New Jersey Approves Two New Charter Schools, Both in Paterson

Two new charter schools with ties to established school management companies will open this fall in Paterson, the Christie Administration announced recently, according to a report by njspotlight.com.

Ascend Learning, a company with deep ties to New York City’s charter school sector, will run one of the schools. The other school’s founder is Nihat Guvercin, who already runs schools in Paterson and Garfield.

State Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf said the two schools selected to open this fall stood out among the other applicants. They are not, he said, part of a plan to boost charter school enrollment in Paterson, the state’s fourth largest city.

“There is nothing about Paterson in particular,” Cerf told njspotlight.com. “These were the ones that emerged with the highest probability of success. These are proven models with strong track records, and they both happen to be in Paterson.”

Since Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010, 46 charter schools have earned state approval and 25 new schools have opened while five schools have been closed due to poor performance and financial mismanagement.

Picture: Focus Wall 

UT-Austin Ranked #1 Among Public Colleges of Education in the USA

UT-Austin COLLEGE OF EDUCATION ranked #1 among public universities by U.S. News & World Report - THIRD YR in a ROW for that. Ranked #1 in research expenditures among private AND public for the SIXTH YR IN A ROW. Special education, educational psychology and admin/supervision all ranked in top 10 nationally. The college is the only one on the UT-Austin campus that's been ranked #1 - ever.

Within the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (my department), are these specific rankings: 
Curriculum and Instruction- #13 overall 
Secondary Teacher Education- #13 overall
Elementary Teacher Education- #15 overall

Hoboken Board of Education Agenda - Tuesday March 12

2012 Hudson County Drop Out Percentages

The Hoboken Board of Education will meet on Tuesday evening March 12, 2013 at 7PM for a regularly scheduled meeting. It is budget time and no doubt the meeting will have a number of important ramifications for the community over the next year. 

One issue that may arise could be the waiver that the Kids First majority is seeking for the 2013-2014 annual budget. Some of you will recall that last year the Kids First majority choose to take the right to vote for the school budget away from Hoboken's voters provided the budget is less than 2% more than the previous year's budget. Less than a year later, the Kids First have asked for a waiver to this law-- increasing the budget by 4% (about $2.5 million) to a total of somewhere in the neighborhood of $65 million dollars. Keep in mind that 4 short year ago a number of Kids First members said publicly they could not vote for a budget of $59.1 million because it was excessive.

(Kids First) Board member Carrie Gilliard joined (Kids First member) Theresa Minutillo and (Kids First member) Rose Markle in opposition to the spending document. “$59 million is troubling me. We need to revisit this. I cannot support it,” she said. - Hoboken Reporter (April, 2009)

It is interesting that Kids First found a school budget of $59.1 million was "troubling", "unacceptable" and required "revisiting" in April of 2009 but in 2013 Kids First has no issue at all with a budget of $65 million? My estimate is that per pupil cost will be in the neighborhood of $30,000 per student for 2013-2014. 

Another issue that may arise is the planned district organization of Hoboken High School into a 7-12 school building. Some will remember that last year there was talk of going to a middle school model (Hoboken is currently a quasi- K-8; 9-12 district with the actual distribution more like PreK-K, 1-7, and 8-12 configuration). The moving of 7th graders to Hoboken High School is being received with mixed reactions around the city. It will be interesting to see what type of dissuasion, if any, this generates at Tuesday's meeting since there is a special meeting schedule focused of this specific topic on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 7PM in the auditorium of Hoboken High School (last week's meeting was cancelled due to bad weather). 

The choice of expanding the student population to Hoboken High School in interesting given that currently it has the 2nd lowest graduation rate in Hudson County and had the 10th biggest one year drop in graduation rate for the entire State of New Jersey for 2011-2012. The drop in graduation rates combined with the troubling numbers from the 2012 Violence and Vandalism Report is bound to initiate some discussion. 

Some readers will remember that Dr. Cella was the principal of Hoboken High School when Hoboken High School was the 2nd Most Improved High School in the State of New Jersey (NJ Monthly) and won successive US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT Bronze Medal Awards. Significantly different from the current situation which finds a school that has failed to make Adequate yearly Progress, increased suspensions and expulsions, and a school which has seen 4 principals in 3 years. I believe this shows the critical importance of Board and building leadership rather than any negative implication for the teachers or students. It is sobering how quickly things can unravel without successful supervision, administration, and competent Board oversight.

