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FIRST QUARTER ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN EDUCATION 2004
Commissioner William L. Librera
January 1 to April 1, 2004

Governor McGreevey and Commissioner Librera have grouped the state’s educational initiatives into five major themes:

-Teacher and administrator quality;
-Raising student achievement;
-Diverse and multiple paths for student success;
-Innovative and outstanding practices/programs; and
-Public engagement and communication and public accountability.

Teacher and Administrator Quality

The Department of Education has done the following:

• Completed a proposal that resulted in a $600,000 grant from the Wallace Foundation to fund the second phase of the State Action for Educational Leadership Project, which will focus on improving educational leadership and conditions of leadership practice in New Jersey -- one of only fifteen states awarded this funding. During the next three years, the state standards for school leaders, recently adopted by the State Board of Education, will be embedded in policies, processes, and infrastructures across the continuum of practice at the state, district, and school levels. The goal is to bring about continuous school improvement and improved student achievement. In addition, the project will address the conditions of leadership practice for school leaders to assure their successful recruitment and retention.
  
  
• Offered two world languages recruitment events on March 16 and 19 – one in the north and one in the south of the state -- to assist districts in finding qualified world language teachers. This is the fifth year that the department has hosted such recruitment events.
  
  
• Completed the first of a five-year professional development series for health teachers in Juvenile Justice Commission and Department of Human Services facilities that serve adolescents.
  
  
• Proposed to the State Board of Education that we raise the minimum scores that teachers must meet in order to pass the Praxis licensing exams to become certified. The scores would be boosted in stages, so that ultimately the cut scores are among the highest in the nation.

Raising Student Achievement

The New Jersey Department of Education has done the following:

• Unveiled details of Governor McGreevey’s Early Launch to Learning Initiative (ELLI) that will increase access to preschool for approximately 20,000 four-year-olds in the 2004-05 school year. The initial budget appropriation of $15 million will fund eligible children in a district’s preschool program. The limit to the size of classes is 15-18 children. The curriculum will be designed to smooth the way to kindergarten.
  
  
• Districts may use their state grants to establish a new preschool program, either half- or full-day, expand an existing half-day program to full-day, or improve the quality of an existing preschool program by decreasing class size, serving more children, or offering longer hours. All districts currently serving elementary-aged children are eligible to apply with the exception of the Abbott districts.
  
  
• Hosted roundtables to explain Governor McGreevey’s new After 3 program. During the next school year, it will allow districts to offer after-school enrichment activities to approximately 20,000 children through state grants to be matched by private donors. A new state-run nonprofit corporation will distribute the funds to community-based organizations in partnership with schools to provide after-school programs. This initiative will keep schools open from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. and keep participating children safe until parents return from work.
  
  
• Worked with the State Board of Education toward adoption of revised standards in language arts literacy, visual and performing arts, comprehensive health and physical education, and world languages. Math and science standards had already been revised and adopted, and social studies is the one area that is not yet revised. The State Board also adopted two new areas of standards that were part of Governor McGreevey’s 21-point plan – technological literacy and career education and consumer, family and life skills. These two replace the former workplace readiness standards. The revised standards represent the best thinking of teachers, administrators, parents, students, and representatives of higher education. The language of the original standards has been clarified and the content is now more specific.

Diverse and Multiple Paths for Student Achievement

The Department of Education has done the following:

• Worked with the State Board of Education to develop new high school graduation requirements that will take effect with the 2004-05 freshman class. The regulations adopted in January permit greater flexibility in teaching and learning the skills and knowledge required for high school graduation and represent a shift away from seat-time course requirements in favor of optional ways for students to demonstrate proficiency in required subject matter. The new regulations set a total minimum graduation requirement of 110 credits linked to the Core Curriculum Content Standards.
  
  
• There are two options open to districts. The first modifies existing credit requirements for the visual and performing arts, practical arts, and world languages, allowing 5 credits for courses in career education and consumer, family, and life skills or vocational-technical education. It also calls for technological literacy to be taught across the curriculum.
  
  
• The second option expands flexibility at the local level by allowing schools to choose from an array of models for developing activities or programs linked to the standards, such as theme-based programs, independent study, magnet programs, co-curricular or extra-curricular activities, internships, student exchange programs, distance learning, community service, or other structured learning experiences.
  
  
• Approved three new charter schools -- D.U.E. (Distinctions in Urban Education) Season Charter School (to open in fall of 2005) and the Freedom Academy Charter School serving Camden students, along with the Right Path Charter School serving students from Irvington. The charters were renewed for Galloway Community Charter School in Atlantic County; the Queen City Academy Charter School in Union County; and the Newark Charter School in Essex County. There are currently 48 charter schools enrolling 14,000 students in grades pre-k through 12. Three additional new charter schools are planning to open in September 2004 after spending a planning year.
  
  
• Convened representatives quarterly from schools throughout the state to share senior year best practices and encouraged a select group of schools to design innovative ways to restructure the program options in grade 12. The results are as follows:

• College courses offered at the high school or on campus to earn dual credits;
• Certificate/noncredit college courses that allow students to explore medical and technology fields such as certified nursing assistant or office systems technology;
• Service-learning projects supervised by school personnel in collaboration with community organizations to allow exploration of a career in service;
• Work-based internships/apprenticeships that are supervised alternatives in a profession that may become a student’s career choice; and
• Senior projects that involve students in long-term research and evaluation around a theme chosen collaboratively between the student and the teacher.

Innovative and Outstanding Practices and Programs

The Department of Education has done the following:

• Sponsored participation for Even Start directors and coordinators for the Even Start Research-based Early Childhood and Parenting Education Professional Development series "Making Meaningful Changes in Program Design," sponsored by the United States Department of Education and RMC Research Development Corporation on April 20 and 21, 2004. This professional development series provided research-based findings concerning the language and literacy development of three- to five-year-old children, and the implications of these findings to inform program design and instruction.
  
  
• Supported several county-wide programs in Camden County as follows:

• A curriculum consortium to share the latest research in curriculum development and effective instructional strategies.
• A peer mediation committee to share the latest research in peer mediation, conflict resolution, and character education. The committee sponsored two peer mediation workshops involving hands-on strategies.
• Creation of an early childhood education committee to begin discussion among early childhood educators on best practices and effective instructional strategies and programs in early childhood education from pre-k to grade 3.

Public Communication, Engagement and Accountability

The Department of Education has done the following:

• Submitted a plan in response to Governor McGreevey’s call to eliminate the 23 non-operating school districts. The plan recommends dissolving the 23 school boards and transferring the administrative responsibilities to the municipal governments.
  
  
• Set guidelines for Governor McGreevey’s mandate for school districts to manage administrative costs to direct more money into the classrooms. In February, the department encouraged school districts to budget their administrative expenses within regionally established thresholds. The purpose is to help districts curtail excessive costs in order to serve children better and relieve undue property tax burdens. In this first year, 87% of the school districts had effectively managed their administrative costs to be within the guidelines. Failure to meet the guidelines can result in state aid loss.
  
  
• Released the annual 2003 New Jersey School Report Card which has been produced in house and completely redesigned for ease of use.
  
  
• Issued the department’s first report on the classroom quality and language skills in the Abbott preschool programs. The report was released in conjunction with the Early Learning Improvement Consortium (ELIC) and found that the majority of kindergarten students are entering elementary grades with many of the early literacy skills necessary to be successful readers. This report will serve as a base from which to work with individual programs that need improvement. This study followed a February report by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) where New Jersey ranked high for access to preschool programs for both three- and four-year-olds and for the quality standards for the Abbott district programs.

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