I have long been perplexed by the dilemma that test-driven "reform" created. Teachers cannot remain silent as our integrity is assailed and as corporate "reformers" follow their marketing plan and launch one outrageous attack on public schools after another.
The immediate damage of the cap policy is harder to measure or see, but the longer-term loss is very great. New Jersey cannot continue to provide excellent local education without strong, adequately compensated leaders.
How can an institution that claims to be academically objective put out a press release that is so misleading about the study's findings?
Without the minimal protection of tenure, the teaching profession will become even more unattractive to the very cohort of bright, young students that are so desperately needed in the future to educate our children.
The power of Cory Booker entered my life and quickly spread to family, friends, classmates, teachers, you name it. Everyone seemed to have the same response upon discovering this new breed of political force... this guy is the real deal.
We all know that factors related to poverty can limit learning in a number of ways. It's time to take apply the "no excuses" doctrine to systems reforms.
John H. Jackson
President and CEO, The Schott Foundation for Public Education
American policy makers and reformers must be willing to accept the obvious: School reform efforts can't ignore the effects of poverty on children's lives or on the performance of schools.
Pedro Noguera
Professor, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
Two high school seniors from opposite ends of the country have one very important interest in common: They are counting down the days to cast their first ballots.
America is on a fast track to raising up an Orwellian generation--one populated by compliant citizens accustomed to living in a police state and who march in lockstep to the dictates of the government.
John W. Whitehead
Attorney, President of The Rutherford Institute, and author of 'Battlefield America'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/new-jersey-schools/
