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NJ Spotlight - Christie and National Expert Duel Over School Reform…Gov. Christie and Stanford University's Hammond-Darling present sharply divergent visions of education…” He promoted the idea of charter schools, but added they may not be the answer in all school districts, a clear response to the suburban backlash that has been felt in New Jersey. "They are not needed in every district in New Jersey and wouldn’t add much to the education offered there," he said…”
One of the closing speakers at the Iowa Education Summit yesterday afternoon was far better known in New Jersey: education reform firebrand Gov. Chris Christie.
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The other is arguably the best-known academic expert on teacher quality in the country: Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University.
Speaking to the same audience and on much the same topics, Christie and Darling-Hammond explored better teachers and public schools.
And they couldn’t have given more different speeches.
The Des Moines event was a well-timed conference on national education reform, hosted by Iowa’s Republican governor, Terry Branstad, at a time when the state is an obvious focal point of presidential ambitions in his party.
The two-day conference was more just speeches, with workshops and small-group discussions on every facet of how to improve teaching and learning. The keynote speaker was no lightweight, either: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
A Duel of Ideas
But to have Darling-Hammond and Christie as the two last speakers of the afternoon provided a provocative duel of ideas: the former a noted expert on the nuances of teacher preparation and school improvement, the latter a master of the podium and press conference in seeking more change in public schools.
Darling-Hammond cited statistics and studies. "For all the hype notwithstanding," she said of merit pay at one point, "there were studies that found no benefit in student achievement for the use of its practices."
On the same topic, Christie relied on what he said was common sense. "First off, having a little more competition is probably a good thing," he said.
A Familiar Story
Christie’s talk would have been familiar to many New Jersey residents by now, although he was a little more conciliatory.
He began by trying to counter his possibly negative national reputation, speaking of how he is no enemy of public education. He reminded the audience that he increased aid to schools by $850 million for next year, although didn’t mention that more than half of that amount was ordered by the state’s Supreme Court -- against his wishes.
He espoused tenure reform, harking to favorite lines about how public school teaching is the only profession not to judge and pay teachers based on performance. He talked about school choice, including the merits school vouchers as an escape from failing urban schools.
He promoted the idea of charter schools, but added they may not be the answer in all school districts, a clear response to the suburban backlash that has been felt in New Jersey.
"They are not needed in every district in New Jersey and wouldn’t add much to the education offered there," he said.
Still, he continued to use Newark, Camden and Asbury Park as his poster children for the decline of urban schools and the need for systemic reforms.
By and large, it was a speech of lofty rhetoric that spoke about justice and opportunity, the idea of providing equal access to schoolchildren, rich and poor. It was a national speech, a political speech.
"I came to Iowa today not to throw down the gauntlet in the next battle, although it is a battle I am willing to have if forced to," he said. "I came to Iowa today at the invitation of a governor who has a reputation of bringing people together."
"We must find common ground on this issue," he continued. "The clock is ticking, everybody, and children’s lives are wasting as we dawdle."
The Academic Angle
Darling-Hammond is no stranger to politics -- she came close to being President Obama’s education secretary -- but she struck a very different tone.
She opened with examples of student writing, many of them humorous, to speak to the learning process. She talked about the merits of professional development and collaboration among teachers, citing many examples from high-performing countries like Finland and Singapore where testing is actually less pervasive.
Darling-Hammond said testing in Singapore, for example, comprised lengthy projects and more "experiential skills and investigation."
"The write-ups read like research articles you’d find in a journal," she said.
She did not mention tenure reform by name, or even charter schools. Darling-Hammond is no apologist for the shortcomings of public schools, but it was a speech from inside the education establishment as to how it could improve from within.
While she has been a proponent of national standards and led one of the projects for building federal testing models, she said they are only a first step. When it comes to the teaching profession, it's not about a single set of standards.
"To get to high standards, [teacher training] actually needs to become less standardized, not more so," Darling-Hammond said. "We as teachers need to find kids where they are and help them improve."
Trenton Times - Funding cut off during appeal by Trenton Community Charter School
Published: Saturday, July 23, 2011, 8:05 AM Updated: Saturday, July 23, 2011, 9:26 PM
By Matt Fair/The TimesThe Times, Trenton
TRENTON — A state court earlier this month denied a motion that would have allowed Trenton Community Charter School (TCCS) to continue receiving state funding while it appeals a decision by the New Jersey Department of Education to revoke its charter, a move that has effectively brought operations at the school to a standstill and left teachers and staff unpaid.
According to Edwin Lloyd, president of the school’s board of trustees, TCCS was slated to receive $124,000 from the state for July and August.
“Because we did not get the additional funds for July and August we’re not paying salaries, but health benefits are good through Aug. 31,” Lloyd said. “Come Aug. 31, if things don’t go the way we’re hoping and praying then we’d have to cease paying that.”
He said that after that date, the approximately 100 employees would be eligible for unemployment. The school received about $8 million in aid from the state for the 2010-11 school year.
