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A wonderful story in yesterday's WSJ about the remarkable turnaround that's taken place in the first year that KIPP took over Newark's Bragaw Avenue School, "one of the worst-performing in a troubled city system. Enrollment was low and more than a quarter of its students were chronically absent." The district asked KIPP, an established charter network, to take charge starting with last school year. Turning around a failing school in a poor, high-crime neighborhood is notoriously hard, but initial data provided by KIPP suggest that relaunching the site as Life Academy, for kindergarten through fourth grade, is paying off. "Before there used to be chaos," said Caleb, a fourth-grader. "Teachers didn't push us to persevere. Now they do." Critics often say that charters skim the best students, leave the hardest-to-teach children in regular public schools and in doing so polish their records for achievement. Charter schools dispute that claim. Wh...

Tom Moran in the Star-Ledger on how charter schools in Newark are becoming a potent political force: The failure of urban schools, we are often told, can be traced to the apathy of urban parents when it comes to their children's success in the classroom. It seems that in Newark, no one got that memo. Because about 400 parents and their children crammed into the city council's hearing room Monday night , filling the seats and balconies, and overflowing into hallways where they strained to hear. What drove that kind of passion? A bid by North Star charter schools to build a new K-12 building on an old parking lot in the Central Ward. "We outnumbered the teachers union by 10-1, and that tells you where the mood of this city is," says Barbara Martinez, a spokeswoman for North Star. This is something entirely new. Until now, the charters have paid little attention to politics. They have served as the city's political punching bag, like the passive kid on the playground...

In focusing on the success of charter schools in Newark, I don't want to leave the impression (as The Prize does) that charters are the only story about the gains in Newark. Consider: ·          Thanks to the new teacher contract (largely funded with Zuckerberg's money), NPS has completely redesigned the way it hires, evaluates, and supports all staff.  Specifically: o     No longer is compensation based on time served alone, but also on whether teachers are effective in advancing student learning. o     Since 2012, NPS has filed 115 tenure charges, mostly on the basis of ineffectiveness, and 89 of those individuals are no longer in the district. (Compare this with the prior decade where virtually NO tenure charges were filed.) o     95% of NPS's teachers rated "effective" or "highly effective" have remained in Newark classrooms. o     The new teacher contract allowed NPS to expand t...

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The following posts are  about  educational reform in Newark.  It's really important that we reformers study what happened here closely and learn from it.   A good starting point it to read the new book by Dale Russakoff,  The Prize: Who's in Charge of America's Schools?  Though I don't agree with what many people view as the main take-away from the book – that reformers messed things up royally and things aren't much better for Newark kids – it's still very much worth reading for a variety of reasons, not least of which are the heart-breaking stories of the lives of some of the kids in Newark and the heroic attempts by many teachers and principals to help them by in many ways becoming social workers, not just educators. The book does an especially good job of highlighting the amazing work being done at KIPP's Spark Academy by its rock-star principal, Joanna Belcher, and her team.   But don't stop there – it's equally important that you read the p...

Most importantly, read this in-depth article by Andrew Martin, the director of special projects at KIPP New Jersey and a former classroom teacher for both KIPP and the NYC DOE. It has incredible data showing, among other things, that:   The percentage of black Newark students attending a school that beat the state proficiency average has tripled in the past 10 years, and this increase can be attributed almost entirely to the growth of the charter sector.   For 2014, the most recent year that data is available, more than 40% of the black students enrolled in Newark charters attended a school that beat New Jersey's average in their grade/subject. In district schools, that was only true for 6% of students.   Contrary to some critic's claims, charter growth hasn't "eviscerated" the district — at least not from a student achievement perspective. When you compare pass rates on state assessments for African-American students in Newark Public Schools to the state , it...

Here's Cami Anderson's take, which concludes: Engaging families is different than managing politics. The forces for status quo are currently better at politics than those of us who believe we must deliver different outcomes for kids.  The Prize  trivializes and ignores our persistent, though perhaps imperfect, efforts to find new and creative channels for dialogue when traditional paths were blocked.  My team and I spent the vast majority of our time talking to and listening to people in schools, at big public meetings, and also at the grocery store, in small roundtables, and at local hang-outs.  In these intimate discussions, we heard and felt support and enthusiasm for change.   To a lifelong education advocate, it can seem as though recent memory is littered with tainted reputations of courageous school reformers that dared to disrupt broken systems. From Joel Klein to Mark Zuckerberg, many have taken a shot at sustainable school reform only to be met with re...

