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June 19, 2013

State Backs Off On Changes in Special-Ed Regulations

The following is an article from NJspotlight.com, here is a link to the article:

Proposed new code encountered strong opposition from advocates, families

The Christie administration has pulled back from its hotly contested plans to change special-education requirements for school districts and families, leaving current regulations in place for now.

The state Board of Education will meet in an emergency session on Friday to take the unusual step of vacating its preliminary approval of the proposed changes, then voting to extend the current regulations.

Without the vote, the regulations would have expired without any new regulations to replace them.

The decision came in the face of strong opposition to the proposed changes, which were billed as a move to free up districts from some of the strict requirements for programs and staffing to educate the state’s 210,000 students with disabilities.

One of the most controversial proposals would have loosened required qualifications for serving as a student’s case manager, a critical conduit for families in coordinating a child’s services.… Read the rest

June 18, 2013

N.J. Might Toughen Requirements For Prospective Teachers To Get Certified

The following is an article from NJ.com, here is a link to the article:

TRENTON — New Jersey’s Education Department is considering requiring prospective teachers to achieve at least a B average in college before they can get state certification.

The new 3.0 grade-point requirement would be higher than the current 2.75.

But those who educate educators tell The Press of Atlantic City that it would not make much of a practical difference.

Neighboring Pennsylvania and Delaware already require a 3.0, and experts say it’s hard for an education graduate to get a job in New Jersey with marks lower than that.

Also, some teaching colleges require 3.0 averages of their students already.

Critics say the change could weed out some would-be teachers who come from other professions.… Read the rest

June 17, 2013

Leadership Changes in the Offing for State Teachers Union

The followinf is an article from NJSpotlight.com, here is a link to the article:

President and executive director both poised to step down from NJEA posts

The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s dominant teachers union and among the most powerful state labor unions in the country, is about to go through a big leadership change, with both its president and executive director planning to step down.

Vincent Giordano, a longtime executive in the union and its director since 2007, has told internal staff and his top officers that he will retire in December, following the upcoming gubernatorial and legislative election.

The 200,000-member union’s board is expected to name his successor in the very near future, union officials said.

President Barbara Keshishian will depart this year after her two-term limit expires, succeeded by her current vice president, Wendell Steinhauer.

Giordano was unavailable for comment yesterday, but word of his departure has slowly trickled out after he told his officers in an email in March that he was retiring to spend time with his family, including a future new granddaughter.… Read the rest

June 17, 2013

Two Tenure Law Sponsors Now Seek Delay in Tougher Teacher Evaluations

The following is an article from NJSpotlight.com, here is a link to the article:

Resolution calls for one-year wait before full implementation of new law’s requirements

Concerns about the upcoming launch of a new teacher evaluation system in New Jersey have caught the attention of some high-ranking legislators, with two Assembly leaders offering up a resolution to delay some key pieces of the new requirements.

State Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex) and Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr. (D-Middlesex), both Assembly sponsors of the new tenure law that brought the new rules, are asking the state to extend the current pilot program and postpone full implementation.

School districts would still be required to implement the new evaluations — including some of its most controversial parts, which factor in student test scores — but teachers’ jobs would not yet be on the line for another year.

“I think we do need to pause and take a breath,” Jasey said yesterday in a forum hosted by the New Jersey School Boards Association and the state PTA.… Read the rest

June 6, 2013

New Teachers Should ‘B’ Ready for Tougher Standards

The following is an article from NJ Spotlight.com, here is a link to the article:

State proposes hiking minimum college GPA from 2.75 to 3.0 in attempt to improve quality of new educators

In what is billed as another way to improve teacher quality, the Christie administration wants to require would-be teachers to have at least a B average.

Regulations that would raise the required college grade point average (GPA) of new teachers to 3.0, the equivalent of a B, were proposed yesterday by state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf.

The current minimum is 2.75, although at least half of the state’s teacher education programs already require a 3.0 for both enrollment and graduation.

The state has twice before tried to bring the statewide minimum up to 3.0, but fell short each time amid concerns that it would unfairly limit the teaching pool.