03-12-13 Agenda for Public Meeting by

Tuesday March 12, 2013 Notice of Public Meeting- Hoboken Board of Education

The following is the public notice for the Hoboken Board of Education Meeting of Tuesday, March 12, 2013. The meeting is to take place at 7PM which is when the Stated Session will take place. At 9PM there will be a Student Disciplinary Hearing. Recently, the Board approved introduction of the 2013-2014 budget with a meeting scheduled on March 26, 2013 for approval. 

  03-12-13 Public Notice of Meeting by  

Picture: Analysis of the most recent dropout data published by the New Jersey Department of Education in December 2012 indicates that the Hoboken School District had the 10th biggest increase in the dropout rate in the State of New Jersey (-7.46%).

Interdisciplinary Professors and Universities Struggle to Find Common Ground

A recent article by Carl Straumsheim of Inside Higher Education entitled "Interdisciplinary and Out of a Job" discusses some recent issues developing at universities across the country concerning faculty from interdisciplinary studies and their promotion and tenure rate. The article by Straumsheim focuses particularly on The University of Texas at Austin but the article points out the possibility both of a national trend or simply a statistical aberration. - Dr. Petrosino 

Of the 14 instructors up for promotion to associate professor in the College of Liberal Arts this academic year, only eight were recommended for tenure -- the lowest rate of promotion in nearly a decade. ​About 81 percent of the instructors up for tenure review last year were promoted to associate professors. The rate has fluctuated between 64 and 95 percent in the last eight years before dropping to about 57 percent this year, according to UT-Austin data.

According to professors familiar with what happened, five of the six faculty members not recommended for tenure represent interdisciplinary fields. All six are minorities.

In a letter to UT-Austin President William C. Powers Jr. and Provost Steven W. Leslie, 32 faculty members in the liberal arts expressed their concerns about the methods used to determine whether an instructor is granted tenure.

  A review of the tenure process revealed no bias against interdisciplinary scholars, said Tara Doolittle, the director of media outreach at UT-Austin, who described this year’s results as an “aberration.”

 

“We value our interdisciplinary scholars,” Doolittle said. “It’s ... a priority of the university, and it brings a lot to the College of Liberal Arts. It’s very important for those faculty members to have an identifiable career track.”

A related article was published in The Daily Texan on February 27, 2013 entitled "Tenure denial of interdisciplinary faculty sparks concern from liberal arts professors" and was written by Andrew Messamore. 

Photo Credit: theboken - Court Street #hoboken during #snowstorm #saturn#snow #newjersey

http://snapwidget.com/view/?id=407332143530297501_27288633#.UTtM4jmRD-A

MEETING POSTPONE UNTIL 3/13/13

Due to inclement weather, the parent meeting at HHS is rescheduled to 7pm on March 13th. 

Meeting Scheduled on Reconfiguration- Wednesday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m at HHS

Hoboken Patch reports that there will be a public meeting on Wednesday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium of Hoboken High School to discuss Junior High School and Middle School options and possible reconfigurations for the 2013-2014 school year. You can read more by clicking HERE. 

Hoboken District Looking to add 7th Grade to High School

Claire Moses of Hoboken Patch reports that The Hoboken Board of Education is looking to move the seventh grade into the high school. A public meeting to discuss this with parents will be held.

The Board of Education is considering a plan in which Hoboken's seventh graders would move into the High School for the 2013-2014 school year. 

Rather than adopting a middle school model in the district —the district administration indicates they are looking into an option of a junior-senior high school.

The seventh graders would be able to use the high school's resources, but won't be in class with the high schoolers, according to administrators.

Before a decision will be made, parents will have the opportunity to comment. A forum will be scheduled for the last week of February.

The Trouble With Online College

The following is a thoughtful editorial from the NY Times which was published on February 18, 2013. It provides some insight into online course and some challenges that such courses face. -Dr. Petrosino 

Stanford University ratcheted up interest in online education when a pair of celebrity professors attracted more than 150,000 students from around the world to a noncredit, open enrollment course on artificial intelligence. This development, though, says very little about what role online courses could have as part of standard college instruction. College administrators who dream of emulating this strategy for classes like freshman English would be irresponsible not to consider two serious issues.

First, student attrition rates — around 90 percent for some huge online courses — appear to be a problem even in small-scale online courses when compared with traditional face-to-face classes. Second, courses delivered solely online may be fine for highly skilled, highly motivated people, but they are inappropriate for struggling students who make up a significant portion of college enrollment and who need close contact with instructors to succeed.

