School officials see new system; Evaluation focuses on accountability
By DANIELLE SHAPIRO, Herald News, North Jersey Media Group
Herald News (Passaic County, NJ)
October 28, 2006
ATLANTIC CITY - The state Department of Education will change how it
evaluates the overall performance of school districts when it
implements the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum.
The five key points of NJQSAC were highlighted this week during the
annual conference of the New Jersey School Boards Association. Local
school board members and district administrators attending learned
what the impact will be.
Plans call for the standards to be fully operational in New Jersey
public schools by the 2007 school year, state education officials
said. In replacing the current state-takeover law with NJQSAC, they
hope that so-called under-performing school districts will be helped
by specifically targeting their weaknesses.
"Districts are wanting to know how that will affect them," said
Edwina Lee, executive director of the School Boards Association.
In an effort to answer questions district administrators have about
the new assessment, three DOE representatives conducted a workshop
that covered what NJQSAC is, how it will work, and when it will be
implemented.
"Under the current state takeover law, there's no clear exit
strategy," said Diane Schonyers , director of the Office of Strategic
Initiatives and Accountability for the DOE. "This is also a mechanism
to monitor district performance as it's related to student
achievement. Prior regulations were focused on compliance."
The NJQSAC workshop was one of more than 180 training and information
sessions at the three-day conference covering topics like student
safety, school-community relations, student achievement and state
initiatives to redesign high schools. About 10,000 people attended
the sessions, including exhibitors selling products and services to
schools, according the School Boards Association.
The organizers wanted to provide details on curriculum, school
finances, teacher and administrator recruitment, among other areas of
concern for New Jersey educators, Lee said.
Paterson, Newark and Jersey City are the three New Jersey school
districts under state control. Paterson came under state control in
1991.
The new law will evaluate school district effectiveness in five
areas: instruction and programming, personnel, fiscal management,
operations and governance. It is intended to target problems in those
areas before they escalate, leading to full state intervention.
Once identified, the DOE can provide technical assistance to
districts to fix the specific problems and return operation to local
administrators.
A pilot program of NJQSAC in May and June 2006 included 13 school
districts, Paterson, Jersey City and Newark among them.
The three state takeover districts and Level II districts will be
evaluated first and should be completed by the end of the 2006-07
school year. Level II districts are those that have not met state
performance mandates for many years but have not been taken over.
The results of the DOE evaluation could lead to the state remaining,
partially or fully pulling out of districts.
"We're positive about it," said Schonyers. "We think it will make a
difference in how districts are viewed and view themselves."
In a telephone interview prior to the conference, Lucille Davy, state
commissioner of education, called NJQSAC "a sea change for the state."
For some local school board members and school district officials
from some Passaic County, the conference was also an opportunity to
share ideas with other educators and to discuss the particular needs
of their schools, which ranged from academics and finance to capital
improvements and safety.
Jonathan Hodges, a member of the Paterson Board of Education, said
the conference was partly a public relations mission to improve the
city's image and explain the needs of Abbott districts ? low-income
urban districts that receive supplemental state-mandated money.
Michael Rush, deputy schools superintendent in Paterson, said he
wanted to speak with state lawmakers and state Board of Education
members about the district's infrastructure requirements ? one is
overcrowding. Rush also said he hopes to bring experts in school
security and grant writing to the district.
"I want them to come with us to review the facilities so they can
better understand our needs," he said. "They need to see a classroom
with 40 kids in the first grade. Don't just hear us, see us."
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