Overview

Newark faces yet another crossroads moment in public education. After years of tumultuous reforms, Newark children and their educators accomplished something truly historic: they created a citywide system of schools where kids are learning more today than they were when Mayor Cory Booker took office in 2006–and this progress has continued in the four years since Mayor Ras Baraka was first elected. Moreover, the city school district has bold new leadership with deep local roots and a popularly-elected school board on the path to full control. Gone are the days of us-versus-them-politics, with unity now being the driving theme on the school board and amongst most education stakeholders. But the work isn’t done. The city’s schools still face serious challenges, with roughly 15,000 students in 25 district and charter schools where both student growth and student proficiency are well below-average, comprehensive high schools struggling to graduate college-ready students, and chronic absenteeism and deep poverty conspiring to depress student learning. The data in this report is intended to offer a new baseline for evaluating the progress the city owes its children during this new phase of local control.