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Star Ledger 8-21-08 Advanced degrees to face scrutiny................................................................................................................................................................................ The Press of Atlantic City - 8-20-08 - Almost all N.J. teachers rated 'highly qualified'

North Jersey News – the Record, the Herald: Around the state 8-21-08 ‘Most N.J. teachers rate highly qualified’

Advanced degrees to face scrutiny

Thursday, August 21, 2008

BY JOHN MOONEY

Star-Ledger Staff

The Corzine administration and legislative leaders said they plan to crack down on school administrators and teachers who gain advanced degrees through apparent "diploma mills," winning them taxpayer-funded raises and other payments.

State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said yesterday that she plans to propose regulations that would require educators receive credit for advanced degrees only from properly accredited institutions.

The state already requires as part of its certification rules that educators' undergraduate degrees come from only accredited colleges.

The move came after the Asbury Park Press reported James Wasser, the superintendent of Freehold Regional Schools, gained his doctorate in 2004 from Breyer State University, an unaccredited school.

The degree earned Wasser a $2,500 raise, plus reimbursement for tuition, according to the state. A state investigation also found two Freehold assistant superintendents with similar degrees and payments.

"It is wrong for these degrees to be used for any purposes," Davy said. "We as a state don't recognize them, but there are apparently a few districts that do."

State Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) requested state Attorney General Anne Milgram to investigate the issue and said he also plans to introduce legislation prohibiting such payments.

"It's completely and utterly ridiculous that people at the top of our educational system are being paid, rewarded in fact, for a degree that for all intents and purposes comes from a fake university," Codey said in a letter to Davy.

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Almost all N.J. teachers rated 'highly qualified'
Two local charter schools lag behind
Two local charter schools lag behind
Published: Thursday, August 21, 2008

TRENTON - Only 886 of the state's almost 85,000 teachers did not meet state and federal requirements to be "highly qualified" in 2007-08, down from 1,329 teachers last year.

State education officials said Wednesday that the 99 percent compliance rate is good, but the goal is not just to have 100 percent of teachers qualified, but also to make sure they are effective in the classroom.

"That's where the focus belongs," Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said. "We want to exceed the requirements."

Locally, almost every school district met or exceeded the state average, and many have every teacher in compliance. Seven districts and two charter schools did not meet the state average. They are:

Atlantic County: Pleasantville, 97.5 percent; Ventnor, 98.5 percent; Oceanside Charter School, 62 percent; PleasanTech Charter School, 25 percent.

Cape May County: Cape May Special Services, 92.5 percent; Lower Township, 97 percent; North Wildwood, 88.5 percent; Upper Township, 98 percent.

Souther Ocean County: Eagleswood Township, 95 percent.

All Cumberland County districts were at 99 percent or greater.

Teachers are required to meet criteria for being highly qualified as part of the federal No Child Left Behind law. The criteria include passing an exam in their subject area and having a degree or at least 30 college credits in that subject.

Davy said requiring ongoing training for teachers is also vital to make sure they can effectively teach what they know to children.

Subject areas with teacher shortages are most likely to have teachers not yet fully qualified. Those areas include special education, English as a second language and math. Some middle school teachers are also still working to meet new requirements that they be certified in the specific subject they teach, and not just have a general K-8 elementary certification. Some certified special education teachers may also still need additional subject area certifications.

High-poverty schools are also slightly more likely to have teachers who have not met the criteria than do low-poverty schools. But that gap has improved from a 7 percent disparity in 2005 to 2 percent in 2007.

Assistant Education Commissioner Jay Doolan said districts that are not at 100 percent must develop a plan to get all teachers in compliance, and the state w ill be investigating why some schools are so far out of compliance.

The 2007-08 rates reported for Oceanside and PleasanTech charter schools are far lower than in previous years. The Press was unable to reach officials at either school for comment Wednesday.

Districts do not have to remove teachers not in compliance, but they are required to send a letter home to parents explaining why their child's teacher is not in compliance and how they plan to correct the situation. Teacher quality compliance is also part of the state's new school district monitoring system.

The complete statewide report is online at

www.state.nj.us/education                      E-mail Diane D'Amico: DDamico@pressofac.com

 

 

North Jersey News – the Record, the Herald: Around the state 8-21-08 

 

Most N.J. teachers rate highly qualified’

Nearly all of New Jersey's K-12 teachers now meet federal requirements for training and expertise, according to the state Department of Education.

The results of the fifth annual survey of teacher content expertise show that 99 percent of the educators meet the "highly qualified teacher" criteria in the No Child Left Behind Act, Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said Wednesday.

Those teachers have bachelor's degrees, valid state certifications for which no requirements have been waived and have demonstrated expertise in the subjects they teach.

Percentages of classes taught by highly qualified teachers in 2007-08 were similar to those reported by the previous year's survey. The gap between classes in high-poverty and low-poverty schools taught by highly qualified teachers decreased significantly between 2005 and 2006, from 7 percent to 1.6 percent. In the latest data collection, the gap has increased slightly to 2.1 percent.

When viewed by grade level, New Jersey's secondary schools show greater percentages of highly qualified teachers than do elementary schools. At the high school level, 99.4 percent of teachers are highly qualified in all subjects taught.

In addition, the percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers in secondary classes is 0.6 percentage points higher than in elementary schools. The gap between high- and low-poverty schools is also smaller at the secondary level.

New Jersey's greatest challenge is recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers in mathematics, English as a Second Language and special education, particularly special education in middle school classrooms.

A summary of the 2007 Highly Qualified Teacher Survey results is available at nj.gov/education/ data/hqt/08.

- Patricia Alex