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The Record - Christie education town hall live on the web today,Wednesday, May 11, 2011...The program from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. .
New Jersey Newsroom - Are N.J. charter schools an extension of a dictatorship or a democracy?
Njspotlight.com - First DOE Job Postings Hint at Restructuring to Come...Among the three listings, a Chief Innovation Officer to head up the state's charter school office
Press Release (5-9-11)- Governor Chris Christie Appoints Education Transformation Task Force Members to Give New Jersey’s Educators More Flexibility…Task Force Will Develop Recommendations to Refocus Education Goals on College and Career Readiness Instead of Burdensome Regulation
The Record - Christie education town hall live on the web today
Last updated: Wednesday May 11, 2011, 10:17 AM
BY HERB JACKSON
The Record
STAFF WRITER
Teachers unions "are to blame for the lack of change" in public schools, Governor Christie said as the sole Republican member of a panel discussion on education reform in Washington this morning.
"They say in our state there's no need for change," Christie said. He argued that tenure should be earned "over and over" during a teacher's career, and pay raises should be based on performance and not just because "your feet hit the floor in the morning."
Chistie Wednesday, May 11, 2011appeared with a top Obama administration offical, two Democrats from Congress and a reform advocate from New York City at a "national town hall" on the future of education at George Washington University.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., called Christie's indictment of teachers unions "too simplistic" because he has seen unions work with superintendents to make changes in schools around the country.
"We're going to have teacher evaluations and tenure changes," said Miller, the top-ranking Democrat on the House education committee. "That's being done across the country, with the unions."
The program from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. is being streamed live on the web.
Appearing with Christie were Anthony Miller, deputy education secretary; Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.; and Geoffrey Canada, president of Harlem Children's Zone.
New Jersey Newsroom - Are N.J. charter schools an extension of a dictatorship or a democracy?
Tuesday, 10 May 2011 13:21
BY SALVATORE PIZZURO
COMMENTARY
New Jersey’s Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf, while testifying before the State Senate Budget Committee on Monday, May 9, 2011, told Senator Barbara Buono that the New Jersey electorate should not have the opportunity to vote for Charter Schools or the monetary appropriations that support them. Senator Buono remarked that, given that charter schools are funded with public dollars, the decision to provide such funding should be made by taxpayers.
Interestingly, charter schools are exempt from the traditional funding sequence in which the voters approve or reject school appropriations. Perhaps more interesting, one of the reasons why Cerf suggested that charter school funding not be subject to voter approval is that voters would reject such proposals because of the costs.
The shocking issue that emanates from this scenario is that Governor Christie’s platform during his election campaign was that taxpayers are paying too much for public education and deserved monetary relief. It is incredulous that the Christie Administration could suggest that dollars be appropriated and spent without voter approval. This concept is a continuance of the administration’s proposal to borrow 4.4 billion dollars for the Transportation trust fund without voter approval.
During the Budget Committee hearing, Senator Buono commented that a charter school in her legislative district is siphoning dollars from the regular public schools to the degree where it has prevented a school district from having an all-day kindergarten, when, in fact, the charter school that is funded without voter approval has an all-day kindergarten. Senate Budget Committee Chairperson Paul Sarlo also commented on the negative impact that the funding of charter schools was having on the delivery of services in the traditional public schools.
A few charter schools have proven to be effective. Steve Adubato’s charter school in Newark has been an outstanding academic service provider. However, the majority of charter schools have not provided high standards of academic achievement. Stanford University’s 2009 study indicated that charter school students have no measurable higher achievement in academic performance than students in traditional schools. Most egregious, however, is the impact that charter schools have had on true community participation. If the electorate does not support or cannot afford charter schools, then continued State support for such schools becomes an extension of a dictatorship, rather than a democracy.
Dr. Salvatore Pizzuro is a disability policy specialist and civil rights advocate in New Jersey.
Njspotlight.com - First DOE Job Postings Hint at Restructuring to Come
Among the three listings, a Chief Innovation Officer to head up the state's charter school office
By John Mooney, May 11 in Education |2 Comments
They are just advertisements at this point, but the first job postings for senior New Jersey education department positions are giving some of the first looks at acting Commissioner Chris Cerf’s expected reorganization of the department.
Related Links
Advertisements went online this week for three positions, all new titles, with some new roles as well:
· Assistant Commissioner – Chief Academic Officer
· Assistant Commissioner – Chief Innovation Officer
· Director of Communications and Strategic Partnerships
Neither Cerf nor his spokesman would comment on the jobs this week. State Board of Education (BOE) President Arcelio Aponte said he received notice of the postings yesterday and was glad to see Cerf moving on filling critical posts in his leadership.
"If you think about it, he hasn’t been there that long a time and he’s had a lot on his plate, but we’re pleased he’s moving forward," Aponte said last night.
The job descriptions are interesting in themselves, a departure from the department organization chart now in place. Under the current chart there are at least a half-dozen key positions open, including three assistant commissioners and deputy commissioner.
