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NJ Spotlight - NJ Given Chance to Move Beyond No Child Left Behind…Obama administration grants waiver for state to try its own schools plan
The Record - N.J. gains waiver from federal No Child Left Behind law
Asbury Park Press-Associated Press - A look at what federal waiver could mean in NJ
NJ Spotlight - NJ Given Chance to Move Beyond No Child Left Behind…Obama administration grants waiver for state to try its own schools plan
By John Mooney, February 10, 2012 in Education|Post a Comment
With the Obama administration yesterday waiving New Jersey from No Child Left Behind, the state was in effect given the green light for its own plan for how public schools will be monitored, assisted, and in the case of those that don’t improve, overhauled and potentially shut down.
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New Jersey was one of 10 states to receive waiver from the decade-old No Child Left Behind Act and its stress on standardized testing for students and punitive labels for schools.
The state's 392-page long application, with appendices, is heavy on details to how it will steer New Jersey’s public schools in a new direction of state oversight. Test scores will still be the main determinate in New Jersey, but will be used in different ways. And there will still be plenty of consequences for those that fall short.
Here are some of the highlights of what will change and when:
New Rules -- and Labels -- for Schools
Under No Child Left Behind, all New Jersey schools were determined to have made or not made “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) targets among every subset of children. If they did not -- and last year about half of all schools did not -- the schools faced a range of sanctions as more years passed.
Under the new system, New Jersey schools will now be divided into five categories, each with their own consequences:
· Priority Schools: The 5 percent lowest-performing schools in overall achievement, give or take some leeway for those showing progress. In addition, high schools with lower than 75 percent graduation rates will be included. In a preliminary analysis by the state, 74 schools in all were identified as Priority Schools based on last year’s scores, a vast majority in urban and historically low-scoring school systems. Those schools will face immediate demands to make improvements, with the state working with them to determine best strategies.
· Focus Schools: The next 10 percent of schools with the widest gaps in achievement between different subsets of students. The same analysis determined another 179 in that group, bringing in a broader array of districts, including those from suburban communities such as East Brunswick, Collingswood and Midland Park. Those schools will see more targeted attention from the state, focusing required changes around specific areas where the gaps exist, such as special education or limited-English programs.
· At Risk Schools: Another 5 percent of schools that are on the cusp of being Focus or Priority schools, where they failed to meet progress targets for two consecutive years. The state has yet to determine which schools might fall into this category, officials said.
· Reward Schools: The schools in the top 10 percent of achievement overall or having the narrowest achievement gaps. Those schools could receive financial rewards if eligible for federal Title I aid, or other less financial accolades from the state. By the state’s preliminary count, 133 schools would be Reward Schools based on the latest scores.
For Everyone Else?
For the majority of schools in New Jersey that do not fall in those categories, there will be less attention from the state in terms of direct and even indirect interventions.
Under No Child Left Behind, even schools that missed the AYP targets for more than two years faced some level of consequence, typically starting with a requirement to offer students the right to transfer or attend outside after-school tutoring programs. The transfers were not much used anyway, but the tutoring programs, called Supplemental Education Services, will all but disappear in New Jersey under the new rules, except where specifically ordered by the state.
Still, all schools will be held to achievement targets for each group of students, similar to the AYP targets but now different for each school and each group depending on how far they have to go. Instead of the previous target under NCLB of all students reading and doing math at grade level by 2014, schools under the new rules will be compelled to meet varying targets each year -- now called “annual measurable objectives” (AMOs) -- that reduce the number of students not proficient by at least 50 percent by 2016.
Starting next year, the state also will provide a vastly different report card for every school, renamed the School Scorecard, that will publicly report this progress. The reports will directly compare schools’ test scores against their socio-economic peers, call them out where the achievement gaps are wide or narrow, and in general provide analysis along with the numbers. The state has yet to release this year’s final version of the 17-year-old School Report Card, a little later than usual due to a new computation of graduation rates, officials said.
Different and Quicker Interventions
While the No Child Left Behind provided some flexibility for the state to move on its lowest performing school, including replacing staff or leadership, the new accountability rules will apply a specific template for addressing Priority and Focus Schools. And the state will be permitted to move quickly, not needing to wait multiple years before taking action.
