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Construction officially began today on Teachers Village, a development combining housing, retail and school facilities that is being touted as a major component of downtown revitalization.

Read this article as it originally appeared in The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — Elected officials, real estate developers and international investors will gather in the heart of downtown Newark today to break ground on the city’s most ambitious project since the Prudential Center, one Mayor Cory Booker says will transform the entire downtown.

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Newark officials broke ground on Teachers Village, a mixed-use development in downtown Newark that will create three new charter schools, a daycare center, more than 200 moderately-priced rental apartments for Newark teachers, and more than 20 on-street retail establishments which will include restaurants, medical offices and local and national stores.

Read this story as it originally appeared in The Christian Science Monitor

Jennifer Pellegrine's turning point came when she discovered the importance of giving students multiple chances to master skills, rather than simply letting them slide by with barely passing grades.

Call it a lesson in perseverance – on her part and theirs.

“G-o-v-e-r-n-m-e-n-t” spells winner for Ismat Agwedicham, a fourth-grader at New Horizons Community Charter School who spelled the word correctly to win her school's spelling bee this month.

Students in the Newark school for grades K to 5 had been studying their dictionaries for almost two months to prepare for the contest.

This article originally appeared on Local Talk News

Two more charter schools could open in Newark next year, providing more than 760 additional classroom seats for children seeking an alternative to struggling city schools.

The state Department of Education on January 20 announced the approval of eight charter schools for the 2012-13 school year from among a pool of 42 applicants. The schools must clear one last hurdle, a “readiness review” before it is allowed to open in September.

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NEWARK (WABC) -- Nicole Berne's first job as a college graduate is as a member of the tutor corps at Great Oaks Charter School in Newark.

"We're always there to help out with anything; whether it's a personal problem, whether it's an academic problem, we're there to provide whatever the students need," Berne said.

Jared Taillefer is the school's executive director. He says he enlisted the help of recent college graduates because many of them need help.

Read this Jay Matthews' column as it originally appeared in The Washington Post.

The Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz, Calif., is a public charter school. It must hold a random lottery when it has more applicants than vacancies. It is not supposed to be selective.

Yet somehow its average SAT score has risen to the top tenth of one percent among all public schools nationally. Less than ten percent of its students are low-income, compared to 40 percent in its city. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that the school is allowed to ask (not require, its principal emphasizes) that every family donate $3,000 and 40 hours of volunteer time a year.

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Charter schools in Newark can be part of a new self-governing agreement that will ensure high quality education, transparency and accountability for each institution that signs on, according to officials from the Newark Charter School Fund, which has doled out money to schools and created the document.

Under the new agreement or "compact," charter schools pledge to serve the widest range of students in the city whether they need ESL classes or special education services, eliminate obstacles to applying to schools, release clear and correct information on the schools and the application process, post data on students on the schools’ websites such as how many kids qualify for free school lunches and information on college matriculation rates, and collaborate with the school district, according to the compact.

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What it is: The Newark Charter School Fund, a philanthropic and advocacy organization created to help the city's charter schools, has forged a contract with charter leaders in Newark that pledges full transparency and accessibility.

What it means: The compact -- meant for all charters to sign -- is more symbolic than legally binding, but speaks to a serious issue. It aims to address frequent concerns that charter schools are not following the spirit, let alone the letter, of state law, which requires them to be open and accessible to all students, especially those with special needs. Whether it quiets the critics is probably doubtful, but yet to be seen.

Read this article as it originally appeared on LocalTalkNews.com

Charter schools in Newark will have an opportunity to sign onto a newly developed "charter compact" that will ensure they are upholding the highest principles of transparency and public accountability, serving an unmet need in Newark, striving for educational excellence, and fulfilling their missions to educate all students in the most equitable manner possible.

The compact was developed by the Newark Charter School Fund, a three-year old organization committed to increasing the number of high-quality schools in Newark by improving charter schools, expanding successful schools, and developing promising new schools.

Read this article as it originally appeared on Patch.com

For sixth-grade students from the Robert Treat Academy in Newark, a day on the Shark River was more than just fun in the sun.

As the classmates assisted one another in mounting and launching kayaks from a floating dock near Belmar's L Street beach, one holding the boat firmly against the bulkhead while the other steadied themselves atop the craft, then handing them their paddle and seeing their friends hit the water, the lesson becomes clear.

They're learning about themselves.

For the sixth year, students from the Newark-based charter school came to the Shark River basin through the City Sailors program and the Friends of Belmar Harbor. The sailing lessons have since been incorporated into Academy curriculum.

For Paul Perotta, a physical education teacher at the charter school for the last 11 years, it couldn't be more clear. Each year, as they take to the waters of Belmar Harbor he sees his students face obstacles and learn to overcome them.

The Newark Charter School Fund was featured in an article in the Newark Regional Business Partnership's August Connections newsletter. The article was about an education reform panel convened by the Newark business group as part of its Newark Insider's Forum series.

Read this article as it originally appeared on Patch.com

Two charter schools that would serve Newark students are still slated to open next year despite their charter management company stepping away during the schools' planning process.

The schools, Vailsburg Prep and Spirit Prep, which are scheduled to open in September 2012, are now fielding offers from other charter management firms after City Prep Academies decided to stop their role, said Patrick Byrne, coordinator and founder for both schools.

"All is not lost," said Byrne. "It was more of a stumble than setback."

Read this article as it originally appeared on localtalknews.com | nj.com

Robert Treat Academy is living proof that an “extraordinary education” is possible for all children, state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf told graduates of the Newark charter school.

“Robert Treat represents the incredibly powerful message that it can be done, and it can be done well, and that zip code and birth circumstances and what country your parents happen to be born in are not destiny in this country,” Cerf said.

“There are a lot of people who doubt that,” Cerf said. “What Robert Treat Academy does is tell people all over the world that a high quality extraordinary education is possible for all children.”