Jersey Jazzman

• Kids In Disadvantaged Schools Don't Need Tests To Tell Them They're Being Cheated January 9, 2019
  There was a very raw, very discouraging story in The Trentonian this past week that is worth your time, whether you live in Jersey or not. Here's an excerpt:Over the past year, this newspaper spoke with high school students educated in the Trenton Public Schools (TPS) district. The interviews took place in the presence of an […]
  Duke
• NJ Court Strikes Down Graduation Test; An Opportunity to Re-Think Testing? January 1, 2019
  Miss me?Yesterday, a New Jersey appellate court struck down regulations that required students to pass two PARCC tests -- the statewide tests implemented a few years ago under the Christie administration -- as a requirement to graduate. Sarah Blaine has an excellent legal analysis you should read about the ruling. Let me add a few […]
  Duke
• Charter Schools Do Not Promote Diversity September 23, 2018
  Peter Greene had a useful post the other day about how to spot bad education research. One sure sign is cherry-picking: focusing on a few observations – or even just one – and then suggesting these few are representative of the whole. This tactic is a favorite among charter school cheerleaders, who will extoll X's […]
  Duke
• An Open Letter to NJ Sen. Ruiz, re: Teacher Evaluation and Test Scores September 4, 2018
  Tuesday, September 4, 2018The Honorable M. Teresa RuizThe New Jersey SenateTrenton, NJDear Senator Ruiz,As thousands of New Jersey teachers are heading back to school this week, this is an excellent time to address your recent comments about changes Governor Murphy's administration has made to state rules regarding the use of test scores in teacher evaluations.As […]
  Duke
• SGPs: Still Biased, Still Inappropriate To Use For Teacher Evaluation July 22, 2018
  Let's suppose you and I get jobs digging holes. Let's suppose we get to keep our jobs based on how well we dig relative to each other.It should be simple to determine who digs more: all our boss has to do is measure how far down our holes go. It turns out I'm much better […]
  Duke
• The PARCC, Phil Murphy, and Some Common Sense July 16, 2018
  Miss me?I'll tell you what I've been up to soon, I promise. I'm actually still in the middle of it... but I've been reading and hearing a lot of stuff about education policy lately, and I've decided I can't just sit back -- even if my time is really at a premium these days -- […]
  Duke
• What Do We Teach In America's Schools? "Hey, Honey, Sit Down and Shut Up!" May 1, 2018
  America, it's time to play Spot The Pattern!™First, Chicago (all emphases mine):Earlier this month, we posted a story about discipline practices inside Noble Network of Charter Schools, which educates approximately one out of 10 high school students in Chicago. One former teacher quoted in the piece described some of the schools’ policies as “dehumanizing.” [...]  Through the teacher, […]
  Duke
• Don't Blame Teachers For School Underfunding: A Data Tale From Jersey City April 30, 2018
  The animosity between NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney and the NJEA, New Jersey's largest teachers union, is already well-known. Add to that the rivalry between Sweeney and Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop, and Sweeney's desire to amend the state's school funding system... well, Sweeney's latest dig at Jersey City's teachers and board of education really shouldn't have […]
  Duke
• The Facts About NJ Charter Schools, Part III: Segregation By English Proficiency March 19, 2018
  This week, I'm going into detail about a new report on New Jersey's charter schools I wrote with Julia Sass Rubin. In the last post, I showed conclusively that the charters enroll proportionally fewer special education students. In addition, the classified students charters do enroll tend to have less costly learning disabilities. This puts both […]
  Duke
• The Facts About NJ Charter Schools, Part II: Segregation By Special Education Need March 17, 2018
  In this series of posts, I'm breaking down a new report by myself and Julia Sass Rubin on New Jersey's charter schools. State data shows one incontrovertible truth:New Jersey's charter schools enroll far fewer students proportionally who have learning disabilities, or who are Limited English Proficient, when compared to their hosting districts.Here's a graph that […]
  Duke