During the OC/OS Education Forum, "Are We There Yet? Moving All Children Forward in Public Education," participants divided up into small groups and discussed current issues in education in New Jersey.

Each group, with the help of a facilitator and a recorder, tackled these four questions:

1. What are the most pressing issues in public education in New Jersey?
2. What education outcomes are we looking for?
3. What are the strategies and tools we need to get there?
4. Who needs to partner in this effort?

Information from the discussions was not shared with the broader group on October 17 (event organizers had decided to keep the program to three hours), but participants were promised that discussion notes would be circulated at a later date. Those notes are included below.

The information and insights shared during the small group discussions paint a vivid picture of what parents, youth, educators and advocates want for New Jersey schoolchildren. The discussion notes chronicle the challenges faced by school districts and families around the state – some problems shared by districts in urban, suburban and rural communities; others prevalent in poor, urban communities; still others experienced by families of children with special needs. The notes also provide a blueprint for what needs to be done to improve education outcomes for children, as well as a list of the partners needed to accomplish these goals.

OC/OS will continue to discuss the insights in these notes and use them to inform strategies and actions going forward.

Discussion Notes:

1.  What are the most pressing issues in public education in New Jersey?

• School funding: NJ budget issues; equitable distribution of resources; effective use of resources; limited resources for special education; state and national mandates without resources; high property taxes.
• Parents: parents don’t know what questions to ask; school districts don’t know how to communicate information to parents.
• Teachers: effective, highly qualified teachers in each classroom; content knowledge plus engaging children; teacher support – resources and professional development; loss of teachers due to budget cuts.
• Schools: schools should offer opportunity and encourage accomplishment; school violence – schools need to be safe; schools in urban districts are overcrowded.
• Curriculum: High School Redesign – no resources for implementation, teachers and administration not aware of changes, how can schools prepare; literacy and math skills; racial and class disparities in academic performance; bilingual education; supports and tools, including technology.
• Accountability: parents, students, teachers.

2.  What education outcomes are we looking for?

• Students: there should be high expectations and plenty of inspiration for children; every child should be exposed to opportunities so they can make intelligent decisions; education should be crafted to meet a child's needs; children need to understand the system as a whole and how it works; information should be made available about technical schools, alternatives to college; students need to graduate; students’ desire for higher education needs to be cultivated; students need to be able to get good jobs, be self-sufficient, creative, competent; schools need to build entrepreneurs.
• Parents: parent empowerment; parent involvement; parent education; information available to parents so they are aware of opportunities for their children; parent access to schools.
• Teachers and Administrators: cultural competency; fresh teachers and administrators; administrators and teachers need to be held accountable; schools need to let teachers be more flexible in how they teach.
• Schools: need to get back control of our schools; more balance between urban and suburban schools, and quality education for all; review of school building budgets; need to achieve standards in English, math, science; government policies to favor equity; schools need to prepare students for global competitiveness; need more computers in school and homes; need additional funding for schools.

3.  What are the strategies and tools we need to get there?

• Communication: better communication; diversified communication process; teacher communication with parents on the internet (school websites) so that parents are aware of student progress reports; mandatory parent meetings.
• Organizing: organize and train parents; organized parent groups; organized student groups; broader coalition of organizations (for example, OC/OS); parent lobbyists; advocacy and sacrifice; provide access and techniques for advocacy; don't let school district co-opt our strong advocates; community policing.
• Support: community input – "it takes a village;" parent-teacher collaboration; mentoring program for parents; engaging stakeholders – community involvement, private money, government involvement, faith-based involvement, corporate involvement; use of technology; school buildings with all the necessary resources; community schools.
• Parents, teachers, students: unified home-school approach; parent involvement and parent accountability; parent friendly environment; trained teachers; programs to train teachers; teachers need to be hands on; future teachers clubs; teachers should teach in areas they want to teach in; understanding how children learn; set standards for everyone; committees to oversee the results of implementation of standards; figure out what needs to be done to ensure kids are meeting the standards (e.g., should they be getting Algebra in 7th grade?); funding and other resources.

4.  Who needs to partner in this effort?

• Students, Parents, Teachers, Administrators
• School Alumni
• Community
• Businesses
• Neighborhood Associations
• Citizen’s Groups
• Religious Organizations
• Higher Education (especially local colleges)
• Legislators
• Union leaders (for example service employees)
• League of Women Voters
• Boys & Girls Clubs
• Foundations
• Grant writers
• Networks of Institutions
• Kids need mentors, role models

5.  Also discussed in small groups:

• There are significant untapped resources in urban areas.
• School guidance counselors focus on helping the good kids, and the kids who are doing poorly don't get the same resources.
• We're all here because we had some adult who encouraged us.
• Learning the system and changing it is important.
• Follow the money!

Prepared: November 23, 2009