. And that's what I find particularly disturbing. In mostly wealthy, mostly white, suburban districts the community has a lot of input into how their schools are run, but because we are poor and minority, we aren't afforded that same right. That screams racism. And some folks find that practice acceptable.  

Now that these charters are scheduled to open in the fall, what cuts have you seen in the public schools?

Our budget has been cut by $72 million and coincidentally $72 million has been allocated to the charter schools. So, our district's budget has been decimated and educators laid off, and at the same time, the charter budget has exploded. It's not hard to connect the dots.

How is your association working with all of these changes? Is the central office staff listening to the concerns of the educators?

I can't speak to how much or if the superintendent's office is listening, I can just comment that, based on our board of ed meetings, when members of the superintendent's staff are there, they are 'hearing' us, but it doesn't appear they are really 'listening'. We take the time to make meaningful comments and we just get these blank stares back. I'm really not sure what happens when our association leaders speak with them in private, but that's what happens in public. I know our association president is trying to work with Rouhanifard, and at the same time also trying to save jobs. It's a delicate dance and I don't think our association—and the NJEA for that matter—are doing enough to address this emergency. Public education in Camden is dying, and the hands of the Camden Education Association are kind of tied because the NJEA endorsed the Urban Hope Act. Unfortunately that leaves our educators and our schools on an island where no one is really in a position to defend us, so we kind of have to do whatever we think we can to save our students.

Note: While the NJEA originally supported the Urban Hope Act because it was going to be a pilot program with one experimental school that would be part of Cooper Medical Center, the program exploded, and it soon became clear that the charter schools were discriminating against students who are the most challenging, and therefore most expensive, to educate. In response to recent proposed changes to the act, which greatly expand the scale and scope of the charter schools, President Wendall Steinhauer issued a strongly worded statement including this:

“The original legislation enacted in 2012 was never intended to give private operators a blank check to take over buildings, skim off higher-achieving students and drain the resources of the Camden schools in the process,” he said. “Passage of this legislation expands the existing law, enabling the massive corporate takeover of the Camden Public Schools.”

NJEA opposed the latest legislation, which passed both houses of the Legislature in late June, because it would greatly expand the scope of the 2012 law.  It would open the door to Mastery and Uncommon, which, in other cities, have siphoned off scarce resources from the public schools. The governor’s conditional veto would eliminate an early retirement incentive in the bill, which would have mitigated the impact of school closures on Camden school employees and their families. Hundreds of teachers and staff have already been laid off as the district expands the number of charter schools. 

Play armchair superintendent: If you were running the school district, what would you do to help the students in Camden get the best educational experience they possibly can? 

A pedagogy of care and love is of utmost import. I would stress the need for our educators to have a very close and loving relationship with their students, to go out of their way to show students they care because until a student believes you care about them, your message isn't going to get through to them. The substantive learning can take place after that. 

I would also put additional money into the supplemental wrap-around services that we discussed earlier. Making sure students are getting the counseling, the food, the extra support to help alleviate the blocks that make attending school difficult. More social services—a lot more social services, things that focus on the whole child—not just the student. 

And then there would be a lot less testing, because we test kids here like you wouldn't believe. We have end-of-unit testing every quarter. We have MAP testing twice a year. In addition to juniors and seniors taking the HSPA. And now there will be more with the PARCC testing starting this school year. There is so much testing that the classes get fragmented because you get into a groove in teaching and learning then suddenly you have to stop for testing. Things happen in fits and starts, and that's not the way classrooms are supposed to operate. It's disruptive to the learning process. 

I would also encourage, and beg and implore the community to be authentically involved in the direction of the district. The kids represent the city. They are part of the city. They live here, so without parental and community input, you're not engaging the constituency you're here to serve.  

Love, care, community involvement and supplemental services: if you take care of those things, it's a lot easier to educate. We have to treat students as people first. 

Exactly. You have to build up the infrastructure first. When the US goes into poor or war-ravaged countries and helps to rebuild them, we don't start at the top and work our way down; we start with the foundations, the infrastructure, the roots, and build people and communities up. When we build schools in those countries, we don't implement relentless testing, and exclude students. It continually amazes me that 'reformers' refuse to see that high poverty students need so much more than a test or sitting in a straight row or keeping their shirt tucked in to help them succeed.

Absolutely, because if we're being really honest, this education 'reform' movement is not about helping students succeed, it's about helping private corporations get access to public dollars. And this has been an effort that has been underway since the 1980's. And they've finally figured out a way to get it done. This is not about improving education.

