NJ Education Report

Best New Twitter Feed: “Thanks Common Core,” or @thnkscommoncore: “Common Core gets blamed for everything these days, so it only makes sense to keep a running record of all the trouble it’s causing.” Tweets include “My goldfish just died. #ThanksCommon Core,” “Lost the page I’m on in my books. #Thanks Common Core,” and “My coffee is cold. #ThanksCommonCore”

Speaking of all things Common Core, the Star Ledger reports that the “[Badass Teachers Assocciation]s, a national organization of some 48,000 teachers, will demand the government end [its] support of the Common Core State Standards and high-stakes testing. And they will call for Education Secretary Arne Duncan to be fired and replaced with a career educator.”

There’s no money to pay for Gov. Christie’s proposal for extended school time.

The Asbury Park Press has a long profile of Asbury Park Public Schools’ controversial state monitor Carole Morris. The district’s annual per pupil cost is about $31K and the high school graduation rate is 51%.

NJ Spotlight analyzes Ed. Comm. David Hespe’s approach to charter school expansion: “Charter schools have lately become the tinderbox of New Jersey education policy, but acting state Education Commissioner David Hespe hasn’t hesitated to promote the often-controversial approach to education reform.”

Starting September 2016, new teachers in N.J., reports the Press of Atlantic City, will need a G.P.A. of 3.0. Also in the Press, “a report by the state auditor on school district administrative costs has recommended that the Department of Education increase its efforts toward school consolidation as required by state law.”

The Bacon litigation, representing sixteen poor rural districts, mostly in South Jersey, is back in court. “A chart compiled by the ELC shows that the 16 districts would get an additional $18.3 million in state aid in 2014-15 if they received all they were entitled to under the 2008 School Funding Reform Act, or SFRA.”

The New York Times Magazine features an article called “Why do Americans Stink at Math?” One of the answers is  lack of professional development for math teachers.

Matt Lebuhn at Democrats for Education Reform: “It says something about Diane Ravitch’s role in the education debate that this is the sort of group that she perceives as an ally. Just as the American Principles Project advances a fringe vision of the United States, so does Diane Ravitch promote an extremist’s understanding of education policy. Populated with visions of money-greedy businessmen with nefarious motives and secret plans laid out by an imagined Gates cabal, Ravitch’s view of education policy now intersects with the positions of groups like the American Principles Project.
While we disagree with Diane Ravitch on many issues, we certainly acknowledge that she is a leader to many in education. It is a shame to see where she has chosen to lead them.”