The president of The Center for Education Reform released the following statement expressing disappointment in the New Jersey Department of Education’s decision to approve only four charter schools out of 60 submitted applications.

As New Jersey seeks to expand its charter school offerings, questions are being raised about the oversight of the states’ charter schools. CER’s Jeanne Allen explains that the DOE can become burdened in its oversight as it focuses on areas outside of their core focus.

John Stossel focuses his attention to the rise in school spending and the continuous flat test scores in American education. Criticizing the monopoly and lack of competition, Stossel turns to CER’s Jeanne Allen to describe the Blob – the federations, alliances, councils, boards and the like that make up the education industry.

The College Board highlights that more students than ever are taking the SAT for college admissions. But, the dramatic drop in scores over the past five years and the failure to improve shines a spotlight on the truth - more of our students continue to be underserved by their schools.

John Boehner, Katherine Bradley, Kevin Chavous, John Fisher, Steve Klinsky, John Legend, Eva Moskowitz and Brian Williams will be honored with the distinguished EdReformie award. These honorees will be celebrated on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011 at the W Washington D.C. Hotel as part of CER's 18th anniversary gala, The EdReformies – Rockin' Reform Revue.

This Saturday's Save Our Schools rally is holding itself out to be an effort to restore parent and student influence in education, but a rundown of the participating groups raises questions about the authenticity of this goal. Many of the participating groups are strong, vocal opponents of testing, accountability and school choice.