A NJ teacher, a student and a parent sit down for an end-of-school-year conversation about student performance. This isn’t the beginning of a joke.

A recent study shows parents pick and pick and choose whichever information confirms their mental image of their own student’s talent and their own school’s high academic standards. All that matters is getting the A grade. Once you’ve slapped on that Honor Roll bumper sticker, who cares if test scores show their child can’t multiply single digits or put fractions in order? 

It’s a classic sitcom plot. The kid with main character energy gets a poor grade on their report card and hatches an increasingly harebrained scheme to avoid sharing the truth with their parents. 

“We’re not getting the bang for the buck that we need.”

Our jaws hit the floor when we heard this admission from Governor Sherrill.

Sometimes the best way to figure out the way forward is to take a glimpse back. 

Which of these scenarios do you find the least plausible?

1. You place an order at Jersey Mike’s and are told “your lunch will be ready in 3-4 weeks.” 

2. A teenager takes their driving test in February and finds out in July if they passed. 

3. A 4th-grader completes their NJSLA math exam in April and learns the results in October.

We’ve all seen the cliché of politicians kissing babies to look like nice guys. So it’s adding insult to injury that too many of our elected leaders across the country aren’t looking out for our kids.

“They” say “if it looks too good to be true, then it is.” That’s the conventional wisdom Mississippi is defying with its massive educational turnaround. 

Dropping your kid off at college is one of a parent’s proudest moments. You’ve guided them through the elementary school play, middle school dances, and the (eventual) thrill of college acceptance. Now they have their NJ high school diploma guaranteeing they are “prepared…for success in postsecondary degree programs, careers, and civic life.” 

Fish oil, nuts, antioxidants - one food fad after another claims to be good for your brain. But in computer-centric classrooms, students don’t have much use for that organ. That’s the sad reality presented in a new book excerpt from Jared Cooney Horvath about classroom technology eroding kids’ cognitive abilities. 

Welcome to 2026. We all know the sort of promises we make at the start of the year. Not only are we going to run a marathon, we’ll eat five green vegetables during the course, and swear only once per mile over those 3 4 5 hours. 

The holiday season is officially upon us. Twinkling lights, polar bears in soda commercials, the same four songs over and over - and of course the long overdue New Jersey statewide test results.

Yes, nothing quite says “New Year” like the scores from a test taken in May. But what’s seven months to a 4th grader?