"The vast majority of opt-outs are taking place in non-urban, non-disadvantaged districts,” agrees [NJEA Spokesman Steve] Wollmer, “because parents tend to be better informed in those districts and tend to communicate among themselves a lot more.”This quote is courtesy of Robert Pondiscio at the Fordham Foundation, who was able to research opt-out numbers using NJEA's own list that they're collecting in order to lobby legislators to vote for anti-PARCC bills. According to this data, parents who opt their kids out of PARCC tests are largely affluent and white so Pondiscio checked in with Wollmer, perhaps anticipating a bit of hedging, but NJEA is apparently content with this disparity.
Who is Julia Sass Rubin and what does she have against my kids?Arthur Barclay, lifetime Camden resident and City Council member:
Her “study” yesterday was nothing more than a series of cherry-picked numbers chosen to create a false narrative, but it has little resemblance to the story of my family’s life. My child’s experience is proof of that. And the real evidence coming out of the high-performing charter schools shows that she is just wrong
Everywhere I turn, Julia Sass Rubin seems to be talking for Camden's poor. Just last week she told one of the state's largest newspapers: "People in abject poverty don't have the bandwidth to even evaluate charter schools. It's just not going to be high on their list."
Excuse me? That deeply offensive comment toward low-income families in Camden shows not only her complete disregard of our families, but a dangerous misunderstanding about what our families want.
I know thousands of parents in this city — including my own — who desperately want better for their kids. Our district schools are finally showing progress.
Marlene Gonzalez and Hector Nieves, two parents whose children attend Camden's LEAP Academy:Thankfully, we are also getting some new schools in our city that are committed to ensuring our kids' potential is fulfilled. Rather than assailing these new schools, called Renaissance schools, she should be embracing them because of what these schools are doing for our children. The kindergartners in Renaissance schools in Camden are already reading, counting to 100, and articulating the major accomplishments of George Washington Carver. And it's only November.
Speaking on behalf of more than 1,000 families who made the choice to send their children to the LEAP Academy charter school in Camden, we have had the bandwidth to evaluate the education available to children in traditional public schools in cities such as Camden, Trenton and Newark. In spite of the thousands of dollars that poured into these districts, even when they have been under state oversight, the results have been atrocious and simply unacceptable.
Labels: camden, charter schools, Newark, NJEA, SOS-NJ