There are some similarities between the new positions and their predecessors. For instance, the new Chief Academic Officer is largely akin to the existing assistant commissioner for standards and assessment, helping schools adopt to the state’s curriculum standards and develop the assessments around those standards.
But the position also puts heavy emphasis on working with the state’s own participation in the national Common Core State Standards, a new national initiative that will likely lead to the rewrite of New Jersey’s curriculum guidelines.
The Chief Innovations Officer is more of a departure. The officer is in charge of the state’s charter school office and overseeing the expanded inter-district choice program.
The job description indicates that the officer will also oversee the state and federal governments’ Turnaround Schools initiatives for New Jersey’s lowest-performing districts, as well as a new "office of Online and Virtual Learning." It also speaks of an Innovation Zone, not yet defined.
"This office will be responsible for building or replicating innovative ideas that work in New Jersey and around the country," the ad reads.
Other senior jobs are still apparently up for deliberation, or at least not being publicly advertised as yet. The state has nine or more openings for executive county superintendents, the lead field officers in each of the county offices.
But Cerf has said they will all be part of the larger reorganization, a process that he broadly touched upon in testimony before the Senate Budget Committee on Monday.
He spoke of a trip last week with senior staff to Louisiana to learn from that state’s education department, one that has helped totally revamp the schools in and around New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. A vast expansion of charter schools was among the initiatives.
"Theirs is an extraordinary vision of what a Department of Education might look like, and I learned a lot from that trip," Cerf said.
As for his own department in Trenton, the acting commissioner said it would likely shift from an agency focused on holding schools to rules and regulations to one that will focus on academic achievement for all children.
"If you go over the department today, it is based overwhelmingly on regulation and compliance and telling districts what to do and coming in with a white glove and seeing if they’ve done it," he said.
"I envision an organization based on very clear objectives, where every person in the organization doesn’t operate in a silo -- where one is doing federal audits, one is doing special education -- but every person is organized on delivering on very concrete results," Cerf said.
Press Release (5-9-11) Governor Chris Christie Appoints Education Transformation Task Force Members to Give New Jersey’s Educators More Flexibility…Task Force Will Develop Recommendations to Refocus Education Goals on College and Career Readiness Instead of Burdensome Regulation
Trenton, NJ – Furthering his commitment to bold education reform, Governor Chris Christie today appointed a diverse group of New Jerseyans to serve on the Education Transformation Task Force. The Task Force, created through Executive Order No. 58 on April 4, 2011, will examine ways to eliminate burdensome regulations so that New Jersey’s educators will be given the freedom they need to employ the best strategies in the classroom. This group of educators, community leaders and school administrators will rethink the way the State of New Jersey delivers public education for nearly 1.4 million students and ensure greater focus on delivering more flexibility to principals and teachers throughout the state.
“Today, I’ve asked seasoned educators and community leaders from across the state to find ways to reduce energy-sapping government red tape that wastes time and resources,” Governor Christie said. “While we must hold educators accountable and measure how effectively they are teaching our children, we must also give the leaders in our schools the flexibility they need to drive innovation in the classroom and deliver the best results.”
The Education Transformation Task Force will be chaired by former New Jersey Commissioner of Education David C. Hespe (Belle Mead, Somerset) and members will include: Community Education Resource Network co-founder and Director Angel Cordero (Camden, Camden); Teaneck High School Principal Angela R. Davis (New Milford, Bergen); Kearny School Superintendent Frank Digesere (Toms River, Ocean); Pittsgrove Township Middle School teacher Linda DuBois (Pittsgrove, Salem); Elizabeth Board of Education Assistant Secretary Donald Edwards Goncalves (Elizabeth, Union); special education expert and ECLC of New Jersey Executive Director Bruce Litinger (Short Hills, Essex); and Seton Hall University Department of Education Leadership, Management and Policy Chair Michael J. Osnato, Ed.D. (Westwood, Bergen).
“We need to entirely rethink the way that New Jersey delivers education to its 1.4 million students,” said Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf. “We need to stop focusing on micromanaging local schools with unnecessary rules and regulations. The Department of Education must shift its mission so that everything we do is focused on helping children become college and career ready.”
The Education Transformation Task Force will gather comments from various stakeholders as they complete a comprehensive and thorough review of all current administrative regulations that affect public education, including an examination of the Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) regulations. Currently, schools must file reports that deal with more than 300 indicators of a school’s performance. In their final report, the Task Force will provide recommendations to the Governor that further the goals of: increasing quality of instruction and academic achievement for students; improving teaching and educator effectiveness within schools; improving the safety and well-being of students; and sensibly eliminating or reforming those regulations that are found to be unnecessary, overly burdensome, or not conducive to an efficient and flexible classroom environment.
A final report to the Governor outlining the Task Force’s recommendations is due no later than September 1, 2011, with an initial report by August 15, 2011. These direct appointments by the Governor do not require Senate confirmation and each member will serve without compensation. Upon the issuance of its final report, the Task Force will expire.
A copy of the April 4, 2011 press release, which includes Executive Order No. 58, can be found HERE.