Those issues came up again yesterday at the state board meeting as Cerf’s staff, led by assistant commissioner Peter Shulman, presented the new GPA requirement as part of a wide-ranging package of changes in regulations for teacher preparation.… Read the rest

June 3, 2013

Missed Holidays, Longer School Years: How N.J.’s Schools Made Up For Sandy

The following is an article from NJ Spotlight.com, here is a link to the article:

TRENTON — More than 40 percent of New Jersey’s school kids saw traditional holidays, such as Martin Luther King Day or President’s Day, cancelled this year.

A quarter had a shortened spring break.

And 40 percent will remain in classrooms longer this month, with lessons stretching well into June and some graduations pushed back later into the month.

All thanks to Superstorm Sandy.

Results of a new “30-second survey” conducted by the New Jersey School Boards Association, which were released Wednesday, tallied up the impact of the October 29 super storm on the state’s schools. With about 90 districts responding, the survey showed the hurricane played havoc with school calendars.

More than a third of districts — 34.1 percent — lost up to 10 days of school. Some 38.8 percent of responding districts were out for up to 5 days, and 24.7 lost up to three days.… Read the rest

June 3, 2013

Asbury Park Schools Asbury High Schoolers Learn Dangers Of Drunk Driving

This is an article from the Asbury Park Sun, here is a link to the article:

‘These presentations open up students’ minds that this can truly happen to anybody’

On the eve of the high school prom, Asbury Park students learned about the dangers of drunk driving this week.

The junior-senior prom is tonight at Shadowbrook in Shrewsbury, and students learned several lessons about the consequences of driving under the influence in school yesterday. School substance awareness coordinator Alisha De Lorenzo organized an all-day event to remind the students to make good decisions at the prom.

The day started with a presentation called “Rude Awakenings” from Molly Berkowitz of the Jersey Shore Trauma Center on drinking and distracted driving.

After that, Asbury Park firefighters and police officers joined the students on the high school’s front lawn, where they simulated a car crash and extraction drill. Two student volunteers were taken out of the car, which will remain in the high school’s front lawn for several days as a reminder to students.… Read the rest

May 21, 2013

Charter Schools Chart Course for Teacher Evaluations

The following is an article from NJ Spotlight, here is a link to the article:

State issues guidelines that are far less stringent than new rules for evaluation of district school educators

Following a parallel but very different path from their district school brethren, New Jersey’s charter schools are finalizing plans for how they will evaluate their teachers and principals.

Unlike district schools, charter schools do not fall under the state’s new tenure reform bill, known as TEACHNJ, which specifies much of how evaluations must be conducted and teachers rated.

But the charter schools are still required to submit evaluation plans for state approval. Facing a June 30 deadline, the charter schools have begun to file those plans, which range from ones that mirror district plans to those that are entirely home-grown.

As of last week, about 10 plans had been filed by charter schools, including two released by the state — one includes student achievement as a prominent measure and the other doesn’t mention it.… Read the rest

May 21, 2013

State Education Chiefs Oppose Delay In High-Stakes Test Repercussions

The following is an article from the Washington Post, here is a link to the article:

By

A small group of state education officials is pushing back against a call by teachers unions for a moratorium on using standardized tests for evaluating students or teachers until states have completely implemented Common Core standards, a new way of teaching math and reading in grades kindergarten through 12th.The Common Core standards, fully adopted by 45 states and the District, marks the first time that states have agreed about the knowledge and skills that every U.S. student should acquire by the end of the school year in grades K-12. The standards do not address curriculum — what is taught is left to individual states.Unions and officials at odds over how soon to evaluate students, teachers using Common Core-based tests.

Three weeks ago, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called for a moratorium on the “stakes” associated with new standardized tests that are being rolled out across the country.… Read the rest

May 15, 2013

Rutgers Report Briefs Educators On Training for New Teacher Evaluation

The following is an article from NJ Spotlight.com, here is a link to the article:

Mastering procedures alone can take up to a year, even if schools won’t have that long under new law

New Jersey’s planned use of student test scores in evaluating teachers has drawn most of the fire so far, but researchers following the first tests of the evaluation system have found that training observers for classroom observations is neither quick nor easy.

The team from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education has been tracking the 10 pilot districts that have been up and running for the past two years, along with another 15 that began testing the system last year.

The new system is slated to be rolled out statewide next year.

In a six-page brief distributed to districts across New Jersey last week, researchers described the lessons and challenges specific to training both supervisors and teachers to the observation systems.

… Read the rest

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