106 N.J. public schools get order to restructure

by John Mooney/The Star-Ledger

Saturday December 20, 2008, 7:00 AM

More than 100 New Jersey public schools, mostly in urban districts, are facing requirements to "restructure" after missing federal targets for student achievement for at least six straight years, the state announced Friday.

From elementary through high schools, the 106 schools under the most severe sanctions of the federal No Child Left Behind act -- demanding deep staffing or organizational changes -- is a big jump from last year's total, when it was half that number.

Star-Ledger fileState Education Commissioner Lucille Davy speaks during a hearing in Trenton earlier this year.

But as the law has progressed, and the requirements in many cases have toughened, many states are seeing a big rise in the number of schools facing the restructuring mandate. In New Jersey, high schools were also included in the list for the first time, adding to the increase.

Seventy-two of the 106 schools are on the list for the first time, after missing the targets for six years, and 21 have missed the targets for eight years.

Among the total, 15 schools are in Newark, 12 in Camden, nine in Paterson, and eight in Jersey City. But they are not all in urban districts, as schools in West Orange, Bloomfield, Toms River and Union are also on the list.

The release was part of the state's annual announcement of how all New Jersey school fare under the controversial federal law, based on their 2007-2008 test scores. The law demands every school hit testing targets in more than 40 categories, broken down by race, disability and income of students.

Overall, 646 schools -- or just shy of 30 percent of all tested schools -- fell short in at least one category. For a vast majority, sanctions range from an "early warning" to demands for extra tutoring or opportunities for students to transfer.

But the restructuring mandates after the sixth year are the stiffest. Schools under restructuring face a range of options, and so far many have chosen to replace principals and other administrators, reconfigure grades or curriculum, or in a few cases even close. They also have the option to convert to charter schools, which are independent of the district, but none have yet done so.

Last year, the state spent about $10 million on the restructuring efforts, focusing on leadership and teacher training, and officials said many of the schools have made strides and even met
some of the achievement marks, although not enough to remove the sanctions altogether.

In more than a handful of cases, officials said, schools have dropped off the sanctioned lists.

"Important for us is to be able to differentiate schools that are in (restructuring) status, but are still making progress," said Barbara Gantwerk, the state's assistant education commissioner. "They may still be in status but they are improving. There's a big difference."

The distinction has been a critical one in other states as well, and is expected to be a significant part of the debate over the reauthorization of the federal law in the next year.

"The idea that a school is on the right path and good things are happening is different from a school that is seeing flat and even declining performance," said state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy. "Right now, we treat them all the same under the law."

The state's overall results, announced a month ago without the school-by-school breakdowns, were a slight drop in performance from the year before, when under 600 schools fell short. But the results were not as dire as many expected after the state this summer revamped much of its scoring to make it harder for students to pass.

Davy said overall achievement has actually improved in virtually every grade, although she hedged in saying how much. The state won't release the statewide or school-by-school test results until early in 2009, she said.

"Over time, we are seeing an increase in achievement across the board," Davy said.