What Happens When Traditional Schools and Charter Schools Are Located in the Same Building? Answers from a Newark Mom.

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April Peele is a Newark mother of a daughter who attends KIPP Seek Academy. I want to be completely honest with you: I don’t understand parents who say they don’t care what school their child goes to or what type of experience they have while they’re there. What parent in their right mind would say that? Certainly not me! When choosing a school for my daughter, I did my research. When I found KIPP I …

What I’ve Learned in 10 Years of Teaching at Newark’s KIPP Rise Academy

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This is a guest post by Mark Joseph, a sixth-grade math teacher at KIPP Rise Academy in Newark, where he has taught for ten years. It was first published at Education Post. I am currently in my 12th year of teaching. I spent my first two years in The Bronx at P.S. 211 and have spent these past 10 years in Newark at Rise Academy. What follows is a series of recommendations to myself—the first, what …

As Newark Changes, We Can’t Leave Our Children Behind

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This is a guest post by A. Robert Gregory, Superintendent/CEO of the Marion P. Thomas Charter School network and fromer Interim Superintendent of Newark Public Schools. He’s part of the annual Future Chiefs leadership program by Chiefs for Change, a national nonprofit organization.  I remember it like yesterday, driving up Springfield Avenue from Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark with my grandmother, Juanita Gregory, more than 30 years ago. She was a first-generation Newarker who loved and …

I Want To Raise My Children In A World Where People of Color Are Empowered To Vote: Here’s How We Get It Done!

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Shennell McCloud is the Executive Director of Project Ready, an organization which seeks to engage more Newark, NJ families in decision-making. She is the mother of a two-year-old and one-year-old and lives with her husband in Newark. While watching Stacey Abrams deliver a passionate, articulate, and fiery response to the State of the Union, all I could think was “how could this woman possibly lose the election for governor of her state?” The real reason …

Why Young Men in Newark Make Me Infinitely Hopeful for the Future of Our City

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This is a guest post by Antwann Brown who is in his second year working at KIPP NJ Rise Academy where he serves as the Assistant Dean of Students for 5th and 6thgrade. Before joining KIPP New Jersey, he worked at the Children’s Defense Fund where he focused on building language arts and literacy skills to underprivileged youth in Columbia, South Carolina. Brown has spent his life living in Irvington, NJ and is a graduate of …

Citing Turnout, This Camden Parent Leader Salutes November School Board Elections

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Bryan Morton is Executive Director of Parents for Great Camden Schools, which seeks to “empower, mobilize and strengthen the voice of every Camden parent to advocate for all children to receive a high quality education.”  It is a very exciting time to be a Camden parent! Our schools are making progress at a rate that was previously unheard of, quality options are available in almost every corner of the city, and most recently the community …

Murphy Administration Grants Renewals To Five High-Performing Urban Charter Schools

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This is a press release from the New Jersey Charter School Association, a statewide association representing the state’s charter sector. Last week, the New Jersey Department of Education granted five high-performing charter schools authorization to serve students for another five-year charter term. All five charter schools serve students in urban districts with strong demand for more public charter school seats. Charter schools that attain a Tier 1 designation (the highest for a NJ charter school) for three …

No Matter What Anyone Says, the Money Ought to Follow the Kid Regardless of What Kind of Public School They Choose

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This is a post by my friend and colleague Zachary Wright, a national finalist for the United States Department of Education’s School Ambassador Fellowship. Zach is an assistant professor of practice at Relay Graduate School of Education serving Philadelphia and Camden. Prior to that, he was the 12th-grade world literature and AP literature teacher at Mastery Charter School Shoemaker Campus, teaching the school’s first eight graduating classes. I am punching above my weight. I am no …

Improving Special Education is a Priority for Newark Charters

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Mark Rynone is Executive Director of the NJ Special Education Collaborative. Since its inception in 2013, the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools has provided support to charter schools in Newark. The focus of our work has been to improve the capacity of charter schools across the city to ensure that they are equipped to provide high quality supports and services to students with a wide range of learning differences. In 2016, we …

Newark Charters Make Great Progress and Eliminate the Achievement Gap!

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Donna Siminski is Director of Policy and Advocacy for the New Jersey Charter School Association with a focus on the policy issues impacting the the state’s charter schools. Donna works with members, charter families, and charter school professionals to advocate for high-quality charter schools and the children they serve. On Friday, the New Jersey Department of Education released PARCC results for the 2017-18 school year. For the first time, Newark charter students in grades 3-8 …