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The Record - Community colleges to use controversial PARCC tests for student placement
MARCH 24, 2015, 2:03 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015, 10:00 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
In New Jersey’s march to roll out new academic standards and testing in public schools, some of the strongest and most vocal support has come from the state’s colleges and universities.
Now, in the latest measure of faith in the exams, the council of 19 community college presidents announced that they plan to use scores on the new tests for student placement next year. It will be the first time the tests have consequences for students.
“These scores will be a valuable tool for colleges in our work to help high school students avoid remediation and begin study in college-level courses,” the New Jersey Council of County Colleges said in a joint statement Monday.
By embracing the tests — which are designed to measure students’ knowledge of the more rigorous standards — college officials are at odds with many parents who have protested their use in schools and kept their children out of the exams. But higher education officials say the new system will better prepare students for college and prevent many of them from having to take remedial classes.
The tests have also been criticized by teachers and the state teachers union because students’ grades on the exams are considered in evaluating teachers.
The community college presidents also say high school students, school districts and colleges will save money by substituting the tests, known as PARCC, for the Accuplacer, which now determines knowledge in math, reading and writing in preparation for college-level courses. Accuplacer will still be available as an option for those students who don’t take PARCC.
The college presidents said they will compare 11th grade scores on PARCC with those on exams like Accuplacer, SAT and ACT this year to see if they match up in determining who is college-ready. If the scores are as reliable as expected, colleges plan to use the new tests to measure college readiness and determine student class placement in 2016.
Students will not be turned away from community colleges because of low scores but would have to take remedial classes if they don’t do well enough on the test.
But to graduate from high school, students will not need to perform well on the PARCC until 2019. The tests will not be used to keep students who are taking the test — those in Grades 3 to 11 — from advancing to the next grade.
The standards and testing system is better than what is now in place at most schools, said Raymond Yannuzzi, chairman of the New Jersey Community College Presidents. They offer a better program of non-fiction reading, writing across subjects, and math concepts that can help students who enter college or vocational trades, he said.
In 2010, New Jersey adopted the standards, which are designed to be more challenging and to encourage critical thinking. Education officials said the tests will provide more timely and detailed information on students’ academic progress and help disadvantaged students catch up to wealthier peers.
College officials hope that by raising standards, fewer high school seniors and incoming college freshmen will be forced to take classes and “boot camps” to prepare them for college-level work. Those classes cost money and discourage some from starting or completing college.
“Half or slightly more than half of Camden County students — some of them who have been out of high school for a while — need work in reading, writing and math before they take college credit courses,” said Yannuzzi, who is president of Camden County College. “I don’t think it means they’re less capable, but I think they have less exposure to what they need” to succeed.
Yannuzzi and other college officials have been at the forefront of the state’s education reforms, touting their usefulness and helping to craft questions on the new exams. In November, the New Jersey Presidents’ Council, which represents all public and private colleges and universities in the state, voted unanimously to endorse the standards, which are known as the Common Core.
But the tests, required for the first time this year, have created an uproar among parents. Critics say the tests pull too much time and resources away from the classroom, diminish local control of schools and are stressful for students. Some families, particularly in affluent parts of the state, have refused to allow their children to take the test.
Yannuzzi said he understands some of the criticisms, such as the use of the test to evaluate teachers, the difficulty scheduling the tests and the fear that students who are not savvy about technology will have difficulty taking the tests by computer. He believes those concerns will fade as New Jersey phases out other exams and teachers grow more comfortable with testing changes.
Email: adely@northjersey.com
Press of Atlantic City - Community colleges to use PARCC for placement
Posted: Monday, March 23, 2015 5:29 pm
By DIANE D’AMICO, Education Writer
The state’s 19 community colleges will start using results of the new PARCC high school tests for course placement starting as early as 2016, eliminating the need for qualified students to take the Accuplacer test.
The New Jersey Council of County Colleges issued a statement Monday saying they support the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum and aligned PARCC assessments in mathematics, reading and writing.
Raymond Yannuzzi, president of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges, said a goal of the new test has always been to measure college and career readiness and reduce college remediation.
