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Gloucester County Times 'State OKs Newfield's break with Buena district' "...The borough said school districts in Franklin can provide similar or greater educational opportunities for its students at a lower cost..."Education-wise, it will better with Franklin and Delsea, (and) the facilities, busing and other aspects," said Paladino...Newfield, a non-operating school district, currently pays tuition to the Buena Regional School District and transportation costs to bus some 200 students to Buena's schools in Atlantic County."
Press of Atlantic City: Compared with world, New Jersey 8th-graders average in math "New Jersey students perform better in math than Russian students, but not nearly as well as those in Singapore....The news is pretty good for New Jersey, which earned a B for its fourth-grade results and a C-plus for eighth grade and scored above the U.S. averages.
The United States as a whole earned a C-plus in the fourth-grade listing and a C in the eighth-grade ranking.
Nationally, only six states, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kansas and Vermont earned a B in fourth-grade math. Only Massachusetts got a B in eighth-grade math.....Lucille Davy and Gov. Jon S. Corzine. The state is a member of the American Diploma Project and recently joined an effort to create a set of national education standards.
The state Board of Education is scheduled to vote today on new high school graduation requirements that will require all students to take algebra I, geometry and a third year of math that builds on the previous classes. The state is also working to provide a better math base in elementary and middle school....."
State OKs Newfield's break with Buena district
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
By Carly Romalino
cromalino@sjnewsco.com
NEWFIELD The Board of Education here can sever its three-decade tie with Buena Regional School District, New Jersey Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy has ruled.
The move will begin in the 2010-11 school year.
In a phase-in process, according to Delsea Regional School District Superintendent Frank Borelli, Delsea schools will first accept Newfield students entering grades seven and nine in September 2010. Students entering grades 10, 11 and 12 as of September 2010 would continue to be educated at Buena High School.
Newfield children eligible for the sixth grade as of September 2010 would attend a school arranged for by Newfield Š presumably the Franklin Township school district Š and not Buena Middle School.
"We will not start any new classes in Buena," said John Paladino, president of the Newfield Board of Education.
Buena will continue to educate Newfield pupils in grades pre-kindergarten through grade five at the Edgarton Memorial School in the borough at least through the end of the 2010-11 school year. Buena has the option of continuing the existing arrangement through the end of the 2012-13 school year.
Newfield students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade five eventually would begin to attend schools in Franklin Township.
"We have always expressed an interest to come back to Gloucester County with Franklin and Delsea," said Paladino. "We started talking about this roughly four years ago."
A petition Newfield filed with the Department of Education in 2007 cited the borough's dissatisfaction with the sending-receiving agreement with Buena.
The borough said school districts in Franklin can provide similar or greater educational opportunities for its students at a lower cost.
"Education-wise, it will better with Franklin and Delsea, (and) the facilities, busing and other aspects," said Paladino, who has served on the borough's school board for 28 years.
Newfield, a non-operating school district, currently pays tuition to the Buena Regional School District and transportation costs to bus some 200 students to Buena's schools in Atlantic County. According to Borelli, Delsea Regional buses already pick up students near the border of Newfield. Routes can be reformatted to pick up Newfield students, which could reduce the transportation cost in the borough's school board budget.
"We are very pleased," Borelli said. "We are looking forward to it."
State OKs Newfield's break with Buena district
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
By Carly Romalino
cromalino@sjnewsco.com
NEWFIELD The Board of Education here can sever its three-decade tie with Buena Regional School District, New Jersey Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy has ruled.
The move will begin in the 2010-11 school year.
In a phase-in process, according to Delsea Regional School District Superintendent Frank Borelli, Delsea schools will first accept Newfield students entering grades seven and nine in September 2010. Students entering grades 10, 11 and 12 as of September 2010 would continue to be educated at Buena High School.
Newfield children eligible for the sixth grade as of September 2010 would attend a school arranged for by Newfield Š presumably the Franklin Township school district Š and not Buena Middle School.
