Montclair Education Panel: Let's Not Become Like South Orange-Maplewood

Montclair Education Panel: Let's Not Become Like South Orange-Maplewood
The school district’s ongoing racial disparities are a “wake up call” for Montclair, AGAP says.

I rarely open PATCH, but did today and here is the link to what Montclair is saying about Maplewood:

http://patch.com/new-jersey/maplewood/montclair-education-panel-lets-not-become-south-orange-maplewood-0

When the Montclair School District’s Achievement Gap Panel (AGAP) released a recent report about racial disparity in Montclair’s schools, its members offered the South Orange-Maplewood School District as an example… of what not to do.

In their report, the panel referred to the American Civil Liberty Union’s 2014 civil complaint against the district, which charged that the school district’s tracking and discipline practices “disproportionately confines students of color to lower-level classes and punishes students of color and students with disabilities to a greater degree.”

• See related article: NAACP Considers Suit Against South Orange-Maplewood School District

Speaking about the “cost of doing nothing,” Montclair AGAP members wrote that the “South Orange-Maplewood School District is among the New Jersey school districts with the highest racial disparities in tracking and student discipline.”

“The South Orange-Maplewood lawsuit will be a ‘wake up’ call for our community to take deliberate action to focus on our own disparities and create meaningful and sustainable change in our district,” panel members wrote in their report.

Patch is still around?

krnl said:
Montclair Education Panel: Let's Not Become Like South Orange-Maplewood
The school district’s ongoing racial disparities are a “wake up call” for Montclair, AGAP says.I rarely open PATCH, but did today and here is the link to what Montclair is saying about Maplewood:
http://patch.com/new-jersey/maplewood/montclair-education-panel-lets-not-become-south-orange-maplewood-0

Montclair has far larger problems, because so many of its white and Asian families abandon its school district for private schools, including Montclair Kimberly Academy and others.

I wouldn't be surprised if it has less of an achievement gap within its schools simply because it's unable to measure the true achievement gap across all students residing in Montclair.

dave23 said:
Patch is still around?

Of course MontCLAIR would use it! Harrumph!

dave23 said:
Patch is still around?

Folks care about Montclair's opinion on anything? This after some of their folks began meddling here a year or so ago, so caught up in everyone else's purported issues (mainly ours it seems) that they missed a massive budget deficit under their noses? Those same boneheads? Puh-lease. Go away and start holding bake sales. You apparently need all the help you can get.

“The data comprises some disturbing disparities,” said Keating. You’ll see here in the last year we have data, 2012-2013, 33 African American students were suspended in high school compared with five white students. In South Orange and Maplewood, a difference of 10 or 15 percent was enough to trigger legal action. Here we’re talking about a differential of eight or nine times. Why this is so important is that time spent in the classroom is one of the most important predictors of academic performance. Just one suspension by ninth grade is associated with a dramatically increased chance of a student dropping out. Every suspension makes it harder for students to catch up.”

http://baristanet.com/2015/06/montclair-achievement-gap-advisory-panel-recommends-creating-a-gap-czar/

I haven't finished reading the report, but I found the linked AGAP report to be quite comprehensive--unlike reports I've seen from SOMA.

"When the Montclair School District’s Achievement Gap Panel (AGAP) released a recent report about racial disparity in Montclair’s schools, its members offered the South Orange-Maplewood School District as an example… of what not to do."

Yes, I didn't know PATCH was active anymore, either.

cramer said:
“The data comprises some disturbing disparities,” said Keating. You’ll see here in the last year we have data, 2012-2013, 33 African American students were suspended in high school compared with five white students. In South Orange and Maplewood, a difference of 10 or 15 percent was enough to trigger legal action. Here we’re talking about a differential of eight or nine times. Why this is so important is that time spent in the classroom is one of the most important predictors of academic performance. Just one suspension by ninth grade is associated with a dramatically increased chance of a student dropping out. Every suspension makes it harder for students to catch up.”
http://baristanet.com/2015/06/montclair-achievement-gap-advisory-panel-recommends-creating-a-gap-czar/

Sounds like SOMA really doesn't want to end up like Montclair, not the other way around.

Anyhoo, those last two sentences seem to imply a direct cause/effect relationship that's missing a step or three in between. Not surprisingly.