Press of Atlantic City - Flat N.J. School Aid Criticized As Not Fair To All
Posted: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 5:30 am
By DIANE D’AMICO, Education Writer
\Middle Township and Folsom will have fewer choice students next year, but will not lose any state aid.
For the second year, the state budget proposed by Gov. Chris Christie includes a provision that no school district will lose state aid.
On the surface, such flat funding would appear to be a fair solution in tough budgetary times.
But education advocates said instead it is creating growing disparities and distortions, especially in categorical funding for programs such as interdistrict choice and special education.
RELATED ARTICLE
Christie proposes small bump for schools in budget plan
The state provides per-student choice aid to approved districts that accept students from other towns. State aid for the 136 districts in the choice program is budgeted at $52.5 million for next year, about a $3.3 million increase to accommodate new students.
So next year, school districts that add choice students will get more state aid.
But those that lose choice students and aid will get so-called “additional adjustment aid” so their total state aid will not change.
A state Department of Education spokesman provided a statement that said: “In fiscal year 2015 the Governor’s proposed budget included a provision that no district receive less money than the year prior in K-12 aid, and the legislature agreed. For choice districts that lost choice students, this was accomplished through the use of additional adjustment aid. Similarly, for FY16, the Governor has proposed that no district lose K-12 aid, so those choice districts that lost choice enrollment are held to the prior year’s aid level through additional adjustment aid.”
But under the proposed budget, even districts that lost choice students this year, and got adjustment aid to compensate, will get even more state choice aid next year if they replace those students — and their adjustment aid will still not be reduced.
“It’s just crazy,” said Valarie Smith, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Interdistrict Public
School Choice Association. “Then the state blames the program for becoming too
expensive. But it’s not the program’s fault.”
She said they have been working to make the popular choice program sustainable, but if the state continues to give adjustment aid to districts that lose choice students, that also means there is less money for new choice students.
Adjustment aid, included in the state funding formula, was designed to temporarily help districts that had shrinking enrollments and would have lost large amounts of state aid under the new formula. The original school-choice program plan was to reduce adjustment aid by the same
amount a choice district received in choice aid. But that has not been happening.
Instead, some districts will get both types of aid.
In 2013-14 Cumberland Regional High School was budgeted for more than $874,000 in state choice aid. In 2014-15 that amount dropped to $732,592, and the district got $166,000 in so-called “additional adjustment aid” to keep its total state aid flat.
The school’s proposed 2015-16 state budget includes $862,568 in choice aid. But the district will still get the $166,000 in additional adjustment aid for a net gain of almost $130,000.
The choice program has been especially good to Cape May County’s nine participating school districts, which got almost $7 million more in state aid this year while having about 350 fewer students in their schools than in 2010-11. Almost $5.4 million of that aid was for choice students, many of whom came from other districts within the county.
Smith said she plans to testify at budget hearings about the situation. She said she understands the state’s desire to hold districts’ harmless, but that is not what is really happening if some benefit more than others.
“Flat is an illusion,” she said. “If they are gaining students, what is the rationale for not reducing the adjustment aid? It’s unfair to taxpayers who are in effect double-funding students.”
Districts that have gained or lost overall enrollment or special education enrollment are
also being affected by flat state funding. Special education funding is a particular concern because of the extra costs to provide services to students with disabilities.
Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, said the disparities have grown over the last three years while aid has not.
“Enrollments change, and now some districts are getting money for students who are not there, and others are not getting money for additional students,” she said. “Everything gets exaggerated when they do flat funding. The more time goes by, the more extreme it gets.”
She said districts have never been happy with the method used to calculate special-education funding, and flat funding has made the situation worse.
She said since the cap on property taxes also limits what districts can raise locally, the result is that money for special-education services cuts into regular programs.
“They don’t have to give out more money,” she said of state officials. “They could just shift the money around [e.g., for special education students, within the special education funding allotment].”
Contact Diane D’Amico:
609-272-7241
@ACPressDamico on Twitter
Star Ledger - Groundbreaking changes to N.J. high school sports recommended by special committee
ATLANTIC CITY — A special public/non-public committee convened in October by the state’s governing body for high school athletics is on the verge of recommending two major changes that could shake up the New Jersey high school sports landscape like never before.
