Sunday, February 17, 2013
State Department of Education to provide more comprehensive data with better snapshot of how districts performing.
Soon-to-be-released state Department of Education school report cards will be more comprehensive and detailed, providing parents a better snapshot of how their school districts are performing, according to an NJ.com report Sunday. The annual reports will detail the percentage of students who get college-ready scores on the SAT, the number of middle schoolers who pass algebra I and the percentage of students who are chronically absent, the report said. The report will also place each of the state’s roughly 2,400 schools in “peer groups” with 29 other districts with similar demographics, the report said. This will allow officials and others to see how their school stacks up with others across the state. For years, the state has issued school…
Monday, April 2, 2012
State agency faces questions from non-partisan Office of Legislative Services
What is it: The state’s non-partisan Office of Legislative Services each year conducts separate internal reviews of every department’s and agency’s budgets for the coming year. Some of it is boilerplate, but the OLS also asks specific questions to a department that raise larger issues of public policy and practice. The state Department of Education was the first agency to go before the legislature last week, and in turn, the first to face the OLS questioning. What it means: The OLS questions and the DOE responses give a glimpse to some of the inner workings of the department, and often drive the discussion when administration officials go before the legislature to defend their budgets. The OLS’ probing of DOE’s use of outside consultants, …
Friday, March 16, 2012
School Report Cards delayed as state gears up NJ SMART
Just a few months short of the Class of 2012's high school graduation, the state Department of Education is still tallying the numbers for the Class of 2011. Counting graduates was slowed as the department puts in place a new system for more accurately totaling up the number of students who make it through high school and how they do so, officials said. The delay has also postponed the release of the state's annual School Report Cards. Typically released in February, the Report Cards provide data and analysis for every school on their test scores, class sizes and a host of other measures. But the statewide and district graduation rates are a particular hot-button issue since the Christie administration has said it will be a central measure…
Monday, March 5, 2012
Cerf points to low test scores, standards in decision to close schools in Trenton, Pleasantville
What happened: The state announced Friday that it would renew the charters of 16 charter schools, but not the charters of one school in Trenton and another in Pleasantville. The letters sent to the two schools laid out a myriad of problems at each school, two of the oldest in the state. What it means: The Christie administration has gone out of its way to show how tough it can be on charter schools that aren’t performing. It has been a sensitive topic, as the administration has been a big cheerleader for the alternative schools since Gov. Chris Christie took office and angered communities where the schools are seen as a financial drain. But in this climate, the closing of the two schools also raised worries over how the state was making …
State officials close two charter schools for poor performance, say charters are being held accountable.
The Teaneck Community Charter School was one of 16 schools granted a renewed five-year charter, the state Education Department announced Friday. After a four-year term, a charter school can be renewed in five-year increments, the Education Department said. In a news release, the state said it was continuing "aggressive oversight" of charter schools. “We are deeply committed to making sure that all children have a high-quality school option available to them, and the expansion of high-performing charter schools is a critical component of that effort,” Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf said in the release. “However, a critical part of our oversight efforts to ensure students are being served at the level they deserve is enforcing …
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Proposed virtual charter school would place unfair burden on Teaneck and other districts, letter says.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
My niece is a student at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. I am writing to express my extreme concern regarding the application for charter submitted by the Garden State Virtual Charter School. I am appalled that the New Jersey Department of Education would even consider granting a charter to a group that has submitted an application with a host of unsubstantiated claims that poses a considerable monetary threat to an existing public school system. Teaneck already has a well established charter school as well as many private schools that serve the needs of those who choose not to utilize the public schools. There is no need for another charter that offers nothing materially differently other than its method of delivery. A virtual charter …
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Christie and Cerf argue that student achievement is more important than complying with more than 2,000 pages of regulations
More than a century ago, a county superintendent annually visited a public school in New Jersey to check its buildings (including outhouses), the "efficiency of the teachers," and the "character, record and standing of the pupils." Jump cut 100 years and public schools -- according to critics -- are burdened by more than 1,000 pages of regulations and 1,200 of statute. And Gov. Chris Christie is the most recent governor to decide things have gone too far. Yesterday, Christie launched the latest phase of his school reform agenda with a plan -- or a loose timeline -- for revising the rulebook. "These requirements often come out of either a good idea that wasn't implemented correctly or a bad idea that shouldn't have been approved in the …
Mark
11:17 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Lisa - Teaneck Schools should be outraged. The proposed virtual school has made it very clear that they do not anticipate 1,000 students from Teaneck, yet DOE tells them to reserve $15M. What gives? more ›