The Newark School Experiment

Review by: Jacob Good

Sometimes after hosting parties with friends when I was younger we would all pick a card, play a round of rock, paper, scissors, or begin some other competition. Why? We would be competing in these shenanigans because “the winner” would get to clean up the mess. It was obviously a team effort to create such disarray and our get togethers routinely involved participants that were unsupervised, but when partygoers had gone the winner was left to clean up the mess.

We affectionately referred to the mess as the prize, but we all chipped in to help… eventually. Looking back, I now know that the prize isn’t a clever name, but we all thought it was hilarious. Never would I have thought that a downtrodden school district where only 40% of students were reading at grade level would ever be called a prize by politicians.

Nonetheless, that was the case for the Newark Public School System in the late 2000s. In Dale Russakoff’s 2015 book entitled “The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?” she outlines a dark picture for both public educators and school reformers. No matter which side you stand on, rebuilding a school system with a graduation rate of 60% is an uphill battle. Russakoff provides insight on how philanthropists, politicians, and rule-with-an-iron-fist educators tried to turnaround Newark’s public schools.

Mark Zuckerberg’s “The Foundation for Newark’s Future” was set up in 2010. This was the same time that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided support for Waiting for Superman (I recommend it!), a movie that chronicles the failure of public education and follows families striving and failing to be selected for charter schools. Statistics for charter school success are highly debatable, but these high-profile initiatives were part of the reformer’s movement in education.

The most influential supporters for the Newark transformation were Newark Mayor Cory Booker, newly appointed superintendent of Newark schools Cami Andersen, and the $100 million donation from Mark Zuckerberg. The then Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, was also keen on the project, but he was hands-off, just as Cory Booker and Mark Zuckerberg became because of conflicting schedules, distance, and rebellion within the Newark school community. It was a donation without a clear vision or support from the community. Very few people that grew up in Newark cared for the reform and the current mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, was strongly against it. At the time of the uprising, he was the Principal at Newark Central High School.

At one point during her tenure, Cami Andersen was left to rush through a presentation while hecklers and concerned citizens hurled insults. She stood alone on a Newark stage without anyone trying to intervene or give her a chance to defend the upcoming school closings. No sign of Zuckerberg, no school leaders, no teacher representatives, and no Booker. In fact, Booker was told not to show up for fear of even more negativity.

Even with the donation from Zuckerberg announced on the Oprah Winfrey show and contributions from others reaching a grand total of $200 million, Newark was unable to make a positive dent in the public-school system. I assume it takes years to see the improvement they wanted. After all, education is a 12-year process and seeing quick results doesn’t necessarily translate into ongoing progress. So where did most of the money go?

•  The Foundation for Newark’s Future closed in 2016
• ~$21 million was spent to “buy out” ineffective teachers, principals, and staff
• ~$58 million went to Charter Schools
• ~$90 million went to contracts for teachers, staff, and principals

Revamping a struggling school district like Newark is no easy task. However, you can’t achieve big goals without big dreams. Zuckerberg, Andersen, and Christie all got behind Booker’s idea that Newark’s turnaround was going to be a model for the rest of the country. Unfortunately, that mission failed in the public’s eyes. But it’s only been seven years since the extreme makeover began.

Although well intentioned, the investment did not take stakeholders into account and this is what led to the eventual resignation of Andersen in 2015. Leadership did not connect with the majority of Newark’s school population, parents, pupils, and staff members. They believed their new ideas would be king and results would follow. Baraka was a leader of the opposition against Andersen and lead walkouts in 2014 due to the neglect of the community.  

The initial impact and showmanship to rejuvenate the Newark schools was set into motion without public support. That was a major factor of the upheaval and disgust from Newark. Anderson and others did realize this, but it was a bit too late. Her successor kept many of her changes in place, and it appears that Newark schools are doing fine now.

In fact, some may argue that they’re doing fantastic. Four-year graduation rates rose from 61% in 2013 to 77% in 2017. Proficiency in grade 3 to 8 Math and ELA has increased 7.4% and 11.4% respectively, and enrollment has increased since it’s bottom in 2011 (Margolis, 2017). Overall, it appears that Newark has been transformed. I’ll be interested to see whether or not positive trends continue over the next five years.

References:

Margolis, Jesse. Moving Up: Progress in Newark Schools from 2010 to 2017. Margrady Research. October 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.chalkbeat.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Newark_MarGradyResearch_Study.pdf

Chris Christie, Oprah Winfrey, Cory Booker, and Mark Zuckerberg, National Public Radio (NPR) picture retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130101294

Cami Anderson, International Institute for Restoring Practices picture retrieved from: https://www.iirp.edu/news-from-iirp/newark-new-jersey-schools-and-police-launch-restorative-practices-project

Newark School Protestors, Common Dreams picture retrieved from: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/04/04/stand-fight-back-newark-students-protest-charter-schools