Friday, September 28, 2012
Pilot program will measure social, academic development in seven districts.
As part of the Christie administration’s latest push for early literacy, the state is launching a pilot program for testing children as they enter kindergarten. New Jersey has enlisted six school districts and a charter school to test out the new "kindergarten entry assessment” (KEA), which will measure children for basic academic and social development. Nearly 50 teachers and administrators in the districts began training in August to learn to use a commercial assessment tool called Teaching Strategies GOLD. New Jersey joins Delaware, Colorado and Washington in using the new assessment tool, the company announced this month. State officials said they chose the Maryland-based company's program because it is easy to use and aligns with the …
Sunday, July 22, 2012
One of Senator Weinberg's goals, who's paying for what at the Department of Education.
It’s not a typical request from a ranking legislator, but state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) doesn’t always follow the beaten path. Last week, Weinberg announced in a press release that she had filed an Open Public Records Act request to the Christie administration for information on a now-familiar topic: who’s paying for what jobs in the state Department of Education. The request was largely a repeat of an OPRA request made by one of the administration’s prime antagonists, the Education Law Center of Newark, Weinberg said, and it appeared to raise few new lines of inquiry. But for Weinberg to jump into the debate was notable. She is the Senate Majority Leader, the second highest post in the Senate, and also a prominent member of the …
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
South Brunswick High School Principal Tim Matheney will be leaving SBHS at the end of the school year to become Director of Evaluation for the state Department of Education.
On the same day the district learned South Brunswick High School had been named one of the top public schools in America, it was also announced the school would be losing its leader. After eight years on the job, SBHS Principal Tim Matheney will be leaving at the end of the school year to take a job as Director of Evaluation for the New Jersey Department of Education. "I have had an extremely fulfilling eight years as the principal at South Brunswick High School," Matheney said. "We have accomplished a great deal that I'm proud of. We've been named a National School of Character, and were named to the Newsweek list of best high schools for the second year in a row. It's a great time to move on, when all of our efforts have started to …
Saturday, April 21, 2012
With teachers already testing new system, districts invited to process for grading principals.
A year into New Jersey’s teacher evaluation pilot, the Christie administration is moving on to the next job to go under the microscope: the school principal. The state Department of Education yesterday asked for districts to step forward and apply to be part of a pilot program to test new systems for judging the effectiveness of the state’s 2,500 principals, starting next year. Some of it will be similar to the pilot for teacher evaluation now in place in 11 districts and expanding into 30 districts next year. Like the teacher pilot, up to 50 percent of a principal’s grade will be test scores and other measures of student performance, a topic no less controversial for principals than it is for teachers. There will be on-site observations …
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli said the state Department of Education will listen to the concerns of the community before approving a new charter school, after he previously expressed support for a public vote.
Earlier this month, the New Jersey State Assembly passed a bill that would require a local referendum for any new charter school before it opens in a community. However, local proponents of the legislation are unhappy with the 16th District's Assembly representatives, who voted against the bill. Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R-Hillsborough) and Assemblywoman Donna Simon (R-Readington), who represent South Brunswick, Princeton and Hillsborough in District 16, both voted against bill A-1877, which passed the assembly by a vote of 46-27. Ciattarelli said that he believes local input is important before a charter school is approved by the New Jersey Department of Education, but it's up to local elected officials to make sure that input …
Winston
4:43 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012
Of course he is! The school plummets in its state rankings he better leave before parents see what a farce his leadership has been. more ›