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NJ Spotlight--Garden State Children Continue to Show Social Welfare Gains
But advocates argue repeal of Obamacare will damage kids, especially poor black and Hispanic ones, who still lag behind white children
New Jersey children continue to make progress on health and other social-welfare indicators, according to a new report by child advocates. They challenged their colleagues to use the data to fight potential cuts to federal funding and healthcare programs.
Advocates for Children of New Jersey released the 2017 KidsCount data book Monday. It showed the number of uninsured youngsters dropped 40 percent between 2010 and 2015 — and as much as 66 percent among low-income kids — to reach its lowest point ever. In the interim, asthma hospitalizations dropped nearly a quarter, preventative dental services increased by almost one-third, and the number of children receiving mental health services jumped more than 50 percent.
Lilo H. Stainton | May 23, 2017
Star Ledger--Inside the high-pressure world of N.J.'s hardest-to-get-into high schools
SCOTCH PLAINS -- Walk into Union County Magnet High School in Scotch Plains and one of the first rooms you see off the lobby is the new "maker space."
The school gutted its old multi-media room and filled it with 3-D printers, robotics equipment and tens of thousands of dollars in high-tech machinery for its engineering students to play with.
Across the courtyard, students in the neighboring Academy for Information Technology are hunkered down over a bank of computers in a student-run "Hack Shack," where they take turns teaching each other everything from the latest Java coding tricks to the best way to crimp an ethernet cord.
In a neighboring building, students in the Academy for Allied Health Sciences spend the equivalent of their gym class walking on treadmills in a high-tech lab while their classmates practice monitoring their heart rates on EKG machines.
Kelly Heyboer| Updated on May 22, 2017 at 4:37 PM Posted on May 22, 2017 at 7:37 AM
Jersey Journal--Bill would divert Jersey City abatement revenue to schools
JERSEY CITY -- The public-school district would receive revenue from tax-abated properties under a measure up for initial approval by the City Council this week.
Jersey City has faced growing criticism over its aggressive use of tax abatements, which provide no funding for its 28,000-student school district. The ordinance before the council this week would require abatement revenue - known as payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) - to be shared with the school district at the same rate local property taxes are.
Terrence T. McDonald | Updated on May 21, 2017 at 1:34 PM Posted on May 21, 2017 at 12:18 PM
The Record--N.J. authorities say parents should resist urge to show up at schools in a crisis
It has become part of being a parent. Automated texts and phone calls inform of a threat to a child’s school, maybe a lockdown or an evacuation. When a child is in danger — perceived or real — a parent’s instincts tend to kick in: Get there. Get him out. Keep him safe.
“It triggers whatever base reaction is there and has the danger of trumping reason [and] the better response,” said Mark Hatton, a Ridgewood psychologist.
Many parents acted on instinct this week when bomb threats affected nine North Jersey school districts. They arrived at the school or evacuation site to get information and pick up their child. Not everyone came in a panic — some just felt having their child home was a better situation than the mass of kids at an evacuation site — but no matter the reason, parental presence creates the same issues for authorities.
KARA YORIO, The Record Published 10:35 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2016 | Updated 15 hours ago
NPR--Why It's So Hard To Know Whether School Choice Is Working
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been a passionate proponent of expanding school choice, including private school vouchers and charter schools, and she has the clear backing of President Trump. But does the research justify her enthusiasm?
Experts say one single, overarching issue bedevils their efforts to study the impact of school choice programs. That is: It's hard to disentangle the performance of a school from the selection of its students.
Students are never randomly assigned to a school. A school's population is always affected by local demographics. With schools of choice, by definition, parents and students are making a decision to attend that school, so their enrollment is even less random.
Anya Kamenetz, Cory Turner| May 21, 20176:00 AM ET
Education Week--In Some States, ESSA Means More Powers for Local School Boards
The Every Student Succeeds Act hands states plenty of flexibility to define school success, figure out new ways to intervene in their worst-performing schools, and set academic priorities for schools.
But some states have decided to punt these sorts of decisions back to local school boards in the coming years.
Kentucky's legislature this year weakened the state's school takeover process and bolstered the powers of its local school boards to hire principals, select curriculum, and set a school's budget. Those powers have traditionally been left to the state's education department and its many councils that for the last 30 years have governed their schools.
Daarel Burnette II on May 19, 2017 10:00 AM