We have buildings like Trenton High School that are literally falling down around students, that are unsafe and impede their ability to learn, and we have no money to fix them, yet we can pull funding from these school districts to give to charter schools. What's the infrastructure like in Camden's school buildings? 

I don't know... sometimes I think I've become immune to all the problems. I just don't see them anymore. Many of our buildings, like Woodrow Wilson and Camden High, were built in the early 1900's so you expect certain things need fixing. There are certainly some issues here, and I believe there are plans to address them in the future. It remains to be seen what will happen.

Any parting thoughts?

I really think it's telling that if improving education is the goal, why aren't education practitioners involved? How come we aren't consulted as to what schools and students need? Even education researchers are not consulted. Business people are. And these people along with those who run the charters make a whole lot of money.  

If you wanted to improve the educational outcomes of students in this area, how would it make sense to bring in the most inexperienced people to teach our students? In no other profession or industry would that exist. If I have a medical issue, I wouldn't want the most inexperienced doctor to work on me. I don't think anyone would. We want the most experienced doctors. Why isn't it the same when we talk about educating our children?   

The answer is very simple, folks. In a town that has seen so much hate, educators know that this is what students need to truly be able to learn, and it doesn't cost a penny...






Many thanks to all the incredible bloggers and activists who continue to shine a light on the racist and discriminatory practices of ed 'reform'. Those whose work I linked into this post include (in no particular order): Ani McHugh (aka TeacherBiz), Jersey Jazzman, Diane Ravitch, Stephen Danley, Education Law Center, Julia Sass-Rubin, Save Our Schools, EduShyster, Anthony Cody and Blue Jersey. Links to all their blogs, and many other excellent ones, are on the right. Please check them out and keep spreading the word.


* Note: The original link to Shelly's Courier-Post piece is down. The link above is to a post from Jersey Jazzman who quotes extensively from it. 
** Howell left that post at NJDOE to work for 5 months as HR director of the Camden-based Regional Achievement Center (RAC). He then left for a position in the Tennessee DOE's Office of School Improvement.

The Gentrification of Camden's Schools Part I

gentrification—noun 1. the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.

Since public educators have been largely excluded from the education 'reform' agenda, it's up to bloggers and others on social media to tell our side of the story. And that story cannot be told without including the socioeconomic and developmental impacts on children living in poverty. Nowhere in the United States exemplifies this like Camden. 

The bitingly witty Massachusetts ed blogger EduShyster recently posted a guest blog by Camden educator, Keith Benson, on how the gentrification of that city is really for 'other people'. Please be sure to read it. This quote sums up what Keith lives every day:

It’s as if the city so desperately needs people with disposal income that those who have it are catered to relentlessly. And underneath such puzzling interactions is a deep frustration that much of Camden is not designed for its residents because of their low incomes…The message to local residents is clear: The nice things here aren’t for you. We need other people.

That post inspired me to write this companion piece about how elected and appointed officials from every political stripe continue to hammer nails into Camden's coffin in the name of education 'reform' and economic development. 

It's a story that must continue to be told because in the most dangerous city in the country, the only strength people really have is their collective voice. So I sat down with Keith, a doctoral student at Rutgers University and a Camden High School social studies educator with 10 years in the district, to talk about what it's like to work in a high-poverty district, the obstacles he and his coworkers face, and what he thinks is the best way to help his students succeed.

This is Part I of what will be at least a 2 part interview.

Prior to the state takeover, what was your overall opinion of the administration in the school district? Were they supportive? Were they getting the job done? Or was it a train heading for derailment?

I've taught at Woodrow Wilson, MetEast and Camden High Schools, and I've had a very good relationship with all my administrators. Every administrator I've worked for was very passionate about their role in educating students, and their expectations of students and staff. 

As far as district administration, in my eyes, they came across as aloof at times, disaffected, having their heads in the sand. But that might just be perception based, and not really what was taking place. Early on in my career I was more focused on what was going on in my classroom, so I didn't have a lot of dealings with the district administration.

(Note: The tenures of previous Superintendents Bessie LeFra Young and Annette Knox were marred by controversy, including a cheating scandal. See here and here.)

Prior to the state takeover, did you have enough supplies and resources to do your job? Was the money getting into the classrooms or did you think it was being spent on other things?

