Superintendent Survey Gives Low Grades to Education Department

Back in the spring, acting education commissioner Chris Cerf approached the state's superintendents association about organizing a no-holds-barred survey of its members.

All 580 of the state's district superintendents would be polled on what they like and dislike about the state education department, which is charged with monitoring, supporting, and regulating their public schools. There would be 66 questions in all, and a comments section.

Well, the results are back, and they’re not pretty.

Cool relations between Gov. Chris Christie's administration and the field are nothing new, but superintendents -- 408 responded in the end -- gave low grades to the department in nearly every regard, from all the paperwork it requires to the quality and usefulness of the data it gives back.

The criticism wasn't across the board. The department’s help with budgets is pretty good, the superintendents said, as is guidance on certain programs.

But on one of the big questions, only a third said the department's statewide goals have been communicated to districts. A smaller fraction said that the state helped them improve instruction.

Bottom line, just a fifth of the state's supers agreed with the following statement: Overall, the Department plays an important role in helping my district achieve its core mission of elevating student achievement …

A Complete Overhaul

They were tough reviews for a department that has been decimated of late, and now faces what Cerf has long promised would be an overhaul of its functions and priorities. The survey's results and his personal discussions with superintendents factored into that decision, he said in a memo to districts yesterday that was released by his office, along with the survey results.

"You do not always feel that the department is responsive to your needs, whether when you need technical advice or when you seek help setting goals and priorities for your district," Cerf wrote in one bullet-point summarizing of the results.

"You often feel micromanaged and constrained by the heavy burden of compliance," he wrote in another.

And Cerf said change would come.

"Certainly a state Department of Education cannot change overnight; we are committed to making the types of cultural and functional changes necessary," he wrote. He also pledged there would be annual surveys.

Still, Cerf’s actual remake of the department moves slowly. Eight months into his term, three of four "cabinet-level" assistant commissioners have yet to be hired. The state's county offices, which serve as the point of contact with local districts, also are in limbo, with only nine of the 21 executive superintendent positions filled with full-time appointments.

Cerf in an interview last week said that the reorganization is proceeding, including a likely change in the county offices that would make them more responsive to district needs.

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