Online classes are already common in colleges, and, on the whole, the record is not encouraging. According to Columbia University’s Community College Research Center, for example, about seven million students — about a third of all those enrolled in college — are enrolled in what the center describes as traditional online courses. These typically have about 25 students and are run by professors who often have little interaction with students. Over all, the center has produced nine studies covering hundreds of thousands of classes in two states, Washington and Virginia. The picture the studies offer of the online revolution is distressing.

The research has shown over and over again that community college students who enroll in online courses are significantly more likely to fail or withdraw than those in traditional classes, which means that they spend hard-earned tuition dollars and get nothing in return. Worse still, low-performing students who may be just barely hanging on in traditional classes tend to fall even further behind in online courses.

A five-year study, issued in 2011, tracked 51,000 students enrolled in Washington State community and technical colleges. It found that those who took higher proportions of online courses were less likely to earn degrees or transfer to four-year colleges. The reasons for such failures are well known. Many students, for example, show up at college (or junior college) unprepared to learn, unable to manage time and having failed to master basics like math and English.

Lacking confidence as well as competence, these students need engagement with their teachers to feel comfortable and to succeed. What they often get online is estrangement from the instructor who rarely can get to know them directly. Colleges need to improve online courses before they deploy them widely. Moreover, schools with high numbers of students needing remedial education should consider requiring at least some students to demonstrate success in traditional classes before allowing them to take online courses.

Interestingly, the center found that students in hybrid classes — those that blended online instruction with a face-to-face component — performed as well academically as those in traditional classes. But hybrid courses are rare, and teaching professors how to manage them is costly and time-consuming.

The online revolution offers intriguing opportunities for broadening access to education. But, so far, the evidence shows that poorly designed courses can seriously shortchange the most vulnerable students.

Picture: Firemen at work at Newark and Madison where a three alarm fire blazed through two residential buildings.  Credit: Chris Costa/Hoboken Patch 

Meeting Agenda for the Hoboken Board of Education's Meeting on February 12, 2013

The following is the Meeting Agenda for the Hoboken Board of Education's Meeting on February 12, 2013.


FUTURE PUBLIC BOARD MEETINGS
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013

  Hoboken Board of Education Meeting Agenda February 2013 by  

Feb 7-8 National Weather Service Blizzard Warning Hoboken, NJ

The National Weather Service has issued a Blizzard Warning for our area which is in effect from Friday 6:00am through Saturday 1:00pm. Damaging winds and snow accumulation of 10 to 14 inches with localized higher amounts are possible.

Residents are encouraged to monitor the City website, www.hobokennj.org or sign up to receive free email or text updates by visiting www.hobokennj.org/alerts.

For emergencies, call 911 or the Hoboken Police Department at 201-420-2100. Downed power lines should be reported to 911.

Emergency Snow Routes

Residents are reminded not to park along emergency snow routes. Emergency Snow Routes in Hoboken are labeled with street signs that read “No Parking When Road Is Snow Covered.” When streets are snow covered, no parking is permitted on these streets (a snow emergency does not need to be declared). Vehicles parked on snow emergency routes are subject to towing. This is necessary to move police, fire and ambulances throughout Hoboken in time of emergency for the safety and welfare of all our citizens. A list and map of emergency snow routes is available on the City website: www.hobokennj.org/snow.

Keeping Sidewalks Clear

Property owners/occupants are reminded that they have six hours after the completion of a storm to remove snow and ice from sidewalks adjacent to their property, along with adjoining wheelchair ramps or curb cuts. Residents are urged to assist elderly or disabled neighbors with clearing snow from their properties. It is illegal to shovel snow back onto streets or onto fire hydrants. The City is responsible for clearing sidewalks around City-owned properties.

The City performs proactive inspections and also relies on citizen complaints to help us identify those property owners that are not meeting sidewalk safety requirements. The vast majority of property owners comply with these regulations, but the City will issue fines to those who do not keep sidewalks clear.

Reporting Problems

To report an unplowed street, unshoveled sidewalk, or other problem, residents can submit an online complaint via www.hoboken311.com. During normal business hours, they can also call the Department of Environmental Services at 201-420-2012.

