| ||||||||||||
NorthJersey.com - N.J. announces $508 million for school construction… ‘The state said Wednesday that it will pay 100 percent of the costs in 31 lower-income districts and at least 40 percent of the costs in other districts for projects that address health and safety concerns and overcrowding…’
NJ Spotlight - High-School Graduation Rate Rises Slightly Once Again…Interpreting numbers may soon prove problematic amid looming changes in criteria for earning diploma
The Record - N.J. approves alternatives to GED test
NJ Spotlight - Fine Print: Newark and Charters Set Up Universal Enrollment System…Landmark agreement would give preference to high-needs students picking their schools
NorthJersey.com - N.J. announces $508 million for school construction… ‘The state said Wednesday that it will pay 100 percent of the costs in 31 lower-income districts and at least 40 percent of the costs in other districts for projects that address health and safety concerns and overcrowding…’
Wednesday December 4, 2013, 4:43 PM Associated Press
TRENTON — New Jersey's School Development Authority has announced plans to use $508 million to help pay for construction projects in the majority of the state's school districts.
Including the local districts' contributions, the total costs of the projects is estimated at $1.1 billion.
The state's portion of the funding comes from $3.9 billion in bonds the Legislature authorized in 2008 for school facilities projects.
Overall, more than 1,500 projects are planned in 331 districts.
NJ Spotlight - High-School Graduation Rate Rises Slightly Once Again…Interpreting numbers may soon prove problematic amid looming changes in criteria for earning diploma
John Mooney | December 5, 2013
New Jersey’s high-school graduation rate, already one of the highest in the nation, crept up a little for the Class of 2013.
It was encouraging news, but its meaning may soon be open to different interpretations, as the rules change for counting and testing graduates.
A total of 95,000 high-school seniors graduated last summer, representing more than 87.5 percent of the 108,000 who had started high school four years earlier, according to breakdowns released yesterday by the Christie administration.
That was a slight increase from the 86.5 percent of the prior year, prompting plaudits at the State Board of Education meeting where the results were presented.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of graduation numbers for every high school and district in the state.
Graduation rates have turned out to be a work in progress for the administration and a moving target for the state, as the methodology has changed in the last two years in a federally-mandated effort to standardize the count.
The latest counts follow a cohort of students through high school to measure those who started against those who finished.
The bigger changes may come in the years ahead, as New Jersey is among dozens of states changing their high school testing to align them with the Common Core State Standards and the state decides how – or if -- it will require passing the tests in order to earn a diploma.
The state Department of Education’s policy director, Justin Barra, said yesterday that the numbers were mostly pointing in the right direction for now. Gaps remained wide between different income and ethnic groups, with the graduation rate dropping to as low as 70 percent for limited-English students and 76 percent for African-American students.
But Barra said those subgroups are also showing improvements.
“That is encouraging, as it means it is happening across all populations,” Barra told the state board.
Barra also warned against drawing too many quick conclusions from the numbers.
The graduation rate jumped considerably in 2012, but he said that that may have been because school districts were getting used to the new way of counting graduates.
Conversely, the graduation rate dropped last year for limited-English students, but he said that statistic, too, might also be more about how the numbers were compiled in these first years.
“We think it is more a data collection issue than there being actually fewer graduates,” Barra said.
Barra also presented the latest data on the students who haven’t passed the state’s current High School Proficiency Assessment, and instead need to take the Alternative High School Assessment (AHSA) or file last-resort appeals based on a review of other measures of achievement.
Last year, 10 percent of students needed either the alternative tests or the appeals process to graduate – amounting to roughly 10,000 students. Of those students, nearly 1,600 filed appeals, the vast majority because they failed the math sections of the graduation tests.
State board members questioned the disparity in the math numbers, with the appeals for math nearly three times the rate of appeals for failing marks in language arts. Barra said it was not surprising, given that the state’s language arts scores have historically been higher than those in math.
The Christie administration has yet to decide how and if an appeals process will be part of the next version of the state’s high school testing, slated to start next year.
Passing the new testing in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades in both math and language arts will not be required for graduation for the first three years, but is expected to ultimately be a requirement for a diploma, at least in some form, according to officials.