PLUS: Debate rages about proposed changes at ADs' convention
The biggest moves that will be presented to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Advisory Committee on April 1 include:
- A complete statewide separation of public and non-public schools for the sport of football only, which would move all non-public schools into their own statewide conference with three or four tiered divisions.
- Strengthening the statewide transfer rule to include a mandatory 30-day sitting out period and state tournament ban for all varsity athletes who transfer schools, except those who move from a public, closed enrollment school to another public, closed enrollment school with a bona fide change of address. No appeals will be available under the new format. Also, there will be no waiting period for participation for sub-varsity athletes.
The recommendations were presented for the first time Tuesday afternoon by West Windsor-Plainsboro North High principal and committee co-chair Mike Zapicchi at the annual Directors of Athletics Association of New Jersey conference at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. The proposals will be discussed further April 1 by the NJSIAA’s Advisory Committee in Robbinsville before moving through different channels on the way to potential implementation.
The transfer rule changes could go into effect as early as next school year, while the football changes would likely be implemented as early as the 2016 season.
If public schools and non-public schools separate for football, it would mark one of the most significant changes ever in New Jersey high school sports, coaches and athletic directors say. The issue of public and non-public schools playing each other has long been one of the most hotly debated topics in the state — and even nationally. Some coaches and athletic directors from public schools with defined geographic bordershave argued they should not be forced to play non-public schools that can draw students from all over.
The issue came to a head last week when the Big North Conference voted to provide relief to four public schools — Pascack Valley, Passaic Tech, Old Tappan andWayne Hills — that had recently been playing non-public powers. Big North non-public schools affected by the vote have retained counsel and are appealing the decision, according to St. Joseph of Montvale athletic director Tony Karcich.
NJSIAA Executive Director Steve Timko convened the 20-member public/non-public committee last fall to examine serious issues plaguing the state’s high school sports landscape such as the public/non-public divide. The committee also was tasked with looking into issues with recruiting, transfers, choice schools and bona fide change of residences.
The committee is expected to produce even more recommendations in the coming months.
The problems affecting New Jersey high school sports are persistent, athletic directors say. In football, some North Jersey and Hudson County public schools have threatened to boycott games they have been scheduled to play against non-public powerhouses such as Don Bosco Prep, St. Peter’s Prep, Paramus Catholic and others. In basketball, legendary St. Anthony High boys coach Bob Hurley has described a “free agent” system where players jump from school to school in search of the right fit — a trend that now encompasses football and other sports. Also, the relentless recruiting of eighth graders also has gotten out of hand, coaches say.
Zapicchi and the committee believe the recommendations will help solve many of the issues.
The football proposal now will be discussed April 1 and then likely recommended to the NJSIAA Executive Committee in May. If approved there -- as expected -- the proposal will be discussed at section meetings across the state over the summer and finally voted on by the general membership at the NJSIAA’s annual business meeting in December.
The football proposal would need a majority vote to pass.
In 2007, however, a move to separate public and private schools fell eight votes short of passing by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s membership, and a second vote to split public and non-public schools only in football also fell, 209-155.
Meanwhile, the transfer rule proposal will be reviewed by the Advisory Committee and then is expected to seek approval through the Executive Committee in time for the 2015-16 school year.
Timko convened a similar public/non-public committee seven years ago to examine problems affecting high school sports. As a result, the committee suggested changing the NJSIAA transfer rule to a one-year sit out for transfers without a bona fide change of residence — a rule that was changed back to a 30-day sit two years later. The previous committee also suggested the hiring of a private investigator to examine significant cases — another move that came and went quickly.
Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre.
NJ Spotlight - Fine Print: New Charter School Study Praises NJ Gains, Draws NJ Fire
JOHN MOONEY | MARCH 25, 2015
Stanford researchers find significant gains for New Jersey urban charters over district schools
What it is: The latest study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) found in a study of 41 urban districts that charter schools in Newark had significantly outperformed the district schools at high levels. The study is the second by CREDO that has delivered findings about Newark; the previous one in 2012 said Newark had the widest gaps in the country.
