Zuckerberg's $100 million donation fails

[summer]

us.yahoo.com/finance/news/mark-zuckerbergs-100-million-donation-155608055.html

In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to Newark, New Jersey's failing public-school system with the intention of turning around the schools in five years.

The goals Zuckerberg set out to achieve — to enact a number of reforms that would make Newark a model city for education reform — are widely seen as a failure, journalist Dale Russakoff told Business Insider.

So where exactly did that $100 million go if the turnaround was a failure?

Russakoff mapped the money trail in her new book "The Prize: Who's in Charge of America's Schools," which tracked the five years since Zuckerberg's donation.

The $100 million from Zuckerberg actually became $200 million under the agreement other sources would match his contribution. Here's where that money went:

Labor and contract costs: $89.2 millionCharter schools: $57.6 millionConsultants: $21 millionVarious local initiatives: $24.6 million

The total committed funds comes to less than $200 million as of January 2015, as some funding decisions are still pending.

One of the biggest failures in Zuckerberg'splan to reform Newark schools was the renegotiated teachers' contracts.

Zuckerberg envisioned the teacher contract reform to be a centerpiece of the reform and contributed $50 million — half of his total donation — to go to working on that cause.

Zuckerberg wanted to be able to create more flexibility in teacher contracts to reward high-performing teachers and to fire teachers with poor records of student achievement.


But those types of protections are determined by New Jersey law, and Zuckerberg couldn't simply come in and change the rules without going through the state Legislature to make the changes.

Instead, the opposite occurred. Chris Cerf, the New Jersey commissioner of education at the time, worked with the Legislature and was able to negotiate some new accountability measures in teacher contracts.

But the teachers' union only agreed upon those measures if the seniority protections remained intact.

"The seniority protections became automatically a part of this new contract in Newark, which was supposed to be, in the words that the reformers were using, a transformational contract that would become a model for how to reform school districts all across the country, and it was not," Russakoff said in an interview with NPR.

The second biggest piece of Zuckerberg's donation — $25 million — went to charter schools in Newark. For students who were able to attend one of the excellent charter schools in Newark, this was beneficial.

But the expansion of charters in Newark also sent the city into upheaval due to the implementation of the plan. Essentially, schools were consolidated and rearranged to downsize districts.

It was done quickly and without input from parents or local administrators, who could have provided guidance on how the changes would play out among the community.

Ultimately, it was a massive change from the old system parents were used to. 

Rather than being designated a school close by the child's residence, parents had to go online and chose the school they wanted. An algorithm eventually decided the school district a student would attend.

This was a big change for a school system where most kids walked to school. Further, Russakoff explained, it could put students in dangerous situations.

"When a school is closed, children had to walk through very dangerous territory, sometimes through gang territory, through drug-dealing neighborhoods," Russakoff told NPR. "And none of that was kind of vetted in advance to see what can we do for these kids to make sure they're safe."

Finally, $20 million of Zuckerberg's donation went to consultants who took care of management of the projects. While not technically a failure, this contributed to the poor optics of the plan.

Consultants were making $1,000 a day while the local teachers and administrators did not see any of the additional funds in merit pay that they were promised.

We reached out to Facebook to give Zuckerberg an opportunity to comment, and we will update the post if we hear back.

[onthemove]

The author of that book was on Fresh Air this week www.npr.org/2015/09/21/442183080/assessing-the-100-million-upheaval-of-newarks-public-schools?ft=nprml&f=1003%2C1004

[IIOY]

I know I'm not the only here who is snorting at "consultants."

Also, anyone with a year or two of practice under their belt could have told MZ that New Jersey employment laws strongly favor employees.

[nsuhomer]

I just listened to this on NPR the other day. I'm curious to see how his new plan for SF schools goes.

[ttt]

See, these wealthy tech people think they have all the answers and don't need to worry about politics and the law and such boring technicalities because those things are "unimportant" and what matters is "big ideas" and "innovation."

Well this is the kind of thing that gives them a cold splash of reality and shows them that life everywhere is not like it is in the Valley.

[MrsAxilla]

I'm loling that he thought he could come in and get the exact contract he wanted with the teachers' union.

