Christie names education task force members; NJEA not represented

Gov. Christie named nine members Thursday to a new task force that will look into evaluating public school educators based on student academic performance.

Absent from the group was a representative of the state's largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association.

The findings of the Education Effectiveness Task Force will help lead to "needed reforms that ensure every New Jersey child has access to a quality education with effective, accountable teachers at every step along the way," Christie said in a statement.

Asked about the lack of participation by the union, Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said, "The governor's feelings and beliefs about the NJEA are well known. They have not shown themselves to be a real partner for reform."

An NJEA representative said the union's leadership was disappointed but not surprised.

"It's unfortunate the governor continues this agenda of placing politics before policy," said spokesman Steve Baker, who questioned the panelists' credentials for making recommendations. Few have classroom experience or are involved in evaluations, he said.

The union and Christie have repeatedly clashed over key elements of his education overhaul plan. The governor supports merit pay for teachers and wants educators evaluated based on how well their students learn.

The NJEA claims that neither merit pay nor achievement-based evaluations have been proved educationally sound. In the state's failed Race to the Top federal grant bid, Christie nixed compromises with the NJEA involving both issues, losing union buy-in and points on the application.

The panel will look into evaluations for teachers and principals, according to the governor's staff.

Richard Bozza, director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, said there was a need to assess educator effectiveness, but he said it was not a simple matter. Bozza suggested assessment based on students' progress over time, rather than a single test score.

Poor districts start at a disadvantage, he said.

"In areas where there is little home support, poverty, and crime, the students will be in a different place," Bozza said. "We need to look carefully at how we are going to assess those students, and not penalize them or the teachers for those differences."

Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey State School Boards Association, said his organization wanted to see a "fair evaluation process that could be applied statewide and include local districts' goals."

Brian Zychowski, North Brunswick schools superintendent, is the panel's chair. The members are Derrell Bradford, director of Excellent Education for Everyone, a school-choice advocacy group; Donna Chiera, president of the Perth Amboy chapter of the American Federation of Teachers and a special-education teacher; Jane Cosco, a retired teacher and former NJEA member who is director of Operation Goody Bag; Ross Danis, associate dean of education at Drew University; Rafael Fajardo, former head of the Elizabeth school board; the Rev. Edwin Leahy, headmaster of St. Benedict's Prep in Newark; PeggySue Juliano, an officer with the Lacey Township High School Parent Teacher Association; and Jesse Rector, principal of the North Star Academy charter school, Clinton Hill campus, in Newark.

The group's initial report is due to the governor by March 1.