Mike Spina
In a recent article, Derrell Bradford, executive director of Better Education for Kids and a member of Gov. Chris Christie’s New Jersey Educator Effectiveness Task Force, presented his views on what must be done statewide and nationally to improve educational quality. Bradford’s ideas, virtually identical to those of Gov. Christie, who is driving this educational reform engine, center around teacher evaluation reform, tenure reform and merit or performance pay.
One would think that somewhere in any discussion of education reform Bradford would discuss solutions to some of the problems that afflict New Jersey’s poorer students, such as overcoming poverty, single family households, lack of motivation and the absence of jobs in a society that is increasingly shrinking the middle class. Instead, Bradford, following the lead of his governor, would like to lay all blame on the state’s teachers.
This September I had the pleasure of debating some of these topics with Mr. Bradford on the WWOR-TV program “New Jersey Now.” In my book entitled Teachers Under Attack: How NJ Governor Chris Christie’s Personal Vendetta Against Teachers Will Destroy Public Education, I demonstrate that many of the arguments that Bradford (and our governor) make are based not on facts but on ideology and, in many instances, are simply wrong.
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