#  Chalkbeat: The $100 million question: Did Newark’s school reforms work? New study finds big declines, then progress. 

 





October 16, 2017

 

 

 *Chalkbeat education reporter Matt Barnum describes findings from CEPR's latest report on Newark education reforms.*

 BY [MATT BARNUM](https://www.chalkbeat.org/author/mbarnum/)

 It was [announced with much fanfare](http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/facebook_ceo_pledges_100m_to_n.html) on Oprah in 2010: dramatic changes were coming to Newark’s schools, financed with $100 million from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

 Those changes — including a new teachers’ contract and the expansion of charter schools — proved controversial and challenging to implement. But there hasn’t been a clear answer to the key question: Are students learning more now than they were then, thanks to the reform effort?

 [A new study](https://www.chalkbeat.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Newark_NBER_Study.pdf), released Monday through the National Bureau of Economic Research, is [among](https://schoolfinance101.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/baker-weber-newarkbetteroff-njepf-11_15_15.pdf) the first to try to answer.

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 [More at Chalkbeat.](https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2017/10/16/the-100-million-question-did-newarks-school-reforms-work-new-study-finds-big-declines-then-progress/)



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ School Improvement & Redesign ](/focus-areas/school-improvement-and-redesign)
- [ In the News ](/cepr-in-the-news)
- [ Newark Report ](/projects/newark-report)
- [ 2017 ](/year/2017)
 
 

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