Comments on: Poverty and education reform — and those caught in the middle

By: Teacher absences hurt learning, budgets — Joanne Jacobs

Teacher absences hurt learning, budgets — Joanne Jacobs — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 19:15:34 +0000

[...] gap,” writes Miller. In New Jersey’s Camden City Public Schools, a district that has struggled with poverty and poor test scores, up to 40 percent of teachers are absent on any given school day, a figure that has forced the [...]

By: Should schools alone be held accountable for student achievement? | eSchool News

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:29:49 +0000

[...] didn’t have to work alone to improve student achievement? That was the question we asked in a recent article about the miserable state of public education in Camden, N.J., one of the poorest cities in the [...]

By: Patrick Groff

Patrick Groff — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 06:17:22 +0000

It is clear that the immigrant mother who (apparently) has decided to make sure her children perform adequately in school is an anomaly. This finding therefore has almost no usefulness in determining why the majority of children from low-income homes do not behave in that manner in public schools. There is even a worse result of this matter. That is to say, public school superintendents use it as an excuse for unfairly firing a large percent of teachers of youngsters from such homes, supposedly because their teachers are incompetent. That is one of the most unfair things that ever happens to these teachers.

Dr. Patrick Groff, Professor of Education Emeritus, San Diego State University.

By: Patrick Groff

Patrick Groff — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 06:15:54 +0000

It is clear that the immigrant mother who (apparently) has decided to make sure her children perform adequately in school is an anomaly. This finding therefore has almost no usefulness in determining why the majority of children from low-income homes do not behave in that manner in public schools. There is even a worse result of this mattaer. That is to say, public school superintendents use it as an excuse for unfairly firing a large percent of teachers of youngsters from such homes, supposedly because their teachers are incompetent. That is one of the most unfair things that ever happens to these teachers.

Dr. Patrick Groff, Professor of Education Emeritus, San Diego State University.

By: Why Education is the Best Long-Term Anti-Poverty Program | Dropout Nation: Coverage of the Reform of American Public Education Edited by RiShawn Biddle

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:21:03 +0000

[...] than Goldstein on these matters, does something similar, albeit with less polemical force, in her latest piece for The American Prospect and the Hechinger Institute’s education news site. Focusing on my [...]

By: Tweet City Heights: Some Deportations To Be Dropped, City Heights Boy on National News | Speak City Heights

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:19:39 +0000

[...] Emily Alpert of Speak City Heights partner voiceofsandiego.org posted a link to an article about school reform in Camden, New Jersey. Camden rivals Detroit for the nation’s worst poverty and violence. It’s no [...]

By: Daniel Bassill

Daniel Bassill — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:54:19 +0000

While there are many who are beginning to believe that a comprehensive non-school support system is needed to enhance the motivation, aspirations and learning ability kids come to school with there are few examples of knowledge-based systems in place in big cities to support the building of a broad range of quality, age-appropriate, non-school tutoring, mentoring and learning supports in all high poverty neighborhoods of big cities throughout the US.

I’ve been building a knowledge based to support this process in Chicago since 1993, using maps to show all of the poverty areas in the city, the distribution of poorly performing schools, and the locations of more than 170 non-school tutor/mentor programs. With this information anyone in the region can be mobilizing volunteers and donors to support one or more programs, or to help new programs form in areas where none now exist. This database is backed up by an extensive library with links to research articles, blogs, fund raising and volunteer mobilization information, along with reasons why business and hospitals should be strategically involved.

Yet we’ve not succeeded in making this a tool supported by education and public leaders in Chicago so while millions are spent on public education the problems still persist.

I hope leaders in Camden and other cities will browse the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net site and see if there are ideas they might incorporate in their own cities.

By: Remainders: Amid protest, PEP approves Verizon contract | GothamSchools

Remainders: Amid protest, PEP approves Verizon contract | GothamSchools — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:34:19 +0000

[...] In Camden, N.J., poverty and violence still cripple schools. (American Prospect/Hechinger Report) [...]