Below is the test score lookup tool from the previously posted NJ.com article Despite aid cuts, N.J. students improved test scores in 2010-11 school year:

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This is an article from NJ.com, here is a link to the article:

TRENTON — New Jersey’s public school students racked up slightly higher test scores in most grades in the 2010-11 school year, despite Gov. Chris Christie’s cutting about $1 billion in state aid to schools that year, according to standardized test results released today by the state Board of Education.

Students posted slightly higher test stores in math and language arts in most grades, from 3 through 8, and in high school. In science, however, a subject in which students are tested only in fourth and eighth grades, scores dropped.

Many schools experienced cuts in staff and other areas in 2010-11, due to the steep drop in state aid. But results of the NJASK tests, given in grade school, and the High School Proficiency Assessment showed most weathered the storm.

“The year that generated that cut, actually turned out to be a year where we had decent student (achievement),” said Acting Commissioner Christopher Cerf, cautioning “I don’t want to leave you with the impression that means we can cut more. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Christie, in fact, returned some of the money to schools the following year.

The state each year releases data from tests taken the previous spring, as a snapshot of how New Jersey’s students are learning. In high school, scores showed steady progress up. The percentage of students passing language arts rose from 94.3 in 2010 to 96.1 percent in 2011, and the math passing rate went from 82.8 to 83.6. A new high school biology test also showed improvement.

This is an article from the The Hunterdon Review, here is a link to the article:

TEWKSBURY TWP. – Think your property taxes are too high? State Sen. Mike Doherty, R-Hunterdon, says he has a solution.

As part of a tour that has taken him to municipalities throughout the state, Sen. Doherty came to Tewksbury Tuesday, Jan. 17 to pitch his controversial Fair School Funding Plan (FSF), legislation he maintains would increase school funding and lower property taxes for 85 percent of the state.

How? Currently, state education aid is calculated via a formula approved under former Gov. Jon Corzine as part of his School Funding Reform Act. The formula calculates aid per student by several designations, including whether a student receives free or reduced school lunches or speaks another language at home.

Sen. Doherty’s proposal would do away with the formula altogether, and instead give each New Jersey student equal state funding, at $7,481 per child. The legislation would increase aid to suburban and rural districts while drastically reducing funds currently reserved for urban schools in so-called Abbott districts, including Newark, Camden and Asbury Park.

Under existing regulations, “It’s a very unequal distribution,” said the senator Tuesday. By his calculations, using figures he said came from the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Education and the Office of Legislative Services, the average Tewksbury resident contributes 14 times as much to the income tax fund as the average resident in urban Asbury Park, while Asbury Park receives 29 times more in state education aid.

This is an opinion piece from NJ.com, here is a link to the article:

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said he can institute an across-the-board 10 percent income tax cut and still increase state aid to education.

As part of a day-long victory lap Wednesday to promote the ideas unveiled one day earlier in his State of the State address, the Republican governor told a town hall audience in Vorhees he would phase-in the cut over three years at a cost of $300 million per year.

“The fact is there’s a lot of waste in government to be ferreted out over time,” he told hundreds of people in the atrium of a shopping mall, some perched over a balcony to get a good look. “I would tell you we’ll be able to do that not only without cutting aid to education but with increasing aid to education.”

The promise is a direct reaction to Democrats in control the Legislature who pounced on Christie’s income tax plan, calling it rhetoric aimed at boosting the governor’s national profile. They labeled it a gift to the wealthy that would decimate revenues so much that schools would suffer.

“Don’t let the Democrats who are opposing this fool you into thinking you have to make a choice between the two,” he said.

Christie, who said more details about how he’ll slash state spending would come in his Feb. 21 budget address, took his message of responsibly reducing the size of government around the state and over the airwaves. The whirlwind day started at 7 a.m.

This is an article from NJ.com, here is a link to the article:

Just as New Jersey prepares to revamp its tenure laws, an exhaustive new study on teacher quality indicates that Gov. Chris Christie is on the right track.

The study’s conclusion is simple: Getting rid of the worst teachers, and holding onto the good ones, leads to lifetime benefits for their students. And test scores are a tremendously helpful tool in helping to evaluate teacher performance.

The study, by a team of economists at Harvard and Columbia universities, tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years. When they started the study, the economist expected to find that judging teachers in part on test scores was a big mistake.

But they found just the opposite, that tests are telling. Understand that it’s not a simple matter of crediting teachers whose kids score the highest. That would reward a lazy teacher who is lucky enough to have classrooms full of attentive kids with supportive families, and punish a heroic teachers who works with the state’s poorest kids.

Instead, the study measured the impact a teacher had on a classroom full of kids, taking into account where they began. So a teacher who helps poor kids read more effectively gets credit, even if the students remain behind grade level. It’s known as “value-added ratings” and several school districts across the country have begun using it in teacher evaluations.

No one wants to rely exclusively on test scores. There is no substitute for classroom visits.

This is an article from the Asbury Park Press, here is a link to the article:

TRENTON — A bill that paves a legal path toward new public-private schools in three cities – including the Lanning Square Elementary School in Camden – passed two legislative committees Thursday.

The Democratic-sponsored bill was amended to overcome Republicans objections, though a legal advocate for low-income students threatened to bring a lawsuit to stop the program if the bill becomes law.