"We will not start any new classes in Buena," said John Paladino, president of the Newfield Board of Education.
Buena will continue to educate Newfield pupils in grades pre-kindergarten through grade five at the Edgarton Memorial School in the borough at least through the end of the 2010-11 school year. Buena has the option of continuing the existing arrangement through the end of the 2012-13 school year.
Newfield students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade five eventually would begin to attend schools in Franklin Township.
"We have always expressed an interest to come back to Gloucester County with Franklin and Delsea," said Paladino. "We started talking about this roughly four years ago."
A petition Newfield filed with the Department of Education in 2007 cited the borough's dissatisfaction with the sending-receiving agreement with Buena.
The borough said school districts in Franklin can provide similar or greater educational opportunities for its students at a lower cost.
"Education-wise, it will better with Franklin and Delsea, (and) the facilities, busing and other aspects," said Paladino, who has served on the borough's school board for 28 years.
Newfield, a non-operating school district, currently pays tuition to the Buena Regional School District and transportation costs to bus some 200 students to Buena's schools in Atlantic County. According to Borelli, Delsea Regional buses already pick up students near the border of Newfield. Routes can be reformatted to pick up Newfield students, which could reduce the transportation cost in the borough's school board budget.
"We are very pleased," Borelli said. "We are looking forward to it."
Press of Atlantic City: Compared with world, New Jersey 8th-graders average in math
New Jersey students perform better in math than Russian students, but not nearly as well as those in Singapore.
A new international grading system, released Tuesday by the American Institute for Research, compares student math performance in a way that allows states to see how they compare with other countries around the world.
The news is pretty good for New Jersey, which earned a B for its fourth-grade results and a C-plus for eighth grade and scored above the U.S. averages.
The United States as a whole earned a C-plus in the fourth-grade listing and a C in the eighth-grade ranking.
Nationally, only six states, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kansas and Vermont earned a B in fourth-grade math. Only Massachusetts got a B in eighth-grade math.
The top-ranked international entities include Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, which all earned at least a B-minus. No country earned an A.
The Institute used results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP, given in the United States, and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, to statistically develop its system. Grades four and eight were chosen because the entire population of students is generally tested at those levels, making the comparisons more fair.
Gary Phillips, vice president and chief scientist at AIR said the goal of the system is to give individual states data on how their students are performing on an international scale using a method that does not require additional testing or costs. The AIR chose “B” as the benchmarking score because it is equivalent to what No Child Left Behind expects of students.
“It’s to provide a baseline so states can see how they stack up,” he said. He said the top Asian nations are substantially far ahead, and that should be a great concern. The report said the average C-plus performance of American students is at best mediocre.
“The difference between the U.S. and the highest-achieving countries is a huge gap,” he said. He said New Jersey appears to be ahead of the pack in boosting academic standards.
Making New Jersey competitive in a global economy has become a mantra of both New Jersey Education Commissioner Lucille Davy and Gov. Jon S. Corzine. The state is a member of the American Diploma Project and recently joined an effort to create a set of national education standards.
The state Board of Education is scheduled to vote today on new high school graduation requirements that will require all students to take algebra I, geometry and a third year of math that builds on the previous classes. The state is also working to provide a better math base in elementary and middle school.
New Jersey Department of Education spokesman Richard Vespucci said officials are pleased that the system affirms New Jersey’s ongoing efforts to be internationally competitive.
“It reflects the work already being done,” he said.
Phillips said he wanted the system presented in a simple enough way that everyone can understand the results and their implications.
“The highest achieving countries are so far ahead of us we will never catch up if we run at the current pace,” Phillips said. “Our states and school districts should no longer be comparing themselves to their neighbors. They will be competing for jobs and innovations with students around the globe.”
He said of equal concern is the failing performance of the lowest-performing countries, which include Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, Kuwait and El Salvador.
“In many countries, the average student is not learning much mathematics,” Phillips said.
The complete report and state-by-state comparisons are online at
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