Wake Up Call NJ in the News
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NJ Test Scores Show Public School Students Are Not Making the Grade in Math
By Jennifer Amato
The New Jersey Department of Education recently released results from this past spring’s Student Learning Assessments, and while students are holding steady in English and Science, math readiness remains a significant concern statewide.
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NJ school test scores are out. But what do they mean?
By Julie O’Connor
New Jersey’s schools rank among the best in the nation, but is the state living up to that reputation? Some experts say no.
While generally students are improving since the pandemic, in most subjects they’re still not back to where they were in 2019. The latest state test scores just released from last Spring are sobering.
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The Big Fail
By Andrew Rice
Student achievement has fallen off a cliff. And neither Trump nor the pandemic is to blame.
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‘Dishonesty Hiding in Plain Sight’: Testimony on NJ’s High School Diploma Test
By Peter Shulman
While it is unacceptable that tens of thousands of New Jersey public school students graduate each year unprepared for college, the fact that these same students were told they are ready for college is dishonest and unfair to them.
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What’s behind ‘very bizarre’ delay with NJ school tests?
By Julie O’Connor
New Jersey goes to great effort and expense to test its school students, but is your district doing better or worse than your neighbor’s?
That’s impossible to know, because the state doesn’t release the statewide results of its tests until December.
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Schools Crunching Numbers After ‘Wake Up Call NJ’ Floods Montclair with Education Ads
By Matt Kadosh
With significant ad buys in local media and on social media, along with storefront flyers and bright advertising on box trucks, a New Jersey advocacy group that says it “educates public school parents” about their kids’ schools is raising questions in Montclair, West Windsor and Plainsboro.
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West Windsor-Plainsboro Shoots the Messenger
By Laura Waters
Last week West Windsor-Plainsboro superintendent David Aderhold issued a 14-page broadside in response to data published by the non-profit Wake Up Call New Jersey (WUCNJ) showing, great reputation aside, 34% of WW-P students can’t do math at grade level and 41% of third graders can’t read read at grade level. In his letter…
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How American Educators Are Conning Kids
By Frannie Block
“We should have the best education system in the world. We should have an education system that reflects us being a superpower. But there is no one with a straight face who can say that the United States has a world-class education system.”
That damning verdict comes from Pete Shulman, the former deputy commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education.
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Education Advocacy Group Sounds the Alarm About New Jersey's Schools
Wake Up Call NJ, a non-partisan, nonprofit educational advocacy organization founded by Laura Overdeck and Peter Shulman, this week launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign across New Jersey.
The mission of this campaign is to awaken every citizen, parent and taxpayer in the state to the inconvenient truths about the quality of New Jersey's public schools and boost demand for transparency.
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Why aren't we talking about New Jersey's lost generation of students?
By Mike Kelly
A month ago, a disturbing advertisement started popping up regularly on television stations whose audience included residents of New Jersey.
The ad portrayed three children, all seemingly cute, carefree, playful and inquisitive. One girl was shown reaching for a flower. A boy gazed through a magnifying glass at a small sphere. Another boy blew bubbles into the wind. But then, the mood changed…
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Thank Goodness for Mississippi (and Louisiana)
By Chad Aldeman
In the New Jersey governor’s race, Democrat Mikie Sherrill is facing off against Republican Jack Ciattarelli. In their debate last week, Ciattarelli apparently highlighted the “Southern Surge” states like Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama, which have seen some of the more impressive academic outcomes in the last 5-10 years.
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Spotlight on Montclair and West Windsor-Plainsboro
By Laura Waters
As Wake Up Call NJ and the National Parents Union continue to shine light on the lack of clear information about student proficiency levels in some of New Jersey’s most highly-praised suburban school districts, the first two districts highlighted, West Windsor-Plainsboro (WW-P) and Montclair, are both making headlines.