[NewOrleans]

oh lookie here at all the opportunity for profit that has nothing to do with sound practices

Charter schools: $57.6 million

Consultants: $21 million

This right here is one third of what is wrong with education.  (In case you're wondering, the other 2/3 consists of outside forces [poverty, student illness/family struggles], a need to raise the bar on entering the profession, and improper use of assessment)

[readyin07]

Sept 26, 2015 16:37:04 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

oh lookie here at all the opportunity for profit that has nothing to do with sound practices

Charter schools: $57.6 million

Consultants: $21 million

This right here is one third of what is wrong with education.  (In case you're wondering, the other 2/3 consists of outside forces [poverty, student illness/family struggles], a need to raise the bar on entering the profession, and improper use of assessment)

Having a little dance over here over this one! So true!

[simpsongal]

Ugh, not to over simplify, but isn't this a prime example of how you can't solve problems by throwing gobs of money at it?

[katfco]

Sept 26, 2015 19:49:10 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Ugh, not to over simplify, but isn't this a prime example of how you can't solve problems by throwing gobs of money at it?

I think it's also an issue of where the money goes. If my school had more teachers to cut class sizes in half,I think we'd really be able to help some of these kids. If we had more psychologists who were trained in childhood trauma, we'd be able to help more kids. 

Unfortunately, so many people think the answer is found in charter schools and consultants to come in and tell teachers what they're doing wrong. 

[simpsongal]

Sept 26, 2015 20:07:11 GMT -5 katfco said:

Sept 26, 2015 19:49:10 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Ugh, not to over simplify, but isn't this a prime example of how you can't solve problems by throwing gobs of money at it?

I think it's also an issue of where the money goes. If my school had more teachers to cut class sizes in half,I think we'd really be able to help some of these kids. If we had more psychologists who were trained in childhood trauma, we'd be able to help more kids. 

Unfortunately, so many people think the answer is found in charter schools and consultants to come in and tell teachers what they're doing wrong. 

So true.  And I'm sure getting a one time influx of cash is tricky b/c it's tough to sustain long term changes (like hiring more staff).

Didn't he make the donation to defray some bad PR?  I can't remember, but I remember thinking it was nice but perhaps he could have spread the money around a bit. 

[nursecramer]

If I had $100 million for a school district, I would pay signing bonuses for new teachers who stayed for at least 5 years, student loan forgiveness for those who stayed 10. I would halve the student teacher ratio, and each new teacher would be paired with a mentor teacher for their first three years. Every teacher would get a raise and a materials stipend to spend for their classroom as they see fit. That's about it.

[tiramisu]

Sept 26, 2015 20:07:11 GMT -5 katfco said:

Sept 26, 2015 19:49:10 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Ugh, not to over simplify, but isn't this a prime example of how you can't solve problems by throwing gobs of money at it?

I think it's also an issue of where the money goes. If my school had more teachers to cut class sizes in half,I think we'd really be able to help some of these kids. If we had more psychologists who were trained in childhood trauma, we'd be able to help more kids. 

Unfortunately, so many people think the answer is found in charter schools and consultants to come in and tell teachers what they're doing wrong. 

Not just therapists trained in childhood trauma, but also money for trainings and continuing education to make sure they're receiving the support needed to do their jobs effectively. And money to train teachers and administrators on compassionate/trauma-informed school practices.

[CloudBee]

Sept 26, 2015 16:08:22 GMT -5 ttt said:

See, these wealthy tech people think they have all the answers and don't need to worry about politics and the law and such boring technicalities because those things are "unimportant" and what matters is "big ideas" and "innovation."

Well this is the kind of thing that gives them a cold splash of reality and shows them that life everywhere is not like it is in the Valley.

Something that's upsetting for me to read, is that kids were thrown into districts outside of their original zoning, yet still walking! Through dangerous neighborhoods, and likely on foot for a significant distance? Did the consultants CONSULT A MAP? Or speak with community leaders, as there was an absence of parental and general community input? WTF.

[katfco]

Sept 26, 2015 20:35:36 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Sept 26, 2015 16:08:22 GMT -5 ttt said:

See, these wealthy tech people think they have all the answers and don't need to worry about politics and the law and such boring technicalities because those things are "unimportant" and what matters is "big ideas" and "innovation."

Well this is the kind of thing that gives them a cold splash of reality and shows them that life everywhere is not like it is in the Valley.

Something that's upsetting for me to read, is that kids were thrown into districts outside of their original zoning, yet still walking! Through dangerous neighborhoods, and likely on foot for a significant distance? Did the consultants CONSULT A MAP? Or speak with community leaders, as there was an absence of parental and general community input? WTF.

That's one of the problems with charter schools and non-neighborhood schools. Our district's transportation department is a gargantuan department, in part because they bus kids all over the place. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have money for all those buses. 

