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4-4-13 Education in the News
Star Ledger - Revised teacher evaluation regulations decrease test scores' weight… ‘…When Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf first introduced the regulations last month, he said students’ standardized test scores could count for up to 50 percent of fourth through eighth grade teachers’ annual ratings, though state education officials recommended test scores make up 35 percent. Classroom observations would account for the rest of the score.The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), who sponsored the legislation, criticized the regulations when they were announced.Yesterday, Cerf announced that standardized test scores will count for no more than 35 percent of those teachers’ annual ratings…’

NJ Spotlight - NJEA Raises Red Flag at First Public Hearing on Teacher Evaluation…Union says student performance weighs too heavily in first-year evaluation ‘…State Education Commissioner Chris Cerf and his staff did make some amendments that would limit how much state testing could be used for teachers’ ratings, capping it to no more than 35 percent in the first year … For the most part, the board steered clear of the tussle between the union and the administration. Some board members raised a few specific questions about the late timing of the state test scores coming back and the potential impact that will have. But board president Arcelio Aponte said afterward that he didn’t expect a big change in at least the baseline plan to start.”

NJ Spotlight - Three Dozen Applicants Submit Bids for Charter Schools…Most would be located in state’s urban areas, aiming to open in fall of 2014

Ridgewood-Glen Rock Patch - Ramsey BOE Opposes Superintendent Pay Caps, Joining Ridgewood …Ramsey school officials say caps on school superintendent pay has created an "educational leadership crisis"

Star Ledger - Revised teacher evaluation regulations decrease test scores' weight ‘…When Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf first introduced the regulations last month, he said students’ standardized test scores could count for up to 50 percent of fourth through eighth grade teachers’ annual ratings, though state education officials recommended test scores make up 35 percent. Classroom observations would account for the rest of the score.The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), who sponsored the legislation, criticized the regulations when they were announced.Yesterday, Cerf announced that standardized test scores will count for no more than 35 percent of those teachers’ annual ratings…’

 

By Jessica  Calefati, on The Star-Ledger04, 2013 at 7:00 AM, updated April 04, 2013 at 7:01 AM

TRENTON—State education officials yesterday revised regulations governing New Jersey’s landmark tenure law, reducing the role standardized test scores can play in some teachers’ annual evaluations.

When Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf first introduced the regulations last month, he said students’ standardized test scores could count for up to 50 percent of fourth through eighth grade teachers’ annual ratings, though state education officials recommended test scores make up 35 percent. Classroom observations would account for the rest of the score.

The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), who sponsored the legislation, criticized the regulations when they were announced.

Yesterday, Cerf announced that standardized test scores will count for no more than 35 percent of those teachers’ annual ratings.

"We’re explicitly taking that off the table," Cerf said of his department’s decision to prevent districts from calculating a greater portion of fourth through eighth grade teachers’ ratings using their students’ NJ ASK test scores in math and language arts.

Under the new regulations, teachers of other grades and subjects will follow a different evaluation rubric based solely on classroom observations and teachers’ ability to meet student growth objectives, such as improving the quality of an English class’ essay writing.

According to the new tenure law, which takes effect this fall, teachers who receive the lowest annual ratings will lose their tenure and possibly their jobs.

Though state Board of Education President Arcelio Aponte applauded Cerf and his team for "responding to public concern" by adjusting the regulations, dozens of teachers union members again packed the board’s monthly meeting for the second month in a row to voice their frustration with the new rules.

Teacher’s union president Barbara Keshishian said in a statement that using test scores to determine 35 percent of a teacher’s evaluation is still too high. She also criticized the use of standardized test scores to evaluate teachers because the scores are not available until halfway through the next school year after students have already moved on to the next grade.

"The goal of evaluation is to help improve instruction," Keshishian said. "How are teachers supposed to improve their instruction with assistance from their supervisors when they don’t have the data they need?"

