Braun: On N.J. schools, facts don't guarantee a winning argument | NJ.com

I went to the 4th grade `moving up' ceremony at PS 187 yesterday. the kids are moving up to the intermediate school - IS 187. Same building, same principal. The children, predominately Dominican, don't score as high as suburban kids. But just a few minutes in a classroom busy with words and pictures and lessons shows you that there is a lot of teaching going on. Why do so many think our schools are failing...so we should cut their funding? Robert Braun, the distinguished Star Ledger education write discusses the problem. - GWC

Braun: On N.J. schools, facts don't guarantee a winning argument | NJ.com:

"'If you look at all the facts, you can see things are getting better, even in urban schools,' says Marion Bolden, the former Newark schools chief. 'Change doesn’t happen overnight.'
But facts don’t count when blaming feels so right politically. Teachers are easy targets of the envious who lost jobs, benefits and pensions and aren’t rich enough for tax reductions. Urban schools are demonized because — surprise — they spend more than suburban schools where race and privilege are, as the credit card ad goes, the 'priceless,' but uncounted, costs of success."