Month: July 2013

By John Mooney
Renowned critic of traditional teacher-education programs talks about theory versus practice and how to raise the standards for education schools.

Arthur Levine has never been shy about expressing his views on teacher education, and specifically what he thinks isn’t working. The former president of Columbia University’s Teachers College, Levine has been a leading critic of traditional teacher programs in colleges and universities for having too low standards and inadequate results.…

By Dan Goldberg/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — Newark’s Teach for America is getting a boost from the Walton Family Foundation, which has pledged $2 million to the program that brings young teachers into under-served classrooms.

Newark was one of several cities that will share the $20 million donation from the foundation.

“With this critical investment, Teach For America will be able to bring effective teachers into some of the most under-resourced classrooms in the country while simultaneously working to develop more of our talented corps members as long-term champions of educational equity and excellence,” said Matt Kramer, co-chief executive officer of Teach For America.…

Watch NJ Charter Schools Association President Discusses Closures on PBS. See more from NJToday.…

By Stan Karp

What will Common Core exams mean for the state’s proficiency rates?

There were more than 100,000 ninth-graders in New Jersey public schools this past year, and they all had one thing in common: None of them knows what they have to do to graduate.

While the state’s new teacher evaluation system is grabbing most of the attention, coming changes in state testing policies may have an even more dramatic impact.…

How Union City, NJ schools achieved huge gains. Hint: It wasn’t via corporate school reform.

The following is a book review of David Kirp’s Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America’s Schools.

If you believe that education can only be reformed by center-right business notions—that privately run nonunion charters will outperform public schools; that teachers need to be goaded into doing a good job—David Kirp is here to tell you that absolutely the opposite is true.…

By John Mooney

A series of state Supreme Court rulings starting in 1985, Abbott v. Burke continues to shape and reshape education — especially for New Jersey’s poorest kids.

Summary
The state Supreme Court’s landmark school-equity rulings starting in 1985, referred to in shorthand as “Abbott,” as in Abbott district or Abbott school. Actually a series of decisions made over the past 30 years, Abbott remains the centerpiece of how the state funds its urban and suburban schools.…

Private academy in Newark is first in state to switch to become public charter.

By John Mooney.

Fiorella Serrano concedes it will be hard to break the habit of what she says when she answers the phone at school.

“I am so used to saying St. Philip’s Academy, and now its Philip’s Academy Charter School,” said the longtime teacher and parent at the Newark school.…

Entering her third year on the job, Newark’s state-appointed schools superintendent, Cami Anderson, is up for a second year of performance bonuses of up to $50,000 and negotiating the goals for a third.

The potentially handsome bonuses are based on professional goals agreed upon based on her own initiatives and the performance of Newark schools, part of a contract she reached with the Christie administration in 2011.…