Last night the Paterson Board of Education and the community members wrestled with the latest version of Paterson’s school transformation plan. Of the more than three hours of comment and debate, the contribution of the children stands out for me. Faced with the proposed moving of the upper
Read more →Hello, ALEC. No, not a person. A conservative think tank whose legislative agenda for education includes vouchers, the expansion of charters, tax breaks for home-schoolers and private companies building and running schools. Want to know more about ALEC? Here’s the link to the Sunday Star Ledger story. Knowing
Read more →Last night we shared PEF’s latest edition of the Educated Voters Guide to the School Board Elections with the School Board members. As usual, the Commissioners immediately turned to our report on their attendance. And as usual, they were surprised by the report. It looks different in
Read more →I agree with Acting Commissioner Cerf on education funding, it’s not just about the money. After that, we part company. For me the question is: how do we get all our children to graduation with skills to make a good life for themselves and contribute to our
Read more →Do you know that families with children made nearly twice as much income in Passaic County than in Paterson? The new census shows that the median income [the mid point: half make more; half make less] for a Paterson family with children was $29,500; the median for Passaic County was
Read more →There is so much debate on education issues, sometimes an interesting tool gets lost. Take today’s story on NJ Spotlight about private school participation in NJ. It’s lost behind the stories about charters and teacher tenure. Click here to go to the story and the interactive map.
Read more →Happy New Year! I wish the best for you as 2012 begins. I also wish that we would stop trying to “fix” our Paterson schools with smoke and mirrors. There are all sorts of reasons to oppose the voucher legislation known as the “Opportunity Scholarship Act” from
Read more →Do you know that children who do not read on grade level by the end of third grade are likely to drop out? As early as 9 years old, some kids are on a path to a life of poverty and hardship. But it doesn’t have to be that
Read more →How are the children? Stuggling. We all know that. However, Paterson Kids Count shows us a detailed, rounded picture of our children’s conditions over the past five years. For us at PEF, the critical point is the low literacy achievement by fourth grade. As you look at all
Read more →I love putting a smile on children’s faces. Their joy in simple things is so uplifting. Yesterday, on Halloween, we took pop-up cards to Napier Academy/School 4’s middle school students. Their smiles spread from ear to ear. Today, we have a new opportunity to make big smiles.
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