A spot-on op ed by a parent and life-long resident of Newark: I am a parent and a life long resident of Newark.  I am not an elected leader, but my mom was an educator and activist in this city I love.  I am a product of Newark's education system and my children are now split between a public magnet high school and an elementary charter school. This week an important Forum took place at NJPAC and sponsored by WNYC, entitled, "Bonanza or Burden?  Facebook's Gift to Newark Schools."  The evening included Mayor Ras Baraka, Superintendent Chris Cerf, KIPP New Jersey's Joanna Belcher, and Dale Russakoff, author of the recently released book "The Prize:  Who's in Charge of America's Schools." I had hoped that the forum would be an important dialogue on the future of Newark's education system.  Unfortunately, it was just the same political spectacle we have seen in our city for the last few years.  As a result, I left the beautiful NJPAC theater ove...

A NSL editorial praising the recent announcement by KIPP to expand in Newark: One of the best charter chains in Newark, KIPP, is  about to expand , which is great news for kids. These schools are achieving remarkable results, much better than the conventional schools by any measure, which is why families are scrambling to get in. They want their kids to attend college, and these charter schools are delivering. What it also means is that five years from now, close to half of Newark kids will be enrolled in charter schools – up from 30 percent today. That's the biggest percentage in any New Jersey city by far. And it will surely create challenges for the district, since under New Jersey law, the money follows the child.  Some critics say that's reason to slow down this shift. But that answer i s dead wrong , and would deny these kids a shot at a better life. The challenge is to reform the district so that it can cope with this change. Because for the thousands of parents poundin...

Tom Moran of the Newark Star Ledger with some good points: So where does the truth lie? Are Newark schools stuck in neutral, as Russakoff says? And has her book slimed the reform movement, as Cerf says? If you ask me, they're both missing the mark. It seems beyond dispute that Newark kids are much better off today, on the whole, mainly due to the explosive growth of the best charter school chains, such as Team Academy and North Star Academy. But let's face it: Reformers blew the politics of this, provoking a backlash that puts this progress at risk, especially when the schools are returned to local control, as the governor has promised. Reformers ought to read this fine book and take notes so they can correct course. It points out where the land mines are buried. Newark students are better off, despite the political noise By  Tom Moran | Star-Ledger Editorial Board  Email the author |  Follow on Twitter   on September 06, 2015 at 7:45 AM, updated  September 06, ...

Conor Williams' take on The Prize:   If you read Russakoff's account and find your beliefs vindicated, you're not trying hard enough Those good intentions matter: "The Prize" is chock-full of culprits who bear some responsibility for converting promise into paralysis, but there are essentially no villains. And while there are some bursts of heroism amidst many, many failures, neither are there winners . The reformers' clumsy efforts at "transformational change" tarnishes them and their ideas — and leaves the city's education politics poisoned. Their opponents blunt many of the efforts to change the school system, but their political venom leaves Newark's deplorable educational status quo largely in place. It's tempting to see Newark as conclusive proof that education reform is fatally flawed, or that its opponents are somehow vindicated by the limited changes that Zuckerberg's $100 million produces. But "The Prize" is much m...

Another good review by Laura Waters: Every Newark mayor since 1962, except for Cory Booker and current Mayor Ras Baraka, has been indicted for crimes committed while in office. Until last year, 4 in 10 Newark public school students never graduated from high school. According to the  New Jersey Department of Education , 84.1 percent of students newly-enrolled in Essex County Community College (the closest two-year college to Newark) have to take remedial courses and the three-year graduation rate is 11.8 percent. Enter Stage Left So in struts the mighty trio of Christie, Booker and Zuckerberg and, according to the anti-reform fairy tale formula, chaos ensues. "Their plan gets off to a rocky start," writes Kotlowitz, as "their moneyed backers" exercise "their ideological furor to create more charter schools." They hire "white…consultants" and bring on "ideologue" Cami Anderson as superintendent. Hence, "this bold effort in Newark fal...

Here's the very critical (and mostly wrong) NYT book review by Alex Kotlowitz: "The Prize" may well be one of the most important books on education to come along in years. It serves as a kind of corrective to the dominant narrative of school reformers across the country. I'm not giving anything away by telling you that this bold effort in Newark falls far short of success. Most everyone moves on. Booker is elected to the Senate — and his nemesis, a high school principal deeply critical of his school reform efforts, becomes the city's next elected mayor. Christie gets caught up in the bridge-lane-closure scandal, and of course is now running for president. Anderson recently announced her resignation as superintendent. The one individual who appears changed by the experience is, somewhat surprisingly, Zuckerberg. Last year, along with his wife, Priscilla Chan, who as a pediatric intern cared for underserved children around San Francisco, Zuckerberg announced a gift ...

