SUNLIGHT POLICY CENTER OF NEW JERSEY WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO….
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“JERSEY JAZZMAN” – RESEARCH ANALYST FOR NEW JERSEY POLICY PERSPECTIVE
Policy is important. Policy affects people’s lives. Policy is the anchor behind the creation of the Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey (SPCNJ).
But policy must be founded on facts and evidence-based research….
SPCNJ tries very hard to live up to this standard. As we have shown over the last year, every assertion, every fact, every report that SPCNJ has issued has been backed up with data and footnotes. Admittedly, some folks might not like what we have to say, but no one can (or has) charged that the information we provide is not fact-checked or backed-up.
Mark Weber, Ph.D., …otherwise known as “Jersey Jazzman,” looks at research in a different way …
As a blogger and social media celebrity to some, Jersey Jazzman is free to say what he wants, and he wants to openly push the NJEA’s agenda. But blogs are blogs and not bona fide research.
Mark Weber, Ph.D., is also a Special Analyst for New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP). NJPP is a think-tank that advocates for policies and uses research reports to support those efforts. NJPP says its research is “evidence-based.” But Weber has brought his Jersey Jazzman blogging style to NJPP and authored two “research” reports in support of the NJEA’s agenda.
The Jazzman’s work for NJPP has rarely been questioned or examined closely. … So that is what we did – we actually put the work of Mark “Jersey Jazzman” Weber, Ph.D., under the microscope.
In our report, we stick to the facts about the Jazzman’s work for NJPP. We examine his sources, methods and data and find that they are flawed and do not support his conclusions. Most of his findings are not evidence-based and are invalid.
NJPP has not held Weber to its own standards. It looks like Weber chose the conclusions he wanted and then filled in the rest with unproven assertions and cherry-picked data. It is surprising that NJPP would attach its name to such substandard work.
NJPP’s brand-name provides the appearance of independent, third-party research. But rather than clarify the issues for a legislator or policy-maker, Weber and NJPP obscure and twist the facts for the sake of pushing the NJEA’s agenda.
…So get to know the true quality of the research of Mark “Jersey Jazzman” Weber, Ph.D., and NJPP.
If we can’t see through the smokescreens….we can’t make sound policy. That hurts New Jersey.