Next month, the state will propose a final version of the evaluations for publication in the New Jersey Register. The regulations are expected to take effect this fall.

 

NJ Spotlight - NJEA Raises Red Flag at First Public Hearing on Teacher Evaluation…Union says student performance weighs too heavily in first-year evaluation ‘…State Education Commissioner Chris Cerf and his staff did make some amendments that would limit how much state testing could be used for teachers’ ratings, capping it to no more than 35 percent in the first year For the most part, the board steered clear of the tussle between the union and the administration. Some board members raised a few specific questions about the late timing of the state test scores coming back and the potential impact that will have. But board president Arcelio Aponte said afterward that he didn’t expect a big change in at least the baseline plan to start.”’

By John Mooney, April 4, 2013 in Education

Filling the small conference room where the State Board of Education meets in Trenton yesterday, about 40 members of the New Jersey Education Association tried to make their union’s presence felt in the push and pull over the state’s new teacher evaluation system.

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The board was in session to take up the administrative regulations that detail how New Jersey's 500-plus school districts will implement the evaluations required by TEACHNJ, the landmark teacher tenure law approved last summer.

It was largely a procedural step -- known as the “second discussion” -- before the board formalizes the proposed regulations next month.

It was also the first of two required public hearings on the plans. And it was where the NJEA intended to show that it still wanted its say.

The big issue was how student test scores would be used to judge at least some teachers -- a sore point not just in New Jersey, but nationwide.

The administration says that student progress on state exams will count as 35 percent of a teacher's rating. That affects the roughly one in five teachers whose students now sit for those exams, essentially language arts and math in grades 4 through 8, but will become more of a concern as additional state tests are introduced.

The balance of the rating would largely be determined by classroom observation.

Student progress on locally based measures would account for 15 percent of the rating for teachers whose subjects are not covered by statewide tests.

Although the NJEA didn't get down to specific percentages, the gist of its argument is that the administration is relying too heavily on student test scores, at least in the initial year of the evaluations.

Yes, this is the same union that last summer helped negotiate the final version of the tenure law. But NJEA leaders said yesterday that they had trusted that the administration would gradually ramp up the reliance on student performance.

"The new law was the result of collaboration and compromise on all sides,” said NJEA president Barbara Keshishian in prepared testimony. "Unfortunately, I can’t make the same statements about the implementation" of the law.

“Rushing into a high-stakes evaluation system would be a disservice to the students and teachers of New Jersey,” Keshishian said. “New Jersey can afford to wait.”

About a dozen of the NJEA’s members joined their president in testifying on a range of issues. How, for example, would teachers be judged who have co-teachers or student teachers in their classes? What about teachers who change courses and grades from one year to the next?

One Hopewell special education teacher, Heidi Olson, said the myriad of uncertainties do not portend well for schools or students.

“If this goes through, we’ll have a statewide train wreck,” she testified.

Still, there was little indication that the Christie administration was about to ease off, or that the State Board was about to insist on it.

State Education Commissioner Chris Cerf and his staff did make some amendments that would limit how much state testing could be used for teachers’ ratings, capping it to no more than 35 percent in the first year.

“Any way you interpret the law, we are making sure that [test scores] are not a predominant factor,” said assistant commissioner Peter Shulman, who has become the point man on the effort.

Shulman announced a few other amendments, repeatedly saying he wanted to work with educators and address their concerns.

But while a few board members quizzed Shulman on the plan, the administration appeared to be sticking to its 35 percent.

Shulman said the department was being conservative.

“We’re trying to use what the research says is appropriate and even be on the low end of that,” he said, citing the recent national study known as the Measuring Effective Teaching (MET) Project. It establishes a range that tops out at 50 percent and is a favorite citation for the administration.

For the most part, the board steered clear of the tussle between the union and the administration. Some board members raised a few specific questions about the late timing of the state test scores coming back and the potential impact that will have. But board president Arcelio Aponte said afterward that he didn’t expect a big change in at least the baseline plan to start.