[ringstrue]

I mean, usually when a school get several million they pop up a new building. It seems he could have created a bunch of new neighborhood schools or other community/ neighborhood enriching facilities with a bit of input from.... anyone..... and done a lot better. He'd probably have left overs to spur the increased staff salary needs for a period of time.

[tres3]

That $100M would have been better spent shoring up crapping decrepit housing in Newark and addressing the real issue, poverty. If those kids had a stable place to live, that was safe and sturdy they would do fine, but if you are bouncing from sofa to sofa and changing schools regularly you won't do well in school no matter how great of a teacher or how many computers you have.

[NewOrleans]

Oh, and were they letting administrators decide what to do with the money? if so...

[WanderingWinoZ]

i guess, as a mostly outsider, this is my frustration with just "throwing money at the problem". I thought the last I'd heard/read, the US spends more $/student than the rest of the world & is getting increasingly worse results. I guess the money is just going to all the wrong places? I fully realize that some (most?) of the problems are systemic & even outside the school realm, so we need a comprehensive overhaul of more than jsut schools. I can totally see that smaller class sizes would be a big step, along with supporting resources (like counselors, training, etc.) would help, whereas more testing & consultants are a waste of money.

[oscarnerdjulief]

Schadenfreude.

You know the Jerry Maguire line, "you had me at hello." Well, he lost me at charter schools. I'm "meh" on outside consultants coming in and telling teachers what they should be doing. Most of the time there's no talk about how their pie-in-the-sky dreams will actually be implemented.

TTT and Voodoo among others are very on point.

[fancynewbeesly]

Sept 27, 2015 8:58:35 GMT -5 tres3 said:

That $100M would have been better spent shoring up crapping decrepit housing in Newark and addressing the real issue, poverty. If those kids had a stable place to live, that was safe and sturdy they would do fine, but if you are bouncing from sofa to sofa and changing schools regularly you won't do well in school no matter how great of a teacher or how many computers you have.

Also in our middle class district, we have a guidance counselor part time. We joke about it, but deep down it is ridiculous. We have guidance counselor on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Another school in our district has them Thursday & Friday. So, kids can't get problems on certain days of the week.

No one enjoys that. But unfortunately, that is one way to cut spending. Less resources, even essential ones. 

[tres3]

Sept 27, 2015 20:45:41 GMT -5 fancynewbeesly said:

Sept 27, 2015 8:58:35 GMT -5 tres3 said:

That $100M would have been better spent shoring up crapping decrepit housing in Newark and addressing the real issue, poverty. If those kids had a stable place to live, that was safe and sturdy they would do fine, but if you are bouncing from sofa to sofa and changing schools regularly you won't do well in school no matter how great of a teacher or how many computers you have.

Also in our middle class district, we have a guidance counselor part time. We joke about it, but deep down it is ridiculous. We have guidance counselor on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Another school in our district has them Thursday & Friday. So, kids can't get problems on certain days of the week.

No one enjoys that. But unfortunately, that is one way to cut spending. Less resources, even essential ones. 

I'm thankful my district has nurses in every building and substitute nurses because some districts share nurses between schools. How does that work for the type1 diabetic kid who has to test his blood twice a day at school and is only in 1st grade? What about all the kids with severe food allergies etc. Our school nurse does some pretty heavy "nursing" and isn't just slapping band aids on skinned knees.  

I can't imagine having certain services only "part-time". Maybe a part-time OT if there isn't high demand in a school but basics like guidance counselors should be there daily. 

[tres3]

Sept 27, 2015 10:56:57 GMT -5 WanderingWinoZ said:

i guess, as a mostly outsider, this is my frustration with just "throwing money at the problem". I thought the last I'd heard/read, the US spends more $/student than the rest of the world & is getting increasingly worse results. I guess the money is just going to all the wrong places? I fully realize that some (most?) of the problems are systemic & even outside the school realm, so we need a comprehensive overhaul of more than jsut schools. I can totally see that smaller class sizes would be a big step, along with supporting resources (like counselors, training, etc.) would help, whereas more testing & consultants are a waste of money.

Again I will say it probably isn't the teachers but it is the poverty. Our old district in Mass was a Title 1 district and we had crappy MCAS scores, but our super teased out the scores. Every kid that started K in the district passed the 10th grade TCAP on the 1st try. However our city was full of state and federal housing projects and many kids switched districts multiple times a year. That is bad for the kids education. If we could somehow insure stability where kids were staying in the same home/school for multiple years they would perform better.  We can meet a lot of their food needs through school lunch/breakfast but housing is a missing key towards ending the cycle.