NJ Spotlight--NJ School Districts Craft Progressive Policies on Transgender Rights
Advocates say schools have made a good first step, but much more needs to be done when it comes to gender-identity issues
Transgender students use of bathrooms and locker rooms has become an increasingly prominent issue, with a number of school districts adopting policies that make it clear that students may use facilities corresponding to their gender identity. Yet even in New Jersey, one of the most progressive states on this matter, assurances that districts will abide by state anti-discrimination statutes sometimes come only after community battles and criticism from conservative organizations.
Meir Rinde | April 25, 2016
NJSpotlight--Administration Poring Over Pearson Contract to Assess PARCC Damages
Just determining what contract says about outages will be a chore; the agreement’s documents are nearly 1,000 pages long
Last week state Education Commissioner David Hespe said he would hold Pearson accountable for the one-day crash of New Jersey’s PARCC testing. This week the Christie administration is going through the testing vendor’s voluminous contract with the state to see what that accountability will mean.
That contract contains extensive language for “damages” incurred by the vendor if the deliverable (the online PARCC exam) is not provided on time or as agreed upon.
John Mooney | April 25, 2016
Star Ledger--Pearson owes us for PARCC problems | Editorial
This test is more accurate than its predecessor, NJASK. National standards for achievement are meaningless without a test to measure them.
State officials haven't yet said whether Pearson, the company hired to administer the online PARCC exam, will refund us for the lost testing day last week.
But it should. The problems were caused by one of its employees, who tried to tweak the system the night before the test. It caused a technical meltdown, and as a result, the test had to be postponed until Thursday. Substitutes hired to cover classes during the testing on Wednesday ended up being paid for nothing. Districts say they are going to take a financial hit.
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on April 25, 2016 at 6:30 AM, updated April 25, 2016 at 6:33 AM