What it means: The CREDO study has proven to be a bone of contention in itself. The Christie administration used the first one to demonstrate the need for charter expansion, while critics cited it for sloppy research.. This one is likely to be no different, but what’s notable is that the state Department of Education hasn’t even promoted it this time.
RELATED LINKS
The fundamental findings: The study looked at charters in 41 urban districts and how they perform. Newark is the only New Jersey district included, and the findings are striking. For instance, the report said, 77 percent of Newark charter schools outperformed traditional public schools in math, and 69% of charters outperformed the district in language arts. “All of the charter schools in the study either outperformed or showed no statistical difference when compared to traditional schools,” the report read.
The quote: “The results of this year’s CREDO report are proof of the effectiveness and promise of charter public school education,” said Michael Turner, a spokesman for the New Jersey Charter Schools Association. “While not perfect, and no method is, the report shows that charter public schools are changing lives and continue to show achievement in spite of substantial restrictions -- both economically and politically.”
The opposing view: CREDO’s research methods, not to mention the conclusions, have been the biggest point of contention among critics. The argument is that the CREDO studies do not compare school against school with comparable student demographics, skewing in favor of the charters that critics contend have fewer students in extreme poverty or with special needs.
The quote: “Charters undersubscribe the poorest students and oversubscribe the less poor, but CREDO treats those kids as matched anyway,” wrote Bruce Baker, a Rutgers University professor who has been among the most prolific critics. “Charters undersubscribe high-need special-education kids and oversubscribe mild learning disabilities, but CREDO treats those kids as matched. This creates a severe bias in favor of charters in Newark and in many other cities with similar sorting patterns and high average-poverty rates,” he said.
Department silence: The release of the 2012 report drew considerable public attention from the Christie administration and then-Commissioner Chris Cerf, citing it as proof of charter school success in the state. With charter schools becoming an ever more contentious topic since then, there was no such announcement this time.
Philadelphia Inquirer -Christie losing enthusiasm for charter schools in N.J.?
JOHN MOONEY, NJ SPOTLIGHT
POSTED: Wednesday, March 25, 2015, 11:59 PM
When the Christie administration approved just one new charter-school application last week, there arose questions as to whether it was backing off from its previous enthusiastic support for the growth of the charter movement in the state.
A separate move to place seven other charters on probation and close two existing schools reinforced that notion.
But the picture has turned more complex with the state's announcement Friday that it will approve expansions of four charter schools, including a controversial Hebrew-language school in East Brunswick.
Also Monday, the state Department of Education announced it had rejected an appeal in a contentious case involving opposition to the renewal and expansion of a charter school in Hoboken, the HoLa Dual Language Charter School.
The cases, pieced together, represent a complex picture of how the state's charter movement is shaping up in Gov. Christie's second term. After the rush of approvals for new charters in the first term, far fewer are being approved in the second.
In announcing the four approvals last week, the administration said each school had proved its ability to provide quality education while meeting fiscal and operational requirements. The administration also turned down five applications for expansion.
Democratic legislators have started to ask questions about the administration's apparent shift over the last couple of years, as the Legislature grapples with how to bolster charter-school oversight.
Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D., Essex), cochair of the Joint Committee for the Public Schools, said at a Friday conference that it was time for a moratorium, both on new charters and on expansion of existing charter schools.
"I think we need a timeout to look at our experience in New Jersey over the past 20 years to what has worked and hasn't worked," Jasey told the legislative conference of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association.
"I think a moratorium on seats would be a better idea than on [overall] approvals," she said. "Right now, you have the ability for existing schools to add seats without applying for an additional charter."
The odds are long for any new controls via the Legislature, where virtually any changes to the state's two-decade-old charter-school law have hit roadblocks.
Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D., Middlesex), the Assembly's education chair and sponsor of a major charter-revision bill, said Friday that he did not expect passage of any revisions any time soon because of fundamental differences over whether local voters should have the final say.