The Record - N.J. approves alternatives to GED test
Last updated: Wednesday December 4, 2013, 2:19 PM BY LESLIE BRODY
To curb price increases for adults seeking high school diplomas in New Jersey, the state board of education Wednesday approved three new test options for getting the credential.
Next month applicants will be able to take exams created by Educational Testing Services or McGraw-Hill, via computer or pen-and-pencil. Another test, Pearson VUE, will give computer-based testing, with paper tests offered only as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Now about 32 test centers offer such exams, which cover writing, reading, math science and social studies.
In the past, there was only one option, called the General Education Development, or GED test. Its average price was expected to triple to $195 per test-taker, according to a state report. In August, the state department of education solicited proposals from competitors, bringing the projected price to an average of $112.
These tests from private vendors will still be more expensive than the current paper tests, which were originally offered nationwide by a non-profit called the American Council for Education. In 2010, the council joined Pearson to form a for-profit, Pearson VUE, for such exams.
The tests will become harder as well. By 2016, the state is requiring the tests to reflect the so-called Common Core. These guidelines, adopted voluntarily in recent years by New Jersey and nearly all other states, aim to focus on more analytical problem-solving than in the past, and help American students catch up to their peers abroad.
Department officials have said they will consider approving other tests for high school degrees. On average, more than 13,000 people took the GED test annually in recent years, and more than 9,000 of them passed to earn high school diplomas.
New Jersey officials estimate about 1 million residents lack high school degrees.
Email: brody@northjersey.com. on twitter @lesliebrody
NJSpotlight - Fine Print: Newark and Charters Set Up Universal Enrollment System…Landmark agreement would give preference to high-needs students picking their schools
John Mooney | December 5, 2013
What it is: The 11-page memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Newark Public Schools and 16 charters -- 76 percent of the city’s total -- sets up a central enrollment system for both district schools and participating charters for the 2014-2015 school year.
What it means: Called “One Newark” and first announced last spring, the enrollment system administered by the district will essentially allow families a one-stop location to pick their preferences for schools, whether they're in the neighborhood, across town, or an independent charter. The MOU wrapped up in the past two weeks is notable for the preferences it gives to high-needs students -- special education, limited English skills, and other disadvantages.
Quote “At its core this amazing achievement represents a very simple goal -- to ensure that all students in Newark can attend an excellent school,” said Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson, the architect of the plan. “Together, public and charters, have done something that no other city in the country could agree to -- to move beyond individual priorities and create a customized plan that serves all of our families.”
How it works: Modeled after similar programs in Denver and New Orleans, the MOU calls for charters to essentially give up control of their enrollments, an annual process that typically involves applications, lotteries, and waiting lists. With One Newark, families would list their top eight preferences for schools, and using a complex algorithm that weighs location, need, and other factors, the district would place the students.
Charter buy-in: It is a significant agreement for charter schools, where enrollment is their life-blood, both in terms of student and the financing that follows them. It also gives preferential treatment to the highest-needs students, which critics contend are too few in charter schools, potentially bringing big changes to their populations. Further, the charters infamous waiting lists should all but disappear.
Big names in and out: Some of the district’s most notable charter schools have agreed to the first year, including the high-scoring TEAM network of charters and the North Star Academy schools. A few big names also have declined to join, including the Robert Treat Academy Charter School and the Discovery Charter School, among the very highest performers.
Quote in favor: "Charter schools get into this work to serve children in a high-quality way,” said Mashea Ashton, director of the Newark Charter School Fund, which helped design and broker the deal. “They didn’t get into this to control their enrollment systems. And many of the charters on board understand the benefits of this.”
Quote against: Discovery Charter School opted out after what it said were problems in a similar centralized system that enrolled students into their district high schools of choice last year. “I didn’t want to join any system that governs my enrollment that works like that,” said Irene Hall, co-leader and founder of Discovery. “I just don’t have the faith they will be able to implement it.”
A matter of space: The agreement does not address what charters would get out of the deal -- specifically, potential access to district space. A spokesman for Anderson yesterday said that possibility was speculative at this point, but the superintendent has said she would be more willing to cooperate with charters that are cooperating with the district.
Still a few questions: One Newark will start in earnest in January and February, when students can start signing up, and the proof will be in the implementation. Placement offers are planned for April. Some questions have been raised as to whether the new system is legal under the state’s charter school law, which has no accommodation for something like One Newark.