Discounted Garage Parking

Due to the predicted storm, a special rate of $5 per 24 hour period is being offered in Garages B (28 2nd Street) and D (215 Hudson Street) to residents with a parking permit decal or Temporary parking permit placard beginning at 8am on Friday, February 8 through 8am on Sunday, February 10. In addition, Hoboken residents with disabilities who possess either a handicapped license plate or hang tag for their permitted vehicle may also park in the Midtown garage (371 4th Street) for the same reduced rate. Garage space is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Regular rates apply at other times.

Residents who have a parking permit decal or Temporary parking permit placard are reminded that overnight parking (8pm to 8am) is available at a rate of $5.00 in Garages B, D and Midtown every day of the year.

Judge Rules Texas' School-Funding Method Unconstitutional

The following is excerpted from the Texas Tribune and was written by Morgan Smith. This post also contains the official ruling by the Judge as well as the judge's remarks. This is a very important decision concerning the funding of education in the State of Texas and will have far reaching impacts across the country. In addition, the judge also ruled on 3 issues related to charter schools which will have statewide and potential national impact. -Dr. Petrosino

In a decision certain to be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, state district Judge John Dietz ruled Monday in favor of more than 600 school districts on all of their major claims against the state's school finance system. With a swift ruling issued from the bench shortly after the state finished its closing arguments, Dietz said that the state does not adequately or efficiently fund public schools — and that it has created an unconstitutional de-facto property tax in shifting the burden of paying for them to the local level.

"There is no free lunch," he said. "We either want increased standards and are willing to pay the price, or we don't."

Dietz said that issues raised by another party in the lawsuit, Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education — a group representing parents, school choice advocates and the business community that argued the current system was inefficient and overregulated — were better solved by the Legislature. He also declined to find the state cap on charter school contracts, or the charters' lack of access to facilities funding, unconstitutional.

Moments after Dietz spoke, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams issued a statement emphasizing that the ruling is "simply one step on this litigation’s path."

“All sides have known that, regardless of the outcome at the district level, final resolution will not come until this case reaches the Texas Supreme Court," he said. "I’m appreciative of the strong case presented by the Attorney General’s Office on behalf of the state. The Texas Education Agency will continue to carry out its mission of serving the students and educators across our state.”

Though he did not rule in favor of TREEE's claims, which challenged the statutory cap on charters, the alleged overregulation of public schools and the state's system for rating for financial accountability, Dietz said that they should "bear the Legislature's scrutiny."

The judge, who is expected to issue a more detailed decision in several weeks, did not elaborate further on his ruling against the charter school plaintiffs. He said that it was within the Legislature's discretion to fund charter schools differently than traditional public schools, and that any disparities in funding "do not rise to the level" of unconstitutionality.

The executive director of the Texas Charter School Association, David Dunn, issued a statement in response to the ruling Monday evening.

“We are disappointed that Judge Dietz ruled against charter school students and their parents, denying them constitutional protections,” he said. “They have the same constitutional right to facilities funding as every other Texas public school student.  Parents and students do not give up their right to facilities funding by choosing the best public school option for their child.  However, we are thrilled that the judge ruled the overall public education system, of which charters are an integral part, inadequate.”

NPR reports: 

After a 12-week trial, Judge John Dietz took only moments to agree with schools that the current funding mechanism violates the state Constitution.

"It was a great relief," said Wayne Pierce, executive director of the Equity Center, an organization of some 675 of the school districts arguing that the system is "hopelessly broken."

Texas does not have a state income tax and relies on local property taxes to fund schools. A so-called "Robin Hood" scheme, enacted in 1993 as a result of an earlier lawsuit, requires schools with more resources to share with those in poorer districts.

Plaintiffs such as Wayne Pierce say lawmakers should not wait to act.

"The longer you wait before you fix the system that funds [kids'] education, the more you hurt them," Pierce says. "And if we have to wait two more years before this goes through the full process, there are sophomores in high school right now that will not benefit one day."

Some state lawmakers had already begun making contingency plans, setting aside some money in case they need to increase funding. But even after Monday's ruling, Republican Sen. Kel Seliger — who sits on the state Senate Finance and Education committees — says the debate on the nature of the fix will continue.

"The judge said [the current system] was unconstitutional, but he did not prescribe any remedies," Seliger says. "We're just going to have to come up with a remedy that may not be a preferred one but that it is constitutional.

Judge John Dietz's Remarks In School Finance Ruling: CLICK HERE 

  Dietz Ruling by   Kimberly Reeves

Picture: fineartamerica.com