Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to remake education in Newark, N.J., has shown mixed results after five years.
The number of students in charters has more than doubled since 2010 and now represents about one-fourth of Newark’s 48,000 students. But the exodus of students and the funding that comes with them has hurt.
A big part of Zuckerberg’s mission was also to improve the traditional public schools. From 2010 to 2014, the percentage of students meeting standards on statewide tests fell in many cases. Lower proportions of students scored at least “proficient” in 4th and 8th grade language arts and in 4th grade math. A slightly higher percentage of 8th graders passed. The graduation rate, however, jumped from 2011 to 2012 and has since held steady.
