This has been a great couple of weeks in New Jersey politics, lots of flash and fury, unlike a trip across the George Washington Bridge last September. Despite all the brouhaha, though, Governor Chris Christie chose to speak about additional education reforms (longer school days, longer school year, no full-day kindergarten) at his State of the State Address. There must be terrible test results and non-compliance with the Core Standards in New Jersey, right? Big problems require radical solutions.
Yet,
according to yet another poll following national assessments, New Jersey
has once again “raced to the top” of the math and literacy hit parade by
placing second following Massachusetts as the state that has the most to
offer its students.

As the second semester begins in New Jersey, so does “test prep” season. There is no time to rest on our laurels, but there is time to be inspired by our success as educators and our students’ success as learners. Let’s take the time to manage what we’ve got as we approach the Core Standards and a contemporary view of literacy especially. Is time a factor in our students’ own races? Governor Christie suggests that more time fix something that is broken. New Jersey educators should ask what is broken and how more time is going to fix it.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2014/state_report_cards.html?intc=EW-QC14-TOC