Route 40 (via NJ Spotlight)-- Shrinking School Districts in NJ a Sign of Millennial Shift?
Out-migration and a move toward urban areas account for changing enrollment numbers in many New Jersey school districts
More than half of New Jersey’s school districts have shrunk in the last six years, mirroring wider population moves toward urban areas — and also reflecting net migration from the state. School districts are contracting at a fast clip in the northwest of the state, as well as in southern shore communities such as Avalon, Margate and Ventnor.
Route 40 | August 1, 2017
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Star Ledger--Jersey's public schools ranked near the top in the nation
New Jersey's public schools have been ranked second-best in the nation, based on a study by WalletHub that looked at criteria including test scores, student-teacher ratios and graduate rates.
Only Massachusetts, with an overall total score of 78.16, was ahead of the Garden State, whose schools earned a score of 66.92 on WalletHub's ranking.
Elsewhere in the region, Delaware was found to have the 12th-best public school system among the states, Pennsylvania the 16th-best with New York roughly in the middle of the pack, at 26.
The website asked a panel of academics who specialize in education to assess the states' elementary and high schools based on factors including the graduation rate among low-income students; median performance on standardized tests including the ACT, SATs and AP exams; and the percentage of students injured or threatened while in school -- part of a broad category the survey lists
Paul Milo| Updated on July 31, 2017 at 7:23 PM Posted on July 31, 2017 at 6:51 PM
The Atlantic--The Field Where Men Still Call the Shots
The lack of female coaches in youth sports can make lasting impressions on boys and girls.
For teenagers aspiring to make it onto a high-school sports team, the summer-vacation days of sleeping in are drawing to a close. By mid-August, many hopeful athletes will be exerting themselves before a cadre of school coaches, striving to demonstrate their fitness or conceal their summer sloth. Younger kids, too, soon will be back on the playing fields—if they ever left—and will begin training for their miniature versions of various varsity sports.
Linda Flanagan| July 28, 2017
Education Week--In Response to Federal Feedback, N.J. Seeks Testing Waiver From ESSA
New Jersey has asked U.S. Secretary Betsy DeVos for a waiver from the way the Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to test its middle school students, joining Florida and Kentucky in their intention to ask for waivers under the new federal K-12 law.
The Garden State wants to test its middle school students in the mathematics course in which they are enrolled, rather than with the state tests created for each student's grade. This allows, for example, a state to recognize 8th grade students' actual algebra scores rather than the state's 8th grade standardized math exam. The state, which has been wracked by a cantankerous opt-out movement, said in its waiver request, that it wants to encourage students to take advanced courses and avoid double testing students who chose to do so.
New Jersey posted its waiver request on its website July 25, weeks after receiving feedback on its plan from the federal government. It has given the public until Aug. 11 to give the department comments on the request.
Daarel Burnette II on July 31, 2017 4:52 PM