e e e e e e e e e e thank
you good morning everyone I hope you had a wonderful July 4th um I'd like to call the meeting to order the New Jersey open public meetings Act was enacted to ensure that the right of the public have the advanced notice of to
attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the State Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date the time
and the place posted in the Department of Education Secretary of State's office and and notice has been given to the State State House Press courts the governor's office and the state board agenda subscribers and as a quorum is
present this meeting will now come to order may I please have a motion thank you I believe Dr butcher was first may I please have a second second thank you very much uh board member Barry and now I'd like for us to please have the opportunity to go into
um executive session whereas in order to protect the personal privacy and to avoid situations where in the public interest might be deserved the open public meetings act permits public bodies to exclude the public from the portion of the meeting at which certain
matters are discussed now therefore be it resolved that the consistent with the provision of njsa 10 colon 4-1 12b the State Board of Education will now adjourn to Executive session to discuss personnel and legal matters may
please have a motion thank you very much Dr butcher may I please have a second thank you very much board member Bennett all those in favor please say I I thank you any oppos please say
nay I think it passed unanimously so thank you so much we will be back um right around 10:00 a.m. so thank you so much e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e you know okay okay all right good morning again everyone welcome back I'd like to reconvene to resume uh the public portion of our meeting please whereas consistent with the provision of njsa 10
colum 4-12 B the State Board of educ will now adjourn from executive session and resume open session portion of our meeting May I please have a motion thank you I believe Dr butcher was first may I please have a second thank you very much Dr R all those in
favor please say I I perfect great um any um abstentions any Nays any hearing none we are we will go forward now
okay um I'd like to begin please with the pledge of allegiance that Dr butcher will lead us inations uned States indivisible and jusice for all thank you the state board meetings are are
accessible to the public for viewing on the YouTube channel and I would like to advise that the YouTube provides readily accessible language translation op options for with Clos captioning if you are viewing this simoc cast currently you may use the settings option in
YouTube for information about subtitles Auto automatic translations and Clos captioning in multiple languages so we have a very special day ahead we're going to swear in our new board of education m M Dr Claudine Keenan today I
would like to have the pleasure to introduce you Dr Keenan resides in Galloway Atlantic County she has worked as the dean of education at Stockton University at landed County since 2012 she previously
served as the University's Chief planning and budget officer from 20110 through 2012 and as executive assistant to the provos from 201 6 to 2009 her term will expire June 30th
2027 Dr Keenan's husband Jack Keenan is here today if you'd like to stand to witness the swearing in ceremony our our honorable Judge Loi is here to administer the oath of office
how do you do sir thank you very very much to our newest State Board of Education member judge Loi is the the judge of the Supreme Court of of New Jersey we are so pleased to have him with us today I I thank him for
coming I will say I you say I in your name and then we go from there okay does that work then I say I us I in your name and we go from there um are helping out of again you swear correct very okay so I I
CL Keenan do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will be
our true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully impartially and justly
perform and that I will faithfully and justly and partially perform partially perform all the duties of the office all the duties of the office of the member of the State Board of Education of the member of the State Board of according to the best of my ability according to
the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations Dr k so congratulations and we're so pleased to welcome you officially and I don't know if you'd like to make any remarks but we'd love to have them if you're so
inclined thank thank you very much it's an honor to be here and I'm very much looking forward to serving thank you your turn and I'd like to turn the meeting over to acting commissioner d
today we will hold the annual election of the State Board of Education officers for the period of July 2024 through June 2025 state law njsa 18a 4-8 requires that the State Board of
Education organized at its first regular meeting following June 30th of every year with the the election of a president and a vice president as Secretary of the State Board it is my responsibility to conduct the election President Kathy Goldenberg has
been selected by the nominating committee the nominating committee members are Miss Barry who is the chair Mr Aon and miss barro the committee presents its slate at the June presented its slate at the June public meeting and
uh excuse me president uh Goldenberg was uh nominated for president and at this time are there any nominations for the floor for president hearing none um
and apologize sh Sor I apologize uh going back the nominated committee that and the Slate that was presented at the June public meeting included Kathy Goldenberg for president
and sorry and Dr Ned Johnson for vice president um and we have already I've already asked for nominations from the floor for president and I did not hear any are there any nominations for vice
president from the floor hearing none I would like to ask the nominated candidates if they're willing to accept the nominations and serve in the position of President and Vice President uh having been nominated
should they be elected so I'll start with President Goldenberg thank you so much uh it would be an honor to serve with each of you as president of the board and thank you for the nomination Dr
Johnson good morning uh yes it would be an honor also to serve and I do accept the nomination thank you thank you very much the election will be conducted by a Voice vote I or nay the candidates will be voted on individually in the order in which
they've been nominated all in favor of Kathy Goldenberg as president of the State Board signify by saying I I any opposed any extensions congratulations thank you thank you
[Applause] everyone and moving all in favor of Dr Ned Johnson as vice president of the State Board signify by saying I I any opposed any
extensions hearing none Dr Ned Johnson has been elected as the new Vice President congratulations so congratulations to our new president and vice president for the next school year um very excited to continue our our progress and working together over the
course of the next year and uh special congratulations to Dr Ned Johnson for uh his first elction as as Vice President congratulations um i' just like to I just like to say thank you to my colleagues for um providing me with this