The Urban Hope Act would allow for up to four privately operated public schools to be authorized and built each in Newark, Trenton and Camden.

The bill (A4426/S3173) passed both the state Assembly and Senate budget committees and is expected to be voted on in both chambers Monday, the last day of the two-year state legislative session.

South Jersey Democratic leader George E. Norcross III has been pushing for the bill, particularly because he wants to see a new private-public school in the Lanning Square section in the center of Camden.

Gov. Chris Christie had indicated earlier he would support it, but the administration has been reviewing the bill, which changed in recent days and on Thursday.

The bill is sponsored by Norcross’ brother, state Sen. Donald Norcross, D-Camden. It is controversial because it circumvents the state’s School Development Authority, which had been charged with constructing schools in 31 of the state’s low-income school districts that are protected under two decades worth of state Supreme Court rulings.

This is an article from the Asbury Park Press, here is a link to the article:

JACKSON — The mother of two girls who became separated from them in Tunisia in a marital struggle in August was reunited with them and is back home in New Jersey.

Suzanne Feimster returned with one daughter on Nov. 15. Her husband, Walid Bensayeh, returned on Nov. 23 with their younger daughter and Suzanne’s mother, indicating that, at the very least, the couple had made some progress in attempting to work through their parenting difficulties. They have been separated for two years.

Now, they have begun proceedings to divorce and a hearing is scheduled soon in Ocean County, said Christine Hayes, a spokesperson for Feimster. Hayes is a teacher at Asbury Park Middle School, where Feimster also was employed before going to Tunisia with Bensayeh and the girls, Sumyra, then 4, and Rayhana, 3, for a visit with his parents.

“Now she’s in a secure, safe location with the kids,” Hayes said. “She has no idea where he (husband) is and he has no idea where she is.”

Feimster said in an email this week that she cannot comment at this time because of pending court cases, but added that “Sumyra, Rayhana and I are safe on American soil.”

Walid could not be reached for comment. Before the trip to Tunisia, he was living in the couple’s house that they owned in Pine Hill, Camden County. Feimster and the girls lived with her parents in Jackson.

From: Ernesto Cullari

My Mom Lee and her husband Matt sold all of their belongings and relocated their comfortable lives from New Jersey to Cebu, Philippines to start an orphanage that rescues impoverished kids from the dangerous streets. Street Kids Philippine Missions, a 301(c) non-profit corporation, is dedicated to giving those most vulnerable a place to live, learn, and be loved while being raised to be disciples of God’s Word.

On Saturday October 15th from 2pm-6pm, Street Kids PM is holding a fundraiser event at Chico’s House of Jazz in Asbury Park. With special guest performances by recording artists Sophie Dupin, Jay Loftus and others; win a Kindle Fire and other prizes in our raffle. Recommended donation is $50.
—I hope you can make it!

Good morning and on behalf of our association, and our leaders, 1st VP of Professional Staff Sean Hamilton, 2nd VP of ESP, John Kostecki, Treasurer Paul Murphy, Secretary Annette Rios and of course, the person who all admins and central office know, our grievance chair, Sue Hayes Stasio, I want to welcome ALL of you – back to the Asbury Park School District. We’re here today because we ALL have ONE fundamental thing in common, we’re ALL educators, and we’re ALL proud to serve the children of the Asbury Park School District. We work HARD. And the work we do during and after the school day , on nights, weekends, and even during the summer is VITAL to the future of our students, and to the future of society. That’s an ENORMOUS responsibility and one we proudly accept, despite the challenges we are facing. And we’re facing a LOT of them. We have been under ATTACK for almost two years now and the attacks on us are FAR from over. Next, we will face NEW threats. Attacks on our tenure and layoff rights. Attempts to tie teacher evaluations too closely to student test scores – when we ALL know there are MANY factors beyond our control that affect those scores. And attempts to impose merit pay plans that will DIVIDE us, even though COLLABORATION is central to the best work we do.

This is an article from NJ.com, here is a link to the article:

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie will announce legislation today to create public-private partnerships to run some schools in New Jersey, three people with knowledge of the plan said.

The governor is scheduled to make the announcement at noon at the Lanning Square Elementary School in Camden.

Two of the sources said Christie will be appearing with Camden Mayor Dana Redd, a Democrat who has worked with the Republican governor on education issues.

It’s unclear exactly how the public-private partnerships would work, and the sources said it would start as a pilot program. They declined to speak on the record in advance of the public announcement.

One source said individual districts would need to opt into the pilot program and approval from local school boards would be required.

Christie’s acting education commissioner, Christopher Cerf, has experience in public-private school partnerships. He previously led Edison Schools, a for-profit company that became the largest private-sector manager of public schools. Cerf left the company, now called EdisonLearning, in 2005.

Christie is also connected to for-profit education companies, including Cerf’s.

From 1999 to 2001, Christie was a registered lobbyist at a law firm that lobbied New Jersey government on behalf of Edison Schools, according to filings with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission. While the firm was representing the multinational education company, Chris Cerf was its general counsel.

The firm, Dughi, Hewit and Palatucci, also represented Mosaica Education, a for-profit charter school operator, and the University of Phoenix, a for-profit online university.