HIGH SCHOOL REDESIGN – UPDATE: At the  2/18/09 State Board of Education Mtg, the Board voted to move the NJDOE’s secondary reform plans to the proposal stage. This means the proposals will be printed in the NJ Register followed by a 60-day period of public comment. A public testimony session is tentatively scheduled for the April 15 State Board mtg. A final adoption vote would likely take place at the June 17 SBOE mtg.

The secondary proposals mandate increased requirements for high school graduation for all students as follows:

Phase I requires Algebra I, Lab Biology and 4 yrs of college prep English for all new freshman in Sept. 08

Phase II adds Geometry and Chemistry, Physics or Environmental Science for new freshman in Sept. 2010

Phase III adds a third lab science course and a still-to-be-defined new math course for new freshman in Sept. 2012

New end of course exams are planned for each course, some or all of which would be required for graduation.

The proposals have been modified several times in response to public pressure since first being announced last April. The most recent revision was the replacement of the Algebra II requirement with a new math course that builds on the Algebra I & Geometry courses, but is not a traditional Algebra II course. A committee will be formed to develop an outline for the proposed course. Board members noted that the modification of the Algebra II mandate was a direct result of public comment and advocacy by stakeholders.

For the first time, Deputy Commissioner Willa Spicer offered specific proposals on how the new end of course exams would be used. Reporting on the work of an “assessment committee” convened by NJDOE, Spicer recommended that students be required to pass five end of course exams to get a diploma. Algebra I, Biology, and English exams would be required of all students. Two additional exams would also be required, though the details remain vague. Moreover, while the Board, partly in response to public pressure, had requested that the Commissioner submit a testing plan before a vote on the course mandates was held, the testing recommendations are not part of the code endorsed today by the Board. If approved, the code would authorize creation of the exams, but their implementation and use as high stakes graduation tests would be up to Commissioner Davy (or future Commissioners.) Approval of the code would commit NJDOE to spend years and millions of dollars on the development and administration of new tests. {Notes: Courtesy of Stan Karp, ELC}