South Orange-Maplewood is the HIGHER performing district despite having more low-income students and less financial resources.

Columbia High School is at the 65th percentile in academic achievement, Montclair High School is only at the 49th percentile. (In peer percentiles, CHS is at the 89th percentile, Monclair is again, only at the 49th percentile.)

This is all the more impressive because Montclair has factors that should be advantages. 24.8% of MHS are economically disadvantaged, versus 26% of the students at Columbia High School . Montclair spends $15,298 per student, versus the SOMSD only spending $14,418 per student.

The spending advantage is infuriating to me because Montclair gets 60% more state aid per than the SOMSD, even though it has much higher property wealth per student. Montclair, in fact, is one of the only suburban districts to get Adjustment Aid, meaning that they are an aid hoarding district.

We have our problems, but we have a lot of strengths relative to Montclair. Since Montclair is so advantaged over us financially I do not like at all that they would insult us.

http://www.state.nj.us/education/pr/1314/13/133310050.pdf

http://www.state.nj.us/education/pr/1314/13/134900030.pdf

http://www.state.nj.us/education/finance/fp/ufb/2014/reports/13/3310/UFB15_3310.pdf

http://www.state.nj.us/education/finance/fp/ufb/2014/reports/13/4900/UFB15_4900.pdf

I read the report, and the only reference I see to us is in terms of the consequences of not succeeding -- the lawsuit. The report itself as posted says nothing else about us at all in terms of actual practice. What the report does show is that, at least in Montclair, the gap is fully developed by third grade, and from that point forward any and all attempts at remediation are reactive. The report also seems to indicate a strong support from the Montclair school.district for continuing to have leveled classes in the High School and to at least some extent the middles schools. Finally, the Montclair data show the problem in Montclair getting progressively worse over time.

Meanwhile in Trenton Montclair asks for state funding to deal with the gap:

"A late addition to the proposed expenditures came from state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), who saw $1 million added to her home school district of Montclair under “achievement gap” funding. Gill has successfully won this extra funding for Montclair under Democratic governors in the past, maintaining that the district’s efforts toward closing the achievement gap are address a statewide issue and and are even a statewide model.

“Montclair has a history of getting this money, and I think that was why it won the support of the caucus,” Gill said yesterday.

Still, the budget language allowing the move is intriguing in itself, basically setting criteria that only fit Montclair, but without naming the district outright."

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/15/06/25/democrats-add-last-minute-expenditures-for-pet-education-projects/

xavier67 said:
Meanwhile in Trenton Montclair asks for state funding to deal with the gap:
"A late addition to the proposed expenditures came from state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), who saw $1 million added to her home school district of Montclair under “achievement gap” funding. Gill has successfully won this extra funding for Montclair under Democratic governors in the past...

What have Codey, McKeon, and Jasey done lately for the SOMSD?

Fair question. Another: what has the BOE asked them to do?

ctrzaska said:

cramer said:
“The data comprises some disturbing disparities,” said Keating. You’ll see here in the last year we have data, 2012-2013, 33 African American students were suspended in high school compared with five white students. In South Orange and Maplewood, a difference of 10 or 15 percent was enough to trigger legal action. Here we’re talking about a differential of eight or nine times. Why this is so important is that time spent in the classroom is one of the most important predictors of academic performance. Just one suspension by ninth grade is associated with a dramatically increased chance of a student dropping out. Every suspension makes it harder for students to catch up.”
http://baristanet.com/2015/06/montclair-achievement-gap-advisory-panel-recommends-creating-a-gap-czar/

Sounds like SOMA really doesn't want to end up like Montclair, not the other way around.

We're wealthier than them, our school district is ranked better than theirs. Who cares what they say?

so_newstead said:

ctrzaska said:

cramer said:
“The data comprises some disturbing disparities,” said Keating. You’ll see here in the last year we have data, 2012-2013, 33 African American students were suspended in high school compared with five white students. In South Orange and Maplewood, a difference of 10 or 15 percent was enough to trigger legal action. Here we’re talking about a differential of eight or nine times. Why this is so important is that time spent in the classroom is one of the most important predictors of academic performance. Just one suspension by ninth grade is associated with a dramatically increased chance of a student dropping out. Every suspension makes it harder for students to catch up.”
http://baristanet.com/2015/06/montclair-achievement-gap-advisory-panel-recommends-creating-a-gap-czar/

Sounds like SOMA really doesn't want to end up like Montclair, not the other way around.