Such a provision, which was in his bill, has been a nonstarter with other legislators, charter advocates, and the Christie administration itself.
"It's hard to get consensus on charter-school legislation, I'll be honest with you, especially concerning public input," Diegnan said.
When asked if any legislation would pass, Diegnan replied: "I maybe shouldn't say this out loud, but I don't think we'll have consensus on this until we have a different governor."
Among the four expansions approved last week, the expansion of the Hatikvah Charter School in East Brunswick was among the most contested.
The school last year was turned down by the state in its bid to add grades and students. But the Christie administration gave the elementary school at least half a victory this time, agreeing to let the school add middle-school grades for existing students as they get older but turning down a request to increase enrollment.
The approval would allow the addition of 150 students over three years in seventh and eighth grades, a significant jump from the current 300 students in kindergarten through fifth grade at the school.
The expansion application of HoLa in Hoboken actually was submitted last year, and initially was approved by the Education Department. But the public school district appealed, leading to the decision released Monday. It can be appealed to the state Appellate Court.
The district argued that HoLa was leading to racial segregation within the school community as a whole, noting its predominantly white enrollment compared with a district enrollment that is predominantly black and Hispanic.
Education Commissioner David Hespe ruled that he found no such impact, noting that HoLa's enrollment has reflected a growth in the white population in Hoboken overall.
"Compared to Hoboken district schools, the demographic composition of HoLa's student population appears to better reflect Hoboken's population," Hespe wrote.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20150325_Christie_losing_enthusiasm_for_charter_schools_in_N_J__.html#Dh
Press of Atlantic City - Flat N.J. School Aid Criticized As Not Fair To All
Posted: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 5:30 am
By DIANE D’AMICO, Education Writer
\Middle Township and Folsom will have fewer choice students next year, but will not lose any state aid.
For the second year, the state budget proposed by Gov. Chris Christie includes a provision that no school district will lose state aid.
On the surface, such flat funding would appear to be a fair solution in tough budgetary times.
But education advocates said instead it is creating growing disparities and distortions, especially in categorical funding for programs such as interdistrict choice and special education.
RELATED ARTICLE
Christie proposes small bump for schools in budget plan
The state provides per-student choice aid to approved districts that accept students from other towns. State aid for the 136 districts in the choice program is budgeted at $52.5 million for next year, about a $3.3 million increase to accommodate new students.
So next year, school districts that add choice students will get more state aid.
But those that lose choice students and aid will get so-called “additional adjustment aid” so their total state aid will not change.
A state Department of Education spokesman provided a statement that said: “In fiscal year 2015 the Governor’s proposed budget included a provision that no district receive less money than the year prior in K-12 aid, and the legislature agreed. For choice districts that lost choice students, this was accomplished through the use of additional adjustment aid. Similarly, for FY16, the Governor has proposed that no district lose K-12 aid, so those choice districts that lost choice enrollment are held to the prior year’s aid level through additional adjustment aid.”
But under the proposed budget, even districts that lost choice students this year, and got adjustment aid to compensate, will get even more state choice aid next year if they replace those students — and their adjustment aid will still not be reduced.
“It’s just crazy,” said Valarie Smith, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Interdistrict Public
School Choice Association. “Then the state blames the program for becoming too
expensive. But it’s not the program’s fault.”
She said they have been working to make the popular choice program sustainable, but if the state continues to give adjustment aid to districts that lose choice students, that also means there is less money for new choice students.
Adjustment aid, included in the state funding formula, was designed to temporarily help districts that had shrinking enrollments and would have lost large amounts of state aid under the new formula. The original school-choice program plan was to reduce adjustment aid by the same
amount a choice district received in choice aid. But that has not been happening.
Instead, some districts will get both types of aid.
In 2013-14 Cumberland Regional High School was budgeted for more than $874,000 in state choice aid. In 2014-15 that amount dropped to $732,592, and the district got $166,000 in so-called “additional adjustment aid” to keep its total state aid flat.
The school’s proposed 2015-16 state budget includes $862,568 in choice aid. But the district will still get the $166,000 in additional adjustment aid for a net gain of almost $130,000.