“Would I encourage our staff to look for other jobs? Certainly those people have to support themselves while we’re in limbo,” he said. “I would love for us to remain open and for all those teachers to get their jobs back, but I would not discourage teachers to look for jobs while we remain in limbo.”
After DOE decided in June not to renew the school’s charter for another five years, its board moved to take the matter before a state appeals court.
As part of the appeal, the board asked for a stay that would have allowed it to continue receiving state aid. While that stay was denied earlier this month, Greg Johnson, the board’s attorney, said that the appeal remains before the court awaiting a full hearing.
In the meantime, the board intends to appeal the denial of state funding to the New Jersey Supreme Court and has hired the law firm Porzio, Bromberg, & Newman.
“It’s not fair to the teachers, it’s not fair to (Principal) Christi Pemberton and everyone that’s been working to try and keep the school open,” Lloyd said. “The school is functioning as best as it can right now given where we are and the decision to go to the Supreme Court was not one that was made lightly.”
Lloyd has maintained that the K-8 school on West State Street was in better shape when its charter was denied earlier this year than it was five years ago when it was last renewed. He added that the school is certainly a step above Trenton’s public school system, which many of the 540 students will be forced to attend if the state’s decision is affirmed in court.
In the meantime, he said, the administration will continue to pay its bills as they come in, but that without state aid it was just a matter of time until its cash reserves run dry.
Asked how long he thought the school could last without the influx of aid, he said, “Not very long.”
Contact Matt Fair at mfair@njtimes.com or at (609) 989-5717.
Star Ledger - NJ STARS students get continued funding for 2011-2012
Published: Sunday, July 24, 2011, 4:00 AM By Jessica Driscoll/ Gloucester County TimesGloucester County Times
When Gov. Chris Christie signed the state budget into law on June 30, the New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship and the NJ STARS II scholarship were unchanged — important news for the many students who rely on the scholarships to help pay for their college education.
NJ STARS provides full tuition at community colleges for students who graduate high school in the top 15 percent of their class. NJ STARS II provides $6,000 per year tuition scholarships to NJ STARS students who earn their associate’s degrees at community colleges with grade point averages between 3.25 and 3.49 and transfer to one of the state’s public four-year colleges or universities to complete their baccalaureate degrees.
For NJ STARS students who complete their associate’s degrees at community colleges with GPAs of 3.5 to 4.0, NJ STARS II provides $7,000 per year tuition scholarships.
“We were extremely pleased that the NJ STARS program has been reinstated,” said Gloucester County College Interim President Frederick Keating. “We have over 280 participating students on our campus at Gloucester County College. STARS I provides an opportunity for eligible students to receive an excellent and quality education at GCC.”
Keating said the scholarship, which covers the cost of tuition for up to 18 credits a year for two years, equals huge savings for students and families.
“GCC is always a smart choice for those choosing to invest in higher education, and with STARS I, it is truly a bargain,” said Keating. “Most of our STARS students choose to continue their education and transfer to four-year colleges and universities. Many also take advantage of our partnerships and articulation agreements.”
At Camden County College, Dean of Students James Canonica said there are about 250 NJ STARS students.
“In our experience since the STARS scholarship was initiated, the cohort of students that come to CCC have been excellent students academically and have received many scholarships and gone on to four-year schools great majority,” said Canonica. “Many of these students have been in the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and other honors programs and are actively involved in student activities and community service. It’s a great group of students.”
Canonica said many students have told him, if it wasn’t for the STARS program, they would’ve had to delay their college experience or perhaps not go at all.
According to NJ STARS legislation, the state will cover half the cost of the NJ STARS II tuition scholarship and the participating four-year colleges and universities will cover the other half.
Rowan University had 435 NJ STARS II students last year.
“Any amount of funding is beneficial to the recipient,” said Luis Tavarez, director of financial aid at Rowan, but added that there are some burdens for the university.
“The New Jersey STARS II program requires the four-year public school to provide matching funds,” said Tavarez. “This requirement continues even as funding for higher education is reduced. This unfunded mandate cost Rowan University $1.2 million last year, and we are finding it hard to curb costs when there are so many mandates that consume our limited funds.”
At Rutgers University in Camden, Communications Director Mike Sepanic said there were 166 STARS II recipients last year.
“This represents an increase of 31 percent from the previous academic year 2009-10 when 116 were processed,” said Sepanic. “The Rutgers-Camden financial aid office reasonably anticipates that STARS II students will be above the 2010-11 level this year. As part of The State University of New Jersey, Rutgers-Camden welcomes southern New Jersey's best and brightest students to our campus. New Jersey benefits when these exceptional young minds remain in our state for college, which increases the likelihood that their talents will continue to grow our regional economy when they graduate.”
Courier Post - State acts to deter cheating on standardized tests
7:37 AM, Jul. 25, 2011 |
Written by
BARBARA S. ROTHSCHILD
Courier-Post Staff
New Jersey Department of Education officials say the standardized-test cheating scandal leading to a major shake-up in the Atlanta public school system would probably never happen here because of stringent testing protocols.