Joe Nocera's take: The education reform community is furious at the way it is portrayed in the book; one such critic, Laura Waters, described "The Prize" as " a fairy tale about reform ," basing her comment on  a Times review . Others believe that Russakoff overlooked some of the good things that have taken place in Newark, especially in the area of teacher training, and the fact that the public schools are at least marginally better. But Russakoff doesn't let those propagating the status quo off the hook, either. She describes the schools system as an "employer of last resort." She shows the enormous impediments to real change imposed by the teachers' union. …There is another way to approach reform, a way that includes collaboration with the teachers, instead of bullying them or insulting them. A way that involves the community rather than imposing top-down decisions. A way that allows for cross-pollination between charters and traditional pub...

 This is the big news of the week (month? year?) – and Andy Rotherham nails it: The president's choice of John King* to oversee the department after Duncan is a signal he's not that concerned with education politics at this point. To the right, King is a lightning rod because of his support for Common Core standards and his leadership implementing them in New York. To the left, he's a flashpoint because of his support for teacher evaluations and no-nonsense championing of high expectations for low-income students and real accountability for the schools that serve them. Teachers unions and some conservatives have been calling on Duncan  to resign  – this is not what they had in mind. The education debate is about to get nastier.   John King is an accomplished African American educator who  helped found  a highly regarded charter school in Boston. His personal story is as compelling as any education official in the country. Most reform critics don't want to t...

Here's DFER's Shavar Jeffries' take:   October 2nd, 2015  DFER National President  Shavar Jeffries  released the following statement on Secretary Duncan's departure: "In his past seven years as US Secretary of Education, and throughout his career, Arne Duncan has left an indelible mark on our nation's school systems. "Arne Duncan has effected more change in state and local education policies than any Secretary in the history of the Department. By actively advocating for the 2009 stimulus, Duncan helped pushed through the largest increase in federal education funding in history, and then worked diligently to ensure the money was put towards programs that worked for students. "Under President Obama and Secretary Duncan's leadership, we've seen tangible results. High school graduation rates have reached record highs and gaps have narrowed. Because of their leadership in increasing student aid, more students, especially low-income students, are en...

Wow...I always suspected that this was true, but had never seen the data. A study of Pennsylvania's 500 school districts showed that while poor districts receive more state funding than wealthier ones, when one compares districts with similar percentages of poor kids, districts with a high percentage of white kids get much more funding than those with a high percentage of black kids. For example, mostly black districts with 70-80% of kids in poverty got LESS funding than mostly white districts with only 30-40% of kids in poverty. "If you color code the districts based on their racial composition you see this very stark breakdown. At any given poverty level, districts that have a higher proportion of white students get substantially higher funding than districts that have more minority students." That means that no matter how rich or poor the district in question, funding gaps existed solely based on the racial composition of the school. Just the increased presence of mino...

I'm not sure how to reconcile the PA study above with this data about how the achievement gaps are increasingly driven by class rather than race: Today, despite some setbacks along the way, racial disparities in education have narrowed significantly. By 2012, the test-score deficit of black 9-, 13- and 17-year-olds in reading and math  had been reduced  as much as 50 percent compared with what it was 30 to 40 years before. …For all the progress in improving educational outcomes among African-American children, the achievement gaps between more affluent and less privileged children  is wider than ever,  notes Sean Reardon of the Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford. Racial disparities are still a stain on American society, but they are no longer the main divider. Today the biggest threat to the American dream is class. Education Gap Between Rich and Poor Is Growing Wider  September 22, 2015 Eduardo Porter ECONOMIC SCENE http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/...

A spot-on WSJ op ed on de Blasio's hypocrisy, saying the black lives matter but then doing his best to undermine even top charter schools, which are doing more than anything else I can think of for the very kids de Blasio claims to care so much about: Today, however, the mayor is finding that his progressive measures are being turned against him. For nowhere in New York is the divide between haves and have-nots—or between black and white—as stark as it is on equal access to a decent education. It is this divide the pro-charter Families for Excellent Schools will highlight on Wednesday as mothers and fathers march across the Brooklyn Bridge to demand "school equality," i.e., great schools for  all  children. In the run up to this march, the group has released a powerful new  TV ad  designed to drive home the human costs of the existing inequality by showing a white boy and an African-American boy on their way to school. As the camera follows the white child, a narrato...