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NJPSA Advocacy & Government Relations

NJPSA Annual Legislative Conference

April 1, 2011

NJPSA held its Annual Membership meeting and Legislative Conference April 1, 2011. Highlight of the day included, in addition to election of the 2011-2012 officers: a keynote address Acting Commissioner of Education, Christopher Cerf; an update from Brian Zychowski, Chair of the Governor’s New Jersey Educator Effectiveness Task Force on the work of the Taskforce going forward; a discussion with Richard Rothstein, research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, on fact-checking on the education reform movement; and a Legislative Panel, comprised of members of the N.J. State Senate and Assembly Education Committees, on hot education topics including school choice, tenure reform and educator evaluation. 

Legislator Panel

Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan responds to question from moderator John Mooney

Acting Commissioner's Take on the Governor's Ed Reform Agenda

New Jersey Acting Commissioner of Education, Christopher Cerf told the audience of principals, supervisors, directors, and other school administrators that education reform is needed. Cerf covered the hot-button Christopher Cerf issues in his keynote, telling the group that policies such as last in, first out must be changed. Referring to the procedure in which the newest teachers must be let go when there is a reduction in force, he said "last in, first out is enshrined in statute," and that when one teacher is senior to the other, even if the newer teacher is better, "you must let the better teacher go," according to law.

Later when discussing tenure reform proposals, Cerf said that he knows from his own exerience as a teacher that first year teachers are not necessarily fantastic teachers, and that teachers improve year by year, over the years.

NJPSA Board

Cerf added that while the department is planning for change, he believes that "soviet-style" top-down management of education by the state is a "tried and failed approach," preferring, he said, to allow educators to take the lead. "Our job is to hold people accountable and then get out of your way," he stated.

The commissioner spoke a good deal about teachers, decrying what he said is a lack of differentiation effected through evaluations. "Everybody in this room understands that there is a distribution of talent" among teachers and that "teachers are not an interchangeable commodity." He said that teachers are the most important factor in the education of a child and said that the greatest good could be accomplished by making existing teachers better.

Update on Educator Evaluation

The membership also received an update from Brian Zychowski, Chair of the Governor's Chair of the Governor’s New Jersey Educator Effectiveness Task Force on the work of the Taskforce going forward.  

Debunking Ed Reform

Later in the day, Richard Rothstein, research associate at the Economic Policy Institute and lecturer at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, countered much of what the Acting Commissioner had said earlier in the day.  

In contrast to Cerf, Rothstein said that teachers are certainly part of the equation but nowhere near the most important factor and thus cannot be held responsible for all educational outcomes, especially Richard Rothstein when considering tying teacher evaluation to student test scores. Rather, he said, factors such as poverty, which results in poor health, more time away from school, insufficient nutrition, greater student turnover, are actually to blame when student achievement is low in low-income areas, which is where low student achievement is an issue. In addition, he said, he does not believe the oft-mentioned education crisis really exists, and thus by extension, proposed solutions to the crisis cannot be correct.

Rothstein looked at historical NAEP scores in examining the state of American education over the last generation. Noting that minority students have gained one full standard deviation in NAEP scores over the last 20 years, Rothstein countered the ubiquitous claim that U.S. education is failing students. He emphasized many times that education in the U.S. is doing quite well, stating that in no other area of public policy have positive gains of a standard deviation ever been seen over the period of time in which students experienced such gains on the NAEP.

 

Resources

Below please find a listing of resource materials from the April 1 Annual Membership meeting and Legislative Conference.

Resource Listing from Mr. Zychowski’s Update on the New Jersey Educator Effectiveness Task Force:

Resource Listing Provided by Richard Rothstein:

  1. President Obama’s remarks on standardized testing.
  2. Critiques on Attacks of Public Education: EPI Issue Brief - HOW TO FIX OUR SCHOOLS It’s More Complicated, and More Work, Than theKlein-Rhee ‘Manifesto’ Wants You to Believe (Richard Rothstein)
  3. Critiques on Attacks of Public Education: EPI Research Associate Richard Rothstein posted this response on the National Journal Experts blog, on the topic of school reform efforts being promoted by Bill Gates and other prominent education policy advocates.
  4. Analyses and criticism of the Obama Administration’s proposals for the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act:  EPI Policy Memorandum - The Prospects for No Child Left Behind
  5. Analyses and criticism of the Obama Administration’s proposals for the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: EPI Policy Memorandum - A Blue Print that Needs More Work. 
  6. A very diverse coalition of leaders from many fields have proposed an alternative to the Administration’s proposals. The coalition is called “A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education.”  Summary statements:  Bold Approach Full Statement & Statement on Accountability. Further detail can be found at http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/books_class_and_schools/
  7. Educational Leadership responded to those who deny that a narrowing of social and economic inequality is an essential part of narrowing the achievement gap.  For more information visit: http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ascd_whose_problem_is_poverty/

Legislative Conference Materials