"We take the security of our test scores and data very seriously. If something were to happen like Atlanta, we could deal with it quickly and move on," state DOE spokesman Justin Barra said.
Barra cited security protocols that limit access to tests, noting that the state trains districts which, in turn, train staff at their schools.
The state also has a technical advisory committee that meets several times a year to review the protocols. It even sends unannounced observers to schools during testing periods to ensure protocols are being followed, and acts on tips about irregularities.
"We've had over 40 tips this year, and if we find them warranted it's usual to give the district a corrective action plan," he said.
This spring, tips to the state DOE resulted in finding eight teachers had committed wrongdoing. Barra said their names were turned over to the department's licensing office, which will deal with each teacher individually.
For the past three years, the New Jersey DOE has also been conducting its own investigation into one aspect of possible cheating -- erasures in those elliptical answer circles -- also considered in the report released by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal earlier this month.
"It's one piece of the puzzle in trying to identify problems," Barra noted.
The Erasure Analysis Report for the 2010 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge, grades three through eight, was completed in November.
All three years of the report were released to the public only this month following a New Jersey Press Media investigation and coverage that necessitated Open Public Records Act requests and legal action.
"This report doesn't tell us anything in itself, but we will take a look at the schools with the highest number of erasures" -- nine in-district schools and three charter schools, none within the tri-county area -- "to try to find the problems. It could be just a matter of implementing good practices," Barra said.
The 2010 New Jersey test-erasure report noted that the highest number of above-average erasures from wrong to right answers took place in districts with the highest socioeconomic standing, known as a district factor group. The highest DFG is designated by a "J." The statewide average number of test erasures overall per student was 2.43 in schools with more than 30 students.
It also noted that erasures are allowed on the tests -- which are taken in pencil, not in pen, so students can change their answers -- and that the erasures do not indicate cheating or implicate schools or teachers in wrongdoing.
Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf said inclusion on the list -- encompassing schools where erasures were more than two standard deviations above the average -- "does not necessarily indicate that the erasure rate at these schools is statistically significant."
Mount Laurel, whose DFG "I" designation is just below the highest socioeconomic grouping, had two schools on the list this year: 1,020-student Thomas E. Harrington Middle School, with an average 4.17 erasures per student, and Countryside Elementary School's fourth grade, with an average 5.61 erasures per student.
"The study didn't give an analysis, just the data, and (listing schools) two points over the standard deviation was rather arbitrary," district spokeswoman Marie Reynolds said.
"It doesn't give us much information about where the problem is, and we're waiting to hear from the state what else we can be told."
Reynolds said the district instructs students to go on instinct with their first answers, then go back and review if there's time.
"A thousand students erasing 4 answers on a test that takes a week to administer doesn't raise any anxiety levels," she said.
Barra said Atlanta's report included classroom-level data, while New Jersey's is limited to grade-level data -- making it impossible to identify any particular proctor if an irregularity occurs, for example.
"We're working hard to get classroom-level data into the analysis for 2012," he said, adding that the data gathered to date doesn't show that administrators or teachers are being pressured to do anything irregular.
Reynolds said Mount Laurel follows the state's tight testing protocols.
"Cheating is just not possible with the way the test booklets are collected and secured," she said.
In Cherry Hill, which has no schools appearing on the state's erasure report, district spokeswoman Susan Bastnagel said test security and integrity are taken very seriously.
"The district testing coordinator attends the training sessions that the state provides," Bastnagel said.
"She provides training for the testing coordinators in each of our buildings, works closely with principals and building coordinators, and speaks at faculty meetings prior to test administration to review the testing process and reinforce expectations," she said.
Testing coordinator Susan Dashoff-Ellman and central office administrators conduct site visits during testing, using a checklist that mirrors the checklist that the state would use when it conducts site visits, Bastnagel added. Each building principal receives a copy of the completed checklist after the site visit so he or she can immediately address any issues observed.
Georgia's investigation into Atlanta's schools was based on more than two years of inquiries by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution into the district's huge scoring gains on the state-mandated Criterion-Referenced Competency Test in 2008 and 2009. The state report named 178 administrators and staffers in the scandal, and more than half have confessed to cheating.
The report found that Atlanta's public school administration, headed by Superintendent Beverly Hall, "put unreasonable pressure on teachers and principals to achieve targets" and fostered "a culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation throughout the district." Hall retired in June.
Barra said the erasure report is not the last thing New Jersey will do to try to prevent cheating on standardized tests. "We will continue to do (other) investigations," he said.
In the meantime, the state DOE is confident its testing protocols are a strong deterrent, although not an end-all.
"Could the protocols stop one bad person from doing one bad thing? Maybe, maybe not," he said.
"It makes it less likely. But if someone is trying to commit a crime, it's not impossible."
Reach Barbara S. Rothschild at (856) 486-2416 or barothschild@camden.gannett.com