Based on what I saw and experienced, I do believe the money had been spent relatively well. I'm not aware of any spending improprieties. I'm not saying that didn't happen; I'm just saying I'm not aware of it. I believe the previous administrations had the best intentions with some of the initiatives, but sometimes the best plans go awry. I had a lot of support from previous administrations, and I think the perceptions some people have about them are misplaced. (emphasis mine)

(Note: See here for information about financial mismanagement in the district.)

Why do you think the state came in and took over?

This is a multifaceted answer. I want to first stress that Mayor Dana Redd requested that Camden be taken over by the state. That's important because she's had very little relationship with the Camden public schools. Even though she's from here, she never attended any of these schools, she never taught in any of these schools, so she has no substantive knowledge of what takes place in them, what they need, and what they need to improve. I think her motivation came about from looking at QSAC scores and test results, which I believe give the state much more incentive to charterize and privatize urban districts.

I think she has a far reaching plan to gentrify the schools. She believes that people are not choosing to live in Camden because of the school system. Forget about all the other issues the city of Camden has, in her mind it's not infrastructure, it's not safety, it's not poverty. She's convinced that schools are the reason why people aren't living here. So in her mind, the public schools have to be pretty much done away with in order to have a different population. So, the state takeover was orchestrated by her and, I'm pretty sure, some of the political bosses she works with.

At every turn the mayor has alienated and compromised community input. Not only has the state taken over and put in the superintendent they chose, she appoints the board of education members. This is where education and politics intertwine because 4 or 5 of the board members are Camden County Democratic Committee people as well. So our board of education is really an operating arm of the political machine down here. So, these are not education-based decisions; these decisions are very political. We as educators look at what's best for children whereas they look at what's best for politics—what's best for their political friends and donors. 

That's pretty powerful. We see what happens to the poor when neighborhoods are gentrified, but when you're talking about 'gentrification' of the schools, you're really talking about getting rid of students who have learning disabilities, speak a different language or have psychological or developmental delays that make them more difficult and expensive to educate. That's a terrible blow to their self esteem. What are some of the challenges your students face? What do they come to school with every day? And are the strict discipline policies of the charter schools that are opening—Uncommon, KIPP and Mastery—good for students?

The charters are pretty test heavy, very 'no excuses'. This is their model. I've taught students who attended a city charter school and were put out because their behavior was deemed to be too disruptive. You have to ask yourself what that does to a student when you're rejecting them? 'This school is for these kids, you're not cut out for it. You have to go back to the public school that's the dumping ground.' What does that do to a child's self esteem? 

When you're dealing with children who live in concentrated poverty and a lot of violence, there are a lot of residual effects. I'm not saying that learning isn't foremost in students' minds, but as a teacher, there are a lot of other things that need to be addressed. There have been many studies that show that students who live in high poverty/high violence areas suffer from post traumatic stress disorder at even higher rates than some soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. And that's something that's given very little regard by 'reformers' but it's a very big hurdle in the educative process between teacher and student. So a lot of what we're doing is building up students as individuals; showing love and care. And until we do those things, teaching content is a waste of time. So, we spend a lot of time just showing and telling students, "I care about you. I love you. You mean a lot to me. This is a place where you can come and feel safe" before you even get into the reading, writing and arithmetic. 

Some of these violent occurrences are in students' families or their social network, so they bring those stories, that pain, that hurt into the classroom. What does that do to a child's perspective on the future when people they care about have been seriously hurt or killed or incarcerated? The value of education then takes on a different meaning. Their concerns tend to be a lot more immediate than long range because the lifestyles these kids are raised in, unfortunately, can and do change immediately.

Does your district have enough staff and resources to deal with the challenges your students face? Do you have enough social workers, guidance counselors and child study team members? Are teachers given enough training?

Each school is different, but the district did a pretty decent job providing that supplemental support students need should they decide to avail themselves of it. The supports are there, but I don't think you can ever have enough, especially in a high school.

You're absolutely right. Sometimes the biggest accomplishment for a special needs child or one who suffers from PTSD as many of your students do, is getting them to actually stay in the classroom for half the day. Will the 'no excuses' charter school format help them?

In my opinion, no. These children are scared and hurting. We have to ask ourselves what exactly do these kids need to be successful? There's a lot more than just getting good grades or moving on to the next education level. I personally know several college graduates who are unemployed. And these kids see a lot of that in their environments, so we have to show them there is something else.

