The first phase of the $100 million Facebook-funded makeover of the Newark, N.J., school system will reach far beyond classrooms and into living rooms.
Over the next two months, city residents will be targeted with phone calls, home visits, and focus groups as part of an effort to get parents more involved in the educational process and to determine what is working—and what isn’t—in the city’s troubled schools.
Mayor Cory Booker and city officials announced the outreach effort, expected to cost about $1 million, last week at the kickoff of the Partnership for Education in Newark.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in September pledged $100 million to improve Newark’s schools, which have been plagued by low test scores, high dropout rates, and crumbling buildings. The district already spends nearly $24,000 a year—more than twice the national average—on each of its 40,000 students. –Associated Press.