The interventions and support will come out of seven new Regional Achievement Centers, which officials said are beginning to be staffed and will be ready by next fall. The eight areas where the state could step in are the following, according to the application:
· School Climate and Culture: Requiring training or staffing to address specific concerns of violence, discipline, or other problems in school climate.
· School Leadership: Potential dismissal of school principals and state approval of their replacements.
· Standards Aligned Curriculum, Assessment and Intervention System: Imposition of state model curriculum, where necessary, and targeted assessments and other intervention programs for students two grade levels behind.
· Instruction: Require all teachers and administrators consent to their placement at the school, and prohibit the assignment of any teachers who receive sub-standard evaluations.
· Use of Time: Additional days or hours for either or both classroom instruction for students or professional development for teachers, including training in how to use that additional time.
· Use of Data: Required staffing or training on the use of student assessment data in adjusting and changing instruction.
· Staffing Practices: Required training for principals and administrators in evaluating and observing teachers, including the use of outside “master teachers” to assist in professional development.
· Family and Community Engagement: Increasing academically focused family and community engagement.
The actions in each of these could vary widely, with state officials saying they will work with the districts to develop programs that met individual schools. But where the schools do not improve or take the requested actions, the state could take action on its own, including directing how funds or used, withholding certain funds or closing the schools outright.
The Record - N.J. gains waiver from federal No Child Left Behind law
Thursday, February 9, 2012 Last Updated: Friday February 10, 2012, 12:13 Am By Leslie Brody Staff Writer
President Obama freed New Jersey and nine other states from key parts of the much-maligned No Child Left Behind law on Thursday, opening the door for major changes in how local schools are judged.
Essentially, the waiver means that New Jersey schools will no longer be subject to a national measure that labels them as failing even when only a small set of students misses academic targets. Instead, they will be evaluated by a new state-imposed system that aims to intervene aggressively in the most troubled schools and give more autonomy to the rest.
Here's the link to New Jersey's application for the No Child Left Behind waiver
High-achieving schools in North Jersey have long bristled at being unfairly tarnished as “failing” even when only a fraction of students – often those with special needs – missed their testing goals. Now these schools, including ones in Fort Lee and Glen Rock, will be spared that stigma.
“This is a transformational moment in New Jersey,” said Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf. “We have developed a new and considerably more effective and meaningful accountability system that preserves the best features of No Child Left Behind but corrects its deficiencies.”
No Child Left Behind, signed by President Bush in 2002, requires schools to test students annually in Grades 3 to 8, and once again in high school, and to raise their performance over time. Schools that did not meet benchmarks faced increasingly stiff penalties, from having to provide tutoring to undergoing a complete restructuring.
While many educators said the law’s testing requirements put an important spotlight on lagging achievement by the poor, disabled and minorities, critics said it narrowed the curriculum and led states to water down standards so that it looked like more children were passing.
The law required all children to be proficient in math and reading by 2014, a goal widely seen as unrealistic. Almost all schools would be deemed “failing” within several years.
“My administration is giving states the opportunity to set higher, more honest standards in exchange for more flexibility,” Obama said Thursday.
Under New Jersey’s plan, schools will be measured partly by how much individual students grow from year to year, rather than only on pass-fail rates. Cerf said the plan creates a much more nuanced, useful way of identifying schools’ strengths and flaws. The state will zero in on trying to fix the bottom 15 percent, he said.
The plan also promises to give parents richer report cards on their schools, with more precise data on absenteeism, academic growth, graduation rates and comparisons to schools with similar demographics, rather than to other districts.
Several North Jersey school leaders welcomed the new blueprint. Teaneck superintendent Barbara Pinsak applauded the focus on student growth, rather than absolute scores, and on teacher training. The plan is “like mom and apple pie,” she said. “The plan is one thing, but implementation has to be good.”
But Stan Karp of the Education Law Center, which advocates for poor children, blasted the plan as a repeat of the “failed test-and-punish approach to reform.”
“A decade of NCLB has shown this approach to the use of testing is bad for curriculum, bad for classrooms and does not close achievement gaps,” he said. “Tests have become part of the problem … but this means more tests.”