 

In Part II we talk about Bing Howell's plans to 'reform' Camden's schools which Keith calls "racist, insulting and exploitative".

NJ BOE Testimony Part III: Horror Stories from Paterson

Be sure to check out NJEA member testimony at the NJ State Board of Education Parts I and II.

So, you think you have it bad. You think your administrators didn’t fully implement the new evaluation system. You think you could have gotten a higher score in this domain or that. How would you like to be an educator in a state controlled district? Paterson Education Association member, Gennaro Tortoriello, paints a shocking picture of administrators gone wild in his state controlled district. And to think, the state took over Paterson because they deemed it 'failing'. If this is their idea of improvement, everyone at the department of education should resign.

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Thank you for your time. I would like to speak about the evaluation system that was very hastily implemented by the state without proper training for both administrators and teachers. As a grievance delegate in the Paterson Education Association, I have witnessed the effects of this unjust system throughout my school district on a daily basis. Here are some examples:

• Some administrators have been told by their superiors that they are not allowed to give teachers high scores.
• Some administrators have told teachers that they work in a failing school and failing district therefore there are no effective teachers. In School 13 70% of teachers have been placed on a CAP (Corrective Action Plan).
• The principal of one school told the staff that 80% of them are incompetent and should not be educators.
• In many of our schools special education teachers have been directed to not follow the legal mandates of student’s IEPs if they want to earn a proficient observation.
• One administrator in School 18 has written fraudulent observations and has egregiously violated the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, state law, and district policy because tenure is “dead”, and “we can do whatever we want to them.”
• Educators have been told that instruction must be data driven yet many administrators ignore data when conducting evaluations.
• Educators have been told that lessons must be differentiated yet when instruction is modified teachers are told that their lessons are not rigorous enough.
• When educators use the whole group instructional method they are sometimes told that they did not differentiate the lesson and did not make accommodations for exceptional students.
• One administrator in a high school marked staff down for not creating ‘data walls’ where student test scores were to be posted as a way to make them improve. When association officials pointed out that that is a violation of student privacy rights protected by FERPA, the administrator told them to use student ID numbers instead. When the association pointed out that students are not supposed to publish or share their ID numbers, the administrator relented, but refused to reassess staff ratings.
• The majority of staff rated partially effective or ineffective met their SGO’s. Can somebody explain how this is possible?

These are only some examples. There are many more. This system has created an environment of distrust in which the evaluation system is viewed as discipline and punishment rather than an opportunity for professional growth. As you can see, this system has led to an abuse of power by many administrators. Please repeal this system. (emphasis mine)

Thank you.

NJ BOE Testimony Part II: Was human error or intentional omission to blame for PARCC pilot report?

Be sure to check out Parts I and III in this series.

In part 2 of this series of posts on NJEA's July 9th lobby day at the state Board of Ed, Spanish teacher and education activist, Heidi Maria Brown, questions Data Commissioner Bari Erlichson's obvious omission of any negative feedback on the state's PARCC trials, and why some board members have not done more to get to the truth.

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Good afternoon. My name is Heidi Maria Brown. I’m here today with my family. My husband is helping me with our two boys, Johnny and Nicholas, both of whom attend the amazing public schools in Pitman, New Jersey. We came here today despite the fact that following testimony, we have a wake to attend and a funeral tomorrow. That is how important I feel this opportunity is.

Throughout the past school year, I attended three board of education meetings. Initially, the experience was very positive. However, over time, it became quite discouraging because it appears that my testimony has fallen on deaf ears.

I recently met with my legislative representative, Assemblyman Paul Moriarity (D4 – Camden, Gloucester). When I first spoke with Mr. Moriarity, he mentioned that some of my concerns could be explained by human error. I concurred that perhaps one or even two misstatements could be explained by human foil. However, the number and type of misstatements are worrisome considering that the Department of Education is also responsible for determining test scores and teacher evaluations.

At the May 7th BOE meeting, Data Commissioner Bari Erlichson evidently misspoke with regards to the number of hours students spend testing. Students test for four days, not one. And many of our students with IEPs and 504s test for about six hours a day, not two. That means that contrary to her statement, students were in testing anywhere from eight hours to as many as 24 hours. What will this mean for our students when they take the PARCC, which is a much longer test? Has anyone considered this? If the BOE doesn’t have an accurate understanding of testing conditions, due to misinformation, how can they properly serve our students? Again, this may have simply been a misstatement. So let’s look at another example.

