NJASA

June signals the celebration of the accomplishments of staff and students during the past school year. It is also a time for reflection upon, and analysis of, past events as we plan for the year ahead. Lest we forget the many significant events affecting New Jersey public education this past school year, here is a review.

• Chris Cerf replaces Cami Anderson as Superintendent of Schools.

• The Newark Educational Success Board is created to chart the return of the school system to public control.

• The State Board of Education commits to return full control of Jersey City Public Schools to the Board of Education.

• Testing shows that lead is present above acceptable levels in the water systems of Newark schools, beginning a statewide review in many districts.

• In May, Governor Christie issues a requirement for water testing for lead in schools and recommends a $10M budget allocation in FY 17 to support the initiative.

• There was a 3% increase in students participating in the SAT and ACT assessments with scores remaining flat from the prior year.

• Legislation creates a task force to study later school starting times in response to research that student sleep cycles don’t mesh with early starting times.

• A study by Advocates for Children of New Jersey finds one in four districts in 2013-14 had a high number of students missing school at least 10 percent of the year.

• The Kipp Cooper Norcross Academy in Camden is the first “Renaissance School” built under the Urban Hope Act of 2012.

• Democratic legislators push an initiative to provide universal preschool but don’t have a funding solution.

• Legislation signed by Governor Christie creates a new “teacher leader” certification endorsement and a task force to recommend eligibility requirements.

• NJASA participates with the NJDOE, NJPSA and the NJSIAA to sponsor a conference on school culture, athletics and hazing.

• The State Board of Education raises the requirements for teacher certification, requiring more practical classroom experience for all candidates.

• Initial PARCC scores are released and only about one-third of New Jersey students demonstrated grade-level proficiency. The results reflect significant achievement gaps linked to income and race.

• PARCC “round 2” gets off to a technical glitch by Pearson, causing delays and frustration.

• The State Board of Education passed a requirement that high-school students pass two PARCC assessments in Algebra I and 10th grade language arts. PARCC will become the only test option when current seventh graders reach the end of high school in 2021. Those who fail will still be able to graduate by submitting a portfolio of work demonstrating their academic skills.
  

• Summarizing district reports, the NJDOE reports that school violence and vandalism are mostly stable or declining. Bullying and harassment represent a third of all incidents, occurring chiefly at the middle school level.

• Legislation authorized by Governor Christie bars any commercially developed standardized testing in K – 2 and bars the state from placing financial penalties on schools and districts with high numbers of students refusing to participate in state testing.

• “No Child Left Behind” is replaced by the “Every Student Succeeds Act,” and states and districts await implementing regulations from the federal DOE.

• More than two years after its creation, a state task force looking into special-education funding and services in New Jersey issued its report to the Legislature indicating that the state’s current method of funding special education is ineffective and does little to lower special-needs classification rates in the state.

• The Governor orders, and the NJDOE delivers, revisions to the Common Core State Standards which are renamed as the “New Jersey Student Learning Standards.”

• Governor Christie authorizes legislation creating the position of Special Education Ombudsman, intended to respond to questions and concerns of families of children with learning disabilities.

• The final report from the Study Commission on the Use of Student Assessment included close to 50 recommendations, including several calling for more effective communication about the value and purpose of the standardized assessments.

• The Anti-Bullying Task Force issued its fourth and final report recommending more state support for schools and recommended that regulations be amended to provide a clearer definition of bullying and guidelines for principals to decide whether to investigate cases as bullying.

• The proposed FY 17 state budget provides minimal additional funding for public school systems with the School Funding Reform Act provisions underfunded by more than $1 Billion.

• Commissioner Hespe released an updated report required by law on funding needed to provide a “T&E” education.
  

• School districts begin to approve policies addressing the rights of transgender students’ use of bathrooms and locker rooms.
  

• Assembly Education Chairman, Patrick Diegnan, moves to the State Senate and Assemblywoman Marlene Caride is selected to replace him.
  

• State Senate President Steve Sweeney introduced a bill to create the School Aid Funding Fairness Commission to present within a year a plan for fully funding New Jersey’s School Finance Reform Act within five years.
  

• Governor Christie introduced a proposal to provide every school district with the same state funding per student, $6,599.

There certainly was a full plate of activities during the past year and the outlook for the year ahead is no less complex and active. But for now, enjoy the holiday recess and whatever vacation time that you can muster during the summer!