We're wealthier than them, our school district is ranked better than theirs. Who cares what they say?

We are not wealthier than them.

Woot said:
We are not wealthier than them.

You should look things up before you speak.

Median income in Montclair is 95K, South Orange is 123K and Maplewood 101K.

xavier67 said:
Meanwhile in Trenton Montclair asks for state funding to deal with the gap:
"A late addition to the proposed expenditures came from state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), who saw $1 million added to her home school district of Montclair under “achievement gap” funding. Gill has successfully won this extra funding for Montclair under Democratic governors in the past, maintaining that the district’s efforts toward closing the achievement gap are address a statewide issue and and are even a statewide model.
“Montclair has a history of getting this money, and I think that was why it won the support of the caucus,” Gill said yesterday.
Still, the budget language allowing the move is intriguing in itself, basically setting criteria that only fit Montclair, but without naming the district outright."
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/15/06/25/democrats-add-last-minute-expenditures-for-pet-education-projects/

Christie just line-itemed vetoed the extra $1,000,000 for Montclair.

I recommend reading what the actual budget language is for that $1,000,000. It's section #62 in this document.

http://assets.njspotlight.com/assets/15/0626/1644

The paragraph has ~7 clauses to ensure that Montclair and only Montclair receives any "Achievement Gap Aid."

so_newstead said:

Woot said:
We are not wealthier than them.

You should look things up before you speak.
Median income in Montclair is 95K, South Orange is 123K and Maplewood 101K.

Woot is right, Montclair is wealthier than SOMA.

According to Wikipedia, Montclair's median household income was $126,983 in 2010. SO's was $123,373. Maplewood's was $79,637.

In terms of property wealth per student Montclair is much richer than we are.

Montclair's property wealth per student is $968,000 per student. ($6,531,903,598 / 6,743)

The SOMSD's property wealth per student is $849,000 per student. ($2,514,215,833+$3,303,460,041 / 6,859)

Additionally, Montclair has had nowhere near the population increase that the SOMSD had had.

Back in 2006 Montclair only had 6621 students, which is barely less than they have now.

By contrast, the SOMSD has had a huge population increase, from 6,074 to 6,743.

so_newstead said:

Woot said:
We are not wealthier than them.

You should look things up before you speak.
Median income in Montclair is 95K, South Orange is 123K and Maplewood 101K.

The Montclair $1,000,000 was also deeply unfair in light of how badly aided West Orange is.

West Orange has only $825,234 in property wealth per student and a median household income of $88,917. 38.2% of WOHS students are economically disadvantaged.

Perhaps the government has found a solution to education inequity...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/business/economy/housing-program-expansion-would-encourage-more-low-income-families-to-move-up.html?ref=todayspaper

My guess is that a program like this which is beneficial on many levels would result in an educational achievement gap in the school similar to what our communities are experiencing

If anyone is still interested in the extra $1 million Montclair almost got, check out the legislative language around the appropriation.

Gee, I thought that the SOMSD, West Orange, Bloomfield etc were diverse, but I guess we're just homogenous suburbia in the eyes of the NJ legislature.

the Commissioner of Education shall award a grant to a racially-diverse school district in which significant achievement gaps have been observed among different racial groups and between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged groups of students. A racially-diverse school district shall be one in which, during the 2013-2014 school year: 1) no less than 45 percent of the students, and no more than 55 percent of the district's schools were White 2) no less than 25 percent of the students, and no more than 35 percent of the students enrolled in the district's schools were Black; 3) no less than 5% of the students, and no more than 15% of the students enrolled in the district's schools were Latino. 4) no less than 5 percent of the students enrolled in the district's schools were Asian. A school district shall be considered to have a significant achievement gap if, on the language arts literacy and mathematics sections of the State assessments administered in the 2013-14 school year: 1)the percentage point difference in the proficiency rates of the racial subgroups with the highest and lowest proficiency rates is greater than 25 percentage points; and 2) the percentage point difference in the proficiency rates between economically disadvantaged students and other students is greater than 25 percentage points.