Erlichson made statements and provided evidence regarding the success of the first PARCC pilot. When presenting social media clips regarding the public feedback, she presented 100% positive feedback. I found this surprising because I had spoken with several teachers in various districts who confirmed that the computers froze and the testing was problematic from a technology perspective. Several parents also posted negative feedback on Facebook regarding testing and the PARCC, but I saw no evidence of this in her report. Board member Edithe Fulton immediately questioned the lack of negative comments. The response to Ms. Fulton was that this was due to the “abbreviated” board session. Does that justify incomplete and allegedly misleading and one-side data presentation? Perhaps this omission was simply “human error”.

Furthermore, while the statement was made that 70 percent of districts piloted, it should be noted that only 10 percent of students within those districts were actually tested. This means that we really don’t have an accurate picture of what full implementation will mean for this fall. This method of cherry picking data to provide evidence seems to be more than a misstatement.

During this same board meeting, Erlichson depicted a doom and gloom report of New Jersey’s NAEP scores. Apparently, our growth was, “flat”. Later, after reviewing the results independently, I was surprised to see that New Jersey’s 8th graders are first in reading and second in math. Why was so little made of this success? Was this omission just a mistake?

Frankly, I’m beginning to wonder how accurately informed the board of education is, not to mention your level of engagement in terms of asking critical questions when questionable data is provided as truth. At the June 4th and 11th public hearings to examine the CCSS, only one board member, Joseph Fisicaro, attended. Why? I work two, sometimes three jobs, I have two little boys and I volunteer in my local township. I still found time to review the standards, draft feedback and give professional analysis of the World Language standards. Nobody had to pay me to show up. I did it, because I care.

During the past five months, I have witnessed enough testimony here at the BOE, at several legislative meetings, and throughout New Jersey, to know that there are serious problems with the implementation of the teacher evaluation, the PARCC testing and the leadership of our struggling, economically challenged districts like Newark, where under Cami Anderson’s deplorable leadership, the district spent $330,000 on take-out instead of school supplies, maintenance needs, technology upgrades, classroom teachers and aides. It was reported by NBC news that students will not have enough desks this year and teachers will have to take a pay freeze because Ms. Anderson felt it was appropriate to spent $22,000 a month for catering. I guess the chicken and sides must be good. But I digress.

In March, I witnessed the delivery of nearly 2,000 letters to the Board of Education from teachers, parents, and community members, imploring you to address these concerns. In May, despite the conflict of NJASK testing, several teachers reported similar concerns to the board. In June nearly 30,000 NJEA members participated in a town hall conference call with Senate President Steve Sweeney to discuss these concerns. But you don’t have to listen to me or my colleagues. All you have to do is read the paper, go online or watch the television to know that there is a real crisis - not with our schools - but with these un-vetted reforms being rushed to implementation.

And since it’s evident that many misstatements have allegedly been made due to human error, we need you to listen to us. The truth is we don’t really know if we’re ready for the technology demands of the PARCC. We don’t know how much this has cost or how much it will cost in the future. We don’t know that the data management system is secure or who will have access to our children’s personal, and legally protected data. The fact that Assembly Bill 3081 passed 72-4, and that the sister bill is to be posted for a senate vote tomorrow*, makes it clear that this process is not going well and we are not ready. (emphasis mine)

So, do what you need to do. I will follow my conscience and follow up with Assemblyman Moriarty. Because based on the information I provided, he agreed that there seems to be more than just, “human error” at play. I will continue to write letters to the editor and educate my community about opting out of the PARCC, a new NEA initiative, and we’ll just wait to see how this turns out. Ultimately, I will be able to sleep at night with a clear conscience.

Heidi Maria Brown has an MFA in theatre from Temple University and a BA in Spanish from Western Washington University. She has 10 years experience teaching in public schools and 9 years as an adjunct professor. She currently teaches Spanish in the Pittsgrove Township School District in Salem County, NJ.

* Note: As of this writing, it is not clear if S2154 will be posted for a full Senate vote. For all the breaking developments, be sure to follow Save Our Schools NJ on Facebook and Twitter.

NJBOE Testimony Part I: Educators stand up, speak out, fight back

Be sure to check out Parts II and III.

Yesterday was an NJEA Lobby Day at the NJ State Board of Education, and as usual, our members didn't disappoint. There was a good crowd, among which were many first-time speakers. I'm proud to be part of an association that includes so many articulate and passionate educators who know the facts and are not blinded by empty rhetoric nor cowed by bullying and aggression. I'm optimistic that the number of new speakers is a sign that more voices will join what I call 'The Fight' as we inch closer to PARCC testing madness. In the next few posts I'll be highlighting some of the testimony.

