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Data and thoughts on public and private school funding in the U.S.
Browsing All Posts filed under »Jersey«
Friday AM Graphs: Just how biased are NJ’s Growth Percentile Measures (school level)?
New Jersey finally released the data set of its school level growth percentile metrics. I’ve been harping on a few points on this blog this week. SGP data here: http://education.state.nj.us/pr/database.html Enrollment data here: http://www.nj.gov/education/data/enr/enr12/stat_doc.htm First, that the commissioner’s characterization that the growth percentiles necessarily fully take into account student background is a completely bogus and […]
On Misrepresenting (Gates) MET to Advance State Policy Agendas
April 10, 2013
In my previous post I chastised state officials for their blatant mischaracterization of metrics to be employed in teacher evaluation. This raised (in twitter conversation) the issue of the frequent misrepresentation of findings from the Gates Foundation Measures of Effective Teaching Project (or MET). Policymakers frequently invoke the Gates MET findings as providing broad based […]
Who will be held responsible when state officials are factually wrong? On Statistics & Teacher Evaluation
April 10, 2013
While I fully understand that state education agencies are fast becoming propaganda machines, I’m increasingly concerned with how far this will go. Yes, under NCLB, state education agencies concocted completely wrongheaded school classification schemes that had little or nothing to do with actual school quality, and in rare cases, used those policies to enforce substantive […]
Civics 101: School Finance Formulas & the Limits of Executive Authority
March 2, 2013
This post addresses a peculiar ongoing power grab in New Jersey involving the state school finance formula. The balance of power between state legislatures and the executive branch varies widely across states, but this New Jersey example may prove illustrative for others as well. This post may make more sense if you take the time […]
Twisted Truths & Dubious Policies: Comments on the NJDOE/Cerf School Funding Report
December 18, 2012
Yesterday, we were blessed with the release of yet another manifesto (as reported here on NJ Spotlight) from what has become the New Jersey Department of Reformy Propaganda. To be fair, it has become increasingly clear of late, that this is simply the new model for State Education Agencies (see NYSED Propaganda Here), with the […]
When Dummy Variables aren’t Smart Enough: More Comments on the NJ CREDO Study
December 3, 2012
This is a brief follow up on the NJ CREDO study, which I wrote about last week when it was released. The major issues with that study were addressed in my previous post, but here, I raise an additional non-trivial issue that plagues much of our education policy research. The problems I raise today not […]
School Labels & Housing Values: Potential consequences of NJDOE’s new arbitrary & capricious school ratings
September 27, 2012
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There exists relatively broad agreement in the empirical literature that perceived quality of local public goods and services – including local public schools – influences significantly the value – as represented in demand/sales prices – of residential property. In other words – perceived school quality affects housing prices and housing values. All else equal, one […]
Data, Data, Data? Dissecting & Debunking NJDOE’s State of the Schools Message
September 21, 2012
Time again for an NJ State of the Schools Address, as reported HERE in NJ Spotlight (with absolutely no critical question/reporting whatsoever! More or less spoon fed regurgitation). As I’ve written a number of times on this blog, state officials in New Jersey have decided on specific marketing/messaging plan in order to support current policy […]
New Jersey Charter Data Roundup: A look at the 2010-11 Report Cards
June 8, 2012
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Here’s a quick run-down on the 2010-11 New Jersey School Report Card data on charter schools. No-one else is putting out decent summaries of this stuff, so I feel obligated to revisit these data periodically. They don’t change much over time. But those older blog posts get buried over time. So, here we go. Let’s […]
Revisiting NJOSA & the Lakewood Effect
March 22, 2012
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The current version of the New Jersey Opportunity Scholarship Act would pilot the tuition tax credits for private schooling in the following locations: Asbury Park City School District Camden City School District Elizabeth City School District Lakewood City School District Newark City School District City of Orange School District Passaic City School District, and City […]
April 12, 2013
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