A school district receiving a grant shall use the funds to implement programs with the objective of decreasing observed achievement gaps.

http://assets.njspotlight.com/assets/15/0626/1644

Wow. Who from Montclair was sleeping with a legislator? We needed to get ourselves a piece of that sweet legislation.

JBennett said:
If anyone is still interested in the extra $1 million Montclair almost got, check out the legislative language around the appropriation.
Gee, I thought that the SOMSD, West Orange, Bloomfield etc were diverse, but I guess we're just homogenous suburbia in the eyes of the NJ legislature.

the Commissioner of Education shall award a grant to a racially-diverse school district in which significant achievement gaps have been observed among different racial groups and between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged groups of students. A racially-diverse school district shall be one in which, during the 2013-2014 school year: 1) no less than 45 percent of the students, and no more than 55 percent of the district's schools were White 2) no less than 25 percent of the students, and no more than 35 percent of the students enrolled in the district's schools were Black; 3) no less than 5% of the students, and no more than 15% of the students enrolled in the district's schools were Latino. 4) no less than 5 percent of the students enrolled in the district's schools were Asian. A school district shall be considered to have a significant achievement gap if, on the language arts literacy and mathematics sections of the State assessments administered in the 2013-14 school year: 1)the percentage point difference in the proficiency rates of the racial subgroups with the highest and lowest proficiency rates is greater than 25 percentage points; and 2) the percentage point difference in the proficiency rates between economically disadvantaged students and other students is greater than 25 percentage points.


A school district receiving a grant shall use the funds to implement programs with the objective of decreasing observed achievement gaps.

http://assets.njspotlight.com/assets/15/0626/1644

Who came up with that definition of diversity? (I think we fail on having TOO MANY black students.)

sac said:

JBennett said:
If anyone is still interested in the extra $1 million Montclair almost got, check out the legislative language around the appropriation.
Gee, I thought that the SOMSD, West Orange, Bloomfield etc were diverse, but I guess we're just homogenous suburbia in the eyes of the NJ legislature.

the Commissioner of Education shall award a grant to a racially-diverse school district in which significant achievement gaps have been observed among different racial groups and between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged groups of students. A racially-diverse school district shall be one in which, during the 2013-2014 school year: 1) no less than 45 percent of the students, and no more than 55 percent of the district's schools were White 2) no less than 25 percent of the students, and no more than 35 percent of the students enrolled in the district's schools were Black; 3) no less than 5% of the students, and no more than 15% of the students enrolled in the district's schools were Latino. 4) no less than 5 percent of the students enrolled in the district's schools were Asian. A school district shall be considered to have a significant achievement gap if, on the language arts literacy and mathematics sections of the State assessments administered in the 2013-14 school year: 1)the percentage point difference in the proficiency rates of the racial subgroups with the highest and lowest proficiency rates is greater than 25 percentage points; and 2) the percentage point difference in the proficiency rates between economically disadvantaged students and other students is greater than 25 percentage points.


A school district receiving a grant shall use the funds to implement programs with the objective of decreasing observed achievement gaps.

http://assets.njspotlight.com/assets/15/0626/1644

Who came up with that definition of diversity? (I think we fail on having TOO MANY black students.)

We failed to be diverse in the eyes of Nia Gill and the Montclair School District by a few measures. The only measure we meet is our white population being in the right range.

The SOMSD's student body is 38% black. That's three points too high.

The SOMSD's student body is 4% Asian and 4% Latino, that's one point too low for each.

Everything was written very carefully to exclude us.

West Orange is 24% Latino, that's way too high. West Orange is 49% black. That's also way too high for the NJ Legislature.

I'm sure the percentage parameters would have been different if Nia Gill also represented SOM.

My question is, why didn't our state senator Richard Codey jump in and worked to change the percentages in the proposed provision to include SOMSD.

We have a PR problem, people like Montclair more than us. That's part of the reason they get extra money. It's our problem and we need to do something about it and fix it rather than just complain

We don't have a PR problem we just don't have a Nia Gil bringing home the bacon. Mila Jasey has kept herself busy with school choice bills and charter school bills

FWIW, I just sent a message to Mila Jasey pointing to this thread and expressing my concern about it.