NJEA has been pressuring the state board and the state legislature to slow down the implementation of the PARCC testing and form a task force to study the efficacy of the tests and the Common Core. S2154/A3081, the bill originally sponsored by Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland), made it out of committee and the assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support. As of this writing, we are anxiously waiting to see if Senate President Steve Sweeney will post it for a vote. Save Our Schools NJ has been posting updates on their Facebook page as information becomes available, and NJ Spotlight is reporting that Gov. Christie may opt for some sort of compromise. The details are still unclear, but a decision could be made this week. 

What is very clear however, is that educators all across the state are overwhelmed by the increased burden of teaching to a test that has never been proven to do what it claims to do. Far too much instructional time is now devoted to test prep of one form or another, and far too little time is available for educators to do the job right. And starting with the 2014-2015 school year, we go live with this new evaluation system where PARCC scores count for 30% of some educators' summative evaluations.   

The following testimony is from 7th grade math educator, Mary Steinhauer. She highlights the fact that, when PARCC goes live, educators may be working for 6 additional months before they know the results of their evaluation. If the aim of this new system is to weed out all those 'bad teachers', why would it be structured so as to let them remain on the job an additional half year?

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There are three things I would like to discuss with you today:

1. Evaluations
2. Testing - PARCC
3. SGO/SGP scoring

First, I want to say thank you for allowing me this time to address you. I am a 35+ years classroom teacher representing Burlington County Education Association as the president of its 10,000 members, and also representing the NJEA Instruction Committee as its chair.

I am a highly effective teacher in my practice, but left school in June not knowing what my final summative score is. You see I teach 7^th grade math, a tested subject area. So I must wait until December or January to finish my evaluation for 2013-14. This is almost halfway through the 2014-15 school year. This is unacceptable to me as I prepare over the summer for the next school year. Do we wait 6 months for results from the doctor? Do we wait 6 months to find out if we are pregnant? Do we wait 6 months for anything that could affect our livelihood? Well, this is what you are asking the tested area educators to do.

I have no control over how the SGP score that I am waiting for is determined. And how do I even know if it is correct? (emphasis mine)

As I stated the last time I was here, this SGP score is 30% of my evaluation while I am only in contact with the students 1/8^th of their day, and statistics show that the school environment is only accountable for 1/3 of the student’s development. Therefore, this calculates to us being a little more than 4% responsible with a weight of 30% accountability. Somehow this doesn’t add up nor make sense.

Let’s talk about what determines this SGP: a test that the 3^rd through 8^th grade students take on a computer. Right now, it is expected to be the PARCC tests next year. I have been serving as a PARCC item reviewer and can tell you clearly that if my career is going to be determined by this test, I might as well retire like many other veteran educators. Have you gone on the PARCC website and tried the samples? Most [school districts] are not tech ready, the questions are too lengthy for a computer read, and there are going to be multiple select instead of multiple choice questions. Let me explain this. The students will need to identify all the correct answers out of 7 to get the problem correct. Where the students are to model an answer for an extended response, they are going to only be able to write an equation with the equation creator. They cannot make a graph, chart, diagram, or a picture. In my classroom, my students learn to think and discover how to get to a good answer, not just write an equation. Can you see these students sitting at these computers for over 2 hours to complete this test?  Can you concentrate for 2 solid hours at a computer screen? 

I am frustrated, angry, and just plan worn out from all of this, as are my county members and my Instruction Committee members. I don’t know how you plan on drawing the best and brightest college students into this career that I love, but if this doesn’t get fixed, you will have no veteran teachers, and no new teachers to serve and dedicate their lives to the students of this great state of New Jersey.

I love working with my students, watching them grow, seeing them become well-rounded adults, and instilling in them a love for learning. If we don’t stop this craziness, we will lose a whole generation of creative, innovative and well-educated children.  Please slow this down, and let’s get this right for our children, my students, and the future educators of this state.

Mary Steinhauer is a 7th grade math teacher, President of the Burlington County Education Association, an NJEA Professional Development Consultant, a Certified Smartboard™ Trainer/Lesson Developer, a Smart Exemplary Educator and a PARCC Item Reviewer/Sensitivity and Bias Reviewer.