“It will be confusing to keep changing the (percentages),” he said. “I think we set the standard now, and then we can evaluate it over time.”

 

NJ Spotlight - Three Dozen Applicants Submit Bids for Charter Schools…Most would be located in state’s urban areas, aiming to open in fall of 2014

By John Mooney, April 4, 2013 in Education

With interest hardly abating, nearly 40 applications were filed this week to open new charter schools in New Jersey – a vast majority in cities and one with a notable political name in its title.

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The state had received 38 applications by Monday’s deadline for the latest round of charter bids, all for schools seeking to open in the fall of 2014.

The decisions on initial approvals for this round of applicants will come in September, with the final approvals in the summer of 2014. After an initial big push, the Christie administration has been stingy in its charter-school approvals of late, endorsing only two in each of the last two rounds.

Almost a third of the latest applications came from Essex County, including seven in Newark. Another five are out of Camden County, including three from the city of Camden, and there were multiple bids out of Trenton, Paterson and Jersey City as well. The suburban proposals were few, including two in Bergen County in Hackensack and Bergenfield.

Maybe the most recognizable bid is for the Raymond Lesniak ESH Recovery Charter High School in Union County, named after the county’s powerful Democratic state senator.

Contacted yesterday, Lesniak said he’s not behind the proposal for the school proposed in his native Elizabeth, but said he had been approached by leaders of the Roselle-based human services organization Prevention Links to get involved.

Under the proposal, the school would serve up to 125 high school students with substance-abuse problems, offering a regular curriculum but also providing recovery programs and monitoring. And given his work as a state senator with treatment and recovery issues, Lesniak said the group asked him if his moniker could be on the school.

“I had been supporting them through the process, and they said their polled their founding members and felt that it should be the Raymond Lesniak Recovery Charter High School,” Lesniak said.

“I have never wanted anything named after me, but I saw this as a living organism, a growing thing, one of the reasons I stay in public life,” he said.

 

Ridgewood-Glen Rock Patch - Ramsey BOE Opposes Superintendent Pay Caps, Joining Ridgewood …Ramsey school officials say caps on school superintendent pay has created an "educational leadership crisis"

·         By James Kleimann  April 3, 2013

Another Bergen County school district has joined Ridgewood in vocally opposing the pay caps New Jersey Governor Chris Christie placed on schools superintendents.

Christie's stipulation holds that superintendents could not make more than his own $175,000. Their salaries would be tiered based upon district size, with potential "bonuses" for meeting performance goals.

Ramsey school officials last week passed a resolution denouncing the state law – passed in 2010 – on the basis it not only prompted its former superintendent to leave for New York, but has further strained efforts to replace him.

“There is an educational leadership crisis in this state,” Interim Superintendent Bruce DeYoung, a retired Ramsey Superintendent who returned to the district for a one-year interim spot last July, said last Wednesday.

Ridgewood made waves earlier this school year, pressing Trenton lawmakers to reconsider the hard caps. It separately passed a resolution asking the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) to study of the impact of the salary caps on recruiting, hiring, and retention of superintendents.

Ridgewood's own superintendent, Dan Fishbein, will see his contract expire at the end of the school year. Both sides have expressed interest in the award-winning administrator staying in his hometown, but he'd have to stomach a pay cut of more than $50,000 to stick around. Ridgewood can only offer $167,500 to its chief school administrator.

Although neighbor Glen Rock recently found a qualified superintendent, finding one in Ramsey has proven no easy task thus far.

According to DeYoung, the interim Ramsey superintendent, only 13 hopefuls applied for the job to be Ramsey’s next permanent schools leader. “We get 90 applications for an elementary teaching position,” he said.

Of those 13 applications, DeYoung said half were not qualified to be called in for interviews. The board’s superintendent search committee called in five applicants that it “quickly narrowed down to two,” he said.

Jessica Mazzola contributed to this report.