The choice program has been especially good to Cape May County’s nine participating school districts, which got almost $7 million more in state aid this year while having about 350 fewer students in their schools than in 2010-11. Almost $5.4 million of that aid was for choice students, many of whom came from other districts within the county.
Smith said she plans to testify at budget hearings about the situation. She said she understands the state’s desire to hold districts’ harmless, but that is not what is really happening if some benefit more than others.
“Flat is an illusion,” she said. “If they are gaining students, what is the rationale for not reducing the adjustment aid? It’s unfair to taxpayers who are in effect double-funding students.”
Districts that have gained or lost overall enrollment or special education enrollment are
also being affected by flat state funding. Special education funding is a particular concern because of the extra costs to provide services to students with disabilities.
Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, said the disparities have grown over the last three years while aid has not.
“Enrollments change, and now some districts are getting money for students who are not there, and others are not getting money for additional students,” she said. “Everything gets exaggerated when they do flat funding. The more time goes by, the more extreme it gets.”
She said districts have never been happy with the method used to calculate special-education funding, and flat funding has made the situation worse.
She said since the cap on property taxes also limits what districts can raise locally, the result is that money for special-education services cuts into regular programs.
“They don’t have to give out more money,” she said of state officials. “They could just shift the money around [e.g., for special education students, within the special education funding allotment – clarification added, GSCS].”
Contact Diane D’Amico:
609-272-7241 DDamico@pressofac.com @ACPressDamico on Twitter
Star Ledger - N.J. school district hoping to keep students in July, August for reading instruction
By Jason Laday | South Jersey Times
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on March 24, 2015 at 6:30 PM, updated March 24, 2015 at 9:26 PM
WOODBURY -- The Woodbury school district is attempting to combat what it calls the "summer slide," or students forgetting what they had learned over the past year after three months of vacation, by starting new reading classes for first- through third-graders.
Scheduled to begin on July 6 and run through Aug. 27, the district's Summer Safari Reading Camp will be open to all students enrolled in first, second and third grade during the current academic year. While participation is optional, district officials said they are hoping to convince students and their parents to sign up for the program, the first of its kind in Gloucester County, by April 20.
"Children at this young age are so malleable," said Jason Vivadelli, principal at Evergreen Elementary School, superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the district, and creator of the Summer Safari Reading Camp. "If Woodbury could set the expectation for students in first through third grades that instruction in reading doesn't take a summer break, and they just continue to come to school in July and August, think about how much further along those students will be come September."
"Persistent achievement gaps will begin to close," he later added. "Advanced students will be appropriately challenged and struggling readers will find the needed support to maintain the growth achieved during the school year. If Woodbury's Summer Safari Reading Camp is successful, overall student achievement -- not just literacy achievement -- will likely improve."
According to the city school district, national trends suggest that students returning from summer vacation perform, on average, "one to two" months behind where they had been the previous June. This can lead to achievement gaps among students, officials said.
A summer program focused on continued reading instruction is the answer, according to the district, as the skills retained in such classes would be beneficial for young children throughout future school years.
"By enabling students to attend school year-round, it will reduce the amount of re-teaching necessary in the fall and will increase educational efficiency," read a statement from the district announcing the program this week.
The Summer Safari Reading Camp will see students gathering at West End Memorial School for one of two sessions each day Monday through Thursday -- either 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., or 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Both sessions include free transportation from each of the district's elementary schools, as well as area childcare centers, to West End. Students in the program will not be split up by grade, but by reading level, according to officials.
"With limited fiscal resources available, it seemed most prudent to focus exclusively on reading and the primary grades," said Vivadelli. "Our own internal data reveals that age group demonstrates the most growth in reading. By devoting those fiscal resources to primary students, the district would get the most bang for the buck."
The district will also be providing free lunch to students throughout July and August. Free lunches are available to all district students up to age 18, and not just those enrolled in the Summer Safari Reading Camp.
The district, through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has provided free summer lunches to students in previous years, but only in July. This year, officials have decided to expand the lunch program into August to accommodate the new summer reading program.
Jason Laday may be reached at jladay@southjerseymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonLaday. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
