The Record ‘Sources: Christie will nominate former New York City deputy schools chancellor as next education chief’

Friday, December 17, 2010
Last updated: Friday December 17, 2010, 10:15 PM

BY LESLIE BRODY

The Record

The man reportedly tapped to oversee New Jersey’s schools calls himself an “unapologetic school reformer.”

 “We should all be extremely impatient about the pace of progress,” said Christopher Cerf, a former deputy schools chancellor in New York City. “We live in a world where the achievement gap, demographically and economically, is a national shame. I frankly very much admire Governor Christie’s perspective, which appears to be entirely aligned with this view.”

Cerf, of Montclair, did not confirm his nomination Friday and Christie declined to comment on whether he had chosen a schools chief when pressed by reporters Friday. Multiple sources who asked not to be identified, however, said the governor had picked Cerf.

When he helped run the nation’s largest school system, Cerf worked to expand charter schools and laid the foundation for using student test scores as one element in grading teachers — initiatives Christie wants to implement here.

If confirmed by the state Senate, Cerf would take over a beleaguered department that has had no permanent chief since August, when Christie fired Bret Schundler after the state’s bungled application for $400 million in federal grants. Christie said Schundler misled him about the details of a grant application interview, a charge Schundler has adamantly denied. The department has also been strained by serial departures, with six out of seven assistant commissioner spots now vacant.

Michelle Rhee, founder of the StudentsFirst advocacy group and the controversial recent chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools — who was also courted for the New Jersey job, according to published reports — gave Cerf high marks.

“Christopher Cerf has proven himself again and again as an effective leader in education reform and from the front lines in New York City,” she said by e-mail. “I have no doubt that he is just what New Jersey needs.”

When Cerf was deputy chancellor, he sparred often with Randi Weingarten, then head of the local teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers. Weingarten said she spoke to him almost every day.

“He understood that to really move a system on behalf of children, you had to work together,” Weingarten said. “Conflict is easier … but if you are actually trying to help students succeed, you’re listening to those who actually have to walk the walk. I found that Cerf engaged in a legitimate exercise in problem solving.”

Officials at the New Jersey Education Association, the state union that has been locked in conflict with Christie over tenure reform, budget cuts and pension changes, said they hoped to have the new chief’s ear. Christie has not included the NJEA on a nine-member committee devising ways to evaluate teachers based on student performance.

NJEA President Barbara Keshishian said, “I’m looking forward to an opportunity to establish a relationship with the new commissioner if he is approved, and to be able to begin a dialogue about the important things we’re facing.”

Cerf is on the board of TEAM Charter Schools in Newark. Ryan Hill, founder of TEAM, said Cerf was aggressive in pushing for better student outcomes, even in TEAM academies, where poor, minority children outperformed peers in traditional district schools.

Hill said Cerf supported good charters but would not tolerate underperforming ones. “He’ll be tough on all schools that are bad,” Hill predicted. “He’s completely impatient about changing the way kids are educated. He doesn’t like incrementalism.”

Daniel Weisberg, a consultant with the New Teacher Project who worked for the New York schools with Cerf, called him an “extraordinarily bright, passionate guy.”

He said Cerf was instrumental in generating reports that aimed to show each teacher’s impact on student growth, measured by test scores; the reports were sent to principals and teachers to help them improve instruction. Unions have fought using such reports to guide high-stakes personnel decisions, saying the data are too unreliable.

If appointed, Cerf would replace acting Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks in the $141,000-a-year job.

Schundler called Christie’s choice of Cerf, a Democrat, a bold move that indicates Christie is interested in putting politics aside to focus on education reform.

“Cerf has a broad understanding of what has worked and what hasn’t worked with various reforms,” Schundler said. “He has a passion for education reform, and he’s someone I spoke with about coming to the department as an assistant or to join the state board.”

In a videotaped talk to Democrats for Education Reform last year in Milwaukee, Cerf expressed pride in taking aggressive steps to close hundreds of failing New York schools, a move that stirred protest in many neighborhoods.

“If [schools] had one or two years to get better and they haven’t gotten better it’s pretty much clear the culture of success is lacking and not reformable,” he said.

“There is a great myth in public education that every institution, every teacher and every principal is remediable, given enough resources and training,” he said. “That is nonsense.”

Staff Writer John Brennan contributed to this article, which contains material from The Star-Ledger. E-mail: brody@northjersey.com