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(GSCS Note: The PARCC test is one of several options that may be used as a graduation requirement.)
NJ Spotlight - PARCC Graduation Requirement Is Illegal, Argue Education Advocates…According to some estimates, almost 55,000 seniors failed or sat out PARCC, jeopardizing their chance to graduate with class of 2016 ‘Pressure is mounting from around New Jersey for the state Department of Education to reverse its decision to use a controversial national test as a graduation requirement for the class of 2016, in part due to contentions that using the PARCC tests is illegal…’
Star Ledger - Lawmakers might help N.J. students scrambling to graduate ‘High school seniors who have yet to meet New Jersey's graduation requirement for standardized testing might get a new path to graduation. And it wouldn't involve taking more exams. After hearing testimony Tuesday about students scrambling to graduate because of changes to the state requirement, members of the Legislature's Joint Committee on the Public Schools said they will consider intervening…’
Star Ledger: Test water at every school for lead, N.J. lawmakers say ‘Citing a potential public health crisis after elevated lead levels were detected in the water at New Jersey's largest school district, state lawmakers are calling for immediate tests of the drinking water in every school across the state…"When 30 school buildings in Newark alone are found to have elevated levels of lead in the school's drinking water, it is time to acknowledge that we have a potential public health crisis," the lawmakers wrote. "These are steps that must be taken now to ensure that our school children and protected from lead poisoning…"
NJ Spotlight - PARCC Graduation Requirement Is Illegal, Argue Education Advocates
According to some estimates, almost 55,000 seniors failed or sat out PARCC, jeopardizing their chance to graduate with class of 2016
Pressure is mounting from around New Jersey for the state Department of Education to reverse its decision to use a controversial national test as a graduation requirement for the class of 2016, in part due to contentions that using the PARCC tests is illegal.
Stan Karp, director of the Secondary Reform Project of the Newark-based Education Law Center, called on lawmakers to take some action to pressure the DOE to allow this year's senior class to graduate without having to pass a standardized test. Nearly 55,000 of the 95,000 12th graders are affected because they either did not take or did not pass the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers language arts test that they took as juniors, he told the Joint Committee on the Public Schools at a hearing in Trenton on Tuesday. He termed the department's decision to make passing PARCC a graduation requirement both "illegal and unfair."
Colleen O'Dea | March 16, 2016
Star Ledger: Lawmakers might help N.J. students scrambling to graduate
TRENTON — High school seniors who have yet to meet New Jersey's graduation requirement for standardized testing might get a new path to graduation. And it wouldn't involve taking more exams.
After hearing testimony Tuesday about students scrambling to graduate because of changes to the state requirement, members of the Legislature's Joint Committee on the Public Schools said they will consider intervening.
Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| March 15, 2016 at 4:21 PM, updated March 15, 2016 at 4:22 PM
Star Ledger: Test water at every school for lead, N.J. lawmakers say
TRENTON — Citing a potential public health crisis after elevated lead levels were detected in the water at New Jersey's largest school district, state lawmakers are calling for immediate tests of the drinking water in every school across the state.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and two other lawmakers on Tuesday wrote to Education Commissioner David Hespe asking him not to wait for legislation that would require the testing. If tests would reveal dangerous levels of contamination, parents must be notified, wrote Sweeney, Sen. Ron Rice (D-Essex) and Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex).
"When 30 school buildings in Newark alone are found to have elevated levels of lead in the school's drinking water, it is time to acknowledge that we have a potential public health crisis," the lawmakers wrote. "These are steps that must be taken now to ensure that our school children and protected from lead poisoning."
Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com |on March 15, 2016 at 5:41 PM,
updated March 15, 2016 at 8:08 PM