The state’s new system creates three special tiers — called “priority,” “focus” and “reward” — for schools on the lowest- and highest-achieving rungs. Most schools would not fall into any of those categories but would still be given targets for growth and be required to hold public meetings to discuss progress.
Here's a list of New Jersey schools and their priority
The state’s first preliminary breakdown identified 74 “priority” schools, including six in Paterson. Those schools could face the most dramatic steps, such as replacing the principal, dismissing ineffective staff or lengthening school days. In the most extreme cases, the state could close schools or withhold money.
Some critics have balked at the prospect of solutions imposed from Trenton and questioned the state’s ability to improve troubled schools, considering the continued failures in state-operated districts, including Paterson.
The preliminary plan also names 179 “focus” schools, which face major challenges and large achievement gaps among some groups of students. There are seven such schools in Bergen County — one each in Bogota, Cliffside Park, Hackensack, Hillsdale, New Milford, Paramus and Rochelle Park. In Passaic County, there are 16 “focus” schools in Paterson, eight in Passaic and one each in Wayne and Clifton. State officials say they will be developing turnaround plans for them in collaboration with the districts.
Passaic Superintendent Robert Holster was skeptical of the new approach. He predicted another layer of red tape from bureaucrats who don’t grasp the problems of an overcrowded district that lacks the basics of decent classrooms and electricity. “If we hook up our technology and put on a toaster, the room goes dark,” Holster said.
The new categories turned up some surprises. In Paramus, East Brook Middle School, which has good test scores overall, was dubbed a “focus” school. Principal Kevin Brentnall said the school had a particularly wide gap between subgroups because its Asian students were so advanced. To be called a focus school “was quite shocking,” he said, but state officials told him not to worry because the list might change.
On the other end of the spectrum, 138 “reward” schools would win public kudos – and sometimes financial bonuses - for great results; there are 34 schools in Bergen and two in Passaic. The list includes Waldwick’s Julia A. Traphagen School, which had been labeled failing last fall under No Child Left Behind.
Waldwick Superintendent Patricia Raupers embraced the new emphasis on student growth, but worried about a whole new accountability system coming at the same time that schools were adjusting to other major shifts, including new teacher evaluations, new national standards for what students must learn at each grade level, new tests and new graduation requirements.
“So many pieces of the puzzle are changing at the same time, it’s causing a sense of anxiety among teachers and administrators,” she said.
New Jersey Education Association spokeswoman Dawn Hiltner said the union was pleased to see efforts to intervene in individual schools rather than whole districts, and urged the state to listen to input from parents and teachers.
She expressed concern, however, that the state was still focusing too heavily on standardized test scores in teacher evaluations.
Education experts nationwide weighed in on Thursday’s announcement, with some applauding more state control and others arguing that it weakened oversight too much. Some argued Obama overstepped his authority, while the president said he could wait no longer for a gridlocked Congress to rewrite the law.
The other nine states to receive the waivers are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Email: brody@northjersey.com
Asbury Park Press-Associated Press - A look at what federal waiver could mean in NJ
2:32 PM, Feb. 9, 2012 |
By The Associated Press
The federal government announced Thursday that New Jersey and 10 other states are receiving exemptions from the federal No Child Left Behind education law. The states have proposed other changes designed to improve their schools. Several of the measures are already happening or were being planned before the state applied for the waiver.
Here's a look at highlights of New Jersey's plans:
WHAT'S TAUGHT: The state has already joined the Common Core State Standards Initiative, an effort to standardize what states want their students to be taught. The state is rolling out an optional model curriculum for how to teach the material beginning in the 2012-13 school year.
SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY: Schools will receive ratings on how well their students do on standardized tests detailing progress among all students and subgroups such as racial groups, special education students, English-language learners and low-income students.
STATE HELP: The state plans added interventions for the lowest-performing 15 percent of schools.
STATE REWARDS: The state plans to offer financial rewards for the highest-performing schools, which would be asked to share their methods with other schools.
TEACHER EVALUATIONS: The state is already testing changes to its teacher evaluation system so educators would be rated based on how much their students learn along with traditional factors such as in-class observations by principals. The new system is planned to be put in place statewide for 2013-14.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
