January 16, 2006

In December, Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer received a set of recommendations and intervention strategies for improving education in the Trenton Public Schools from the CHANGE Coalition (Coalition for Hands-On Achievement of Necessary Goals in Education), which he established six-months earlier.

The recommendations are being used by the mayor, Trenton’s school superintendent and the school board as part of their new strategic approach to improve the city’s public schools. These recommendations do not represent the entirety of all local education issues, but do provide a grassroots and stakeholder sense of specific priorities that deserve careful attention. The mayor’s goal when appointing the CHANGE Coalition members was to have the eight issue-oriented working groups identify school improvement priorities and prepare short- and long-term recommendations in time for the 2006 school budget process. This has been accomplished.

Efforts are underway to implement the two overarching recommendations that reflect the consensus of the CHANGE Coalition participants. These are that the Coalition should continue and strengthened for the future, and progress needs to be reported on the action steps taken to address the working group recommendations. The mayor has agreed to these and is involved in continuing the process to insure that change and improvement occurs.

What also is important is the level of city-wide cooperation that has evolved and citizen buy-in to a change process. In the end the report reflects the city-wide education conversation that intends to integrate the needs for safety and security, parent involvement, communication between schools and community, curriculum and instruction, addressing Hispanic students’ needs, special education, and improving both today’s academic programs for gifted and talented students as well as the effectiveness of Trenton’s schools over the long term.

Forming the Coalition is a result of a two events. First was a forum for parents that the mayor hosted in March 2005. Parents from across the city attended and voiced their concerns regarding the Trenton Public Schools. The major areas of concern expressed that evening provided the basis for the working groups. Second, the Education Law Center, a state education advocacy organization, produced a report in May 2005 entitled The Abbott Indicators Project. This was an assessment of Trenton’s educational strengths and weaknesses. Using these findings and the aired parental concerns, the mayor created a constructive problem solving action – the Coalition.