opportunity looking forward to working uh continued to work closely with uh president Goldenberg as well as the rest of the board members looking forward to this year thank you thank you and I also am looking forward to working
with our vice president and um continuing with Dr Johnson and all of our board members and our um of course our acting commissioner Kevin damer and our department of Ed so we can continue to make make New Jersey
excellence in education so thank you so much um without further Ado I'd like to continue with our meeting um uh may I please ask for the June 5th
2024 um voting on uh the approval of the minutes if you weren't here last month please abstain um so all those in favor of the minutes from June 5 2024 please say I
I um all those opposed please say nay any abstentions thank you and public testimony for the month of June I'm sorry for the month of August the state board will re for I beg your pardon for the month
of July the state board will receive public testimon on the resolution to revise the implementation schedule for the njsls regarding mathematics state board members Janette Peña Mary Beth Barry Ron Butcher and I are scheduled to hear
testimony today uh it will follow our Board of Education meeting uh for the month of August the state board will receive public testimony on chapter 30 evaluation of the performance of school districts and chapter five regulatory
equivalency and waiver um I do have a bit of sad news to um inform the public about um it's a sad day for the State Board of Education and the Department of Education our friend and our colleague Mrs Sylvia Sylvia
chafi has um decided to step down from the state board effective on June 30th um Sylvia was Faithfully serving as a state board member since June I'm sorry July 5th of 2017 she has been a thoughtful
contributing and valuable member of the State Board and I know that all of us will greatly miss her so we have um three items to discuss today I'd like to please introduce our
new student representative um her name is Anna paskowitz and she's a senior from Palmyra High School in Burlington County her advisers are Miss Kelly Miss Kelly if you could stand up if you're here today
um her advisor Miss Kelly and Mr Kim Martina um today is your first meeting so we are thrilled to have you and we'd like to hear your remarks that you'd like to share with us and um please when you're ready offer your remarks thank
you thank you president Goldenberg and good morning everyone my name is Anna pasz and I am honored to be the 2024 to 2025 State Board of Education student representative I would like to take this time to introduce myself to you I'm a
rising senior at pyra High School where I am heavily involved in multiple clubs and extracurriculars I a three-season varsity athlete which includes being captain of the field hockey and basketball teams when not on the field or Court my time is balanced with student council being the student
representative to the board of education for my school's to my for my school district vice president of my school's interact club and attorney for the the mock trial team and finally a member of both National Honor Society and German National Honor Society I take part in
these activities for the sole purpose of improving my school Community which is something I'm very passionate about this directly translates to why I wanted to be the State Board of Education student representative my interest in being the student representative began when I was
chosen by my school student council advisers to be an administrative assistant for the New Jersey Association of student councils I worked as an assistant for over a year helping behind the scenes with operations of the organization and over time I grew very fond of the dedicated work of the
officers of the njasc I feel that my involvement in the organization helped me come out of my shell and find my voice which I want to help other students do as well I see myself as a voice for students who don't feel comfortable sharing their own I decided that I wanted to take on a
larger role in njc in order to accomplish this my main goal is to take all I have learned about leadership and service and use it to speak on behalf of students in the state helping them feel as though they have a real say in what decisions are made in their schools based on all of this I feel as though
the State Board student representative position was the one that suited me best and so I made the choice to run upon selection I was immediately eager to take on this position and I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity I personally have a very high regard for the value of Education I
believe that learning is one of if not the most important factors in one's early life knowledge has the power to shape and mold Society into the best form of itself however I also believe that the feeling of community and support in an environment is just as important this is why education is such
a critical part of society and why I am so passionate about leaving a lasting impact on the schools across New Jersey I understand the importance of this position and speaking on behalf of the students of an entire state is no small feat but I'm extremely excited and ready to take on this role I want to help in
Ure that every student across the state feels in control of their future and is able to accomplish all they desire throughout the course of this year it is my goal to report on a wide range of topics specifically ones that pertain to many different people I want to make sure that all perspectives as well as my
own are shared and that they are as informative as possible to help all students throughout New Jersey I plan to utilize the different views of the njc state officers as a way to bring in other thoughts and ideas I can assure you that my presentation each month will be completed thoroughly and with passion
because I recognize this role is bigger than me I am extremely honored to be here speaking to all of you today as I begin to share the student perspective I look forward to the year ahead and believe that together we can not only maintain the quality of but also improve the schools in New Jersey thank
you thank you what position do you play in field hockey um Midfield very good it's a pleasure to have have you we look forward to working together and thank you so much thank you any other comments at
this time from anyone yes just I just want to welcome you and I I noted knowledge is the power to shape and mold Society in the best form of itself and your remarks and I think that's why we're all here so I really I
feel like you're joining the club so um and we also have a new new board member and I believe she would she would agree with that statement as well so I appreciate you uh joining and coming at right in the gate uh with that sentiment so welcome thank you thank
you so we'll continue then at this point thank you again so much um we have state board committee reports to go through and I believe first we have board member elain bobro who's going to speak about the policy committee
I'm trying to do a sound check can you hear me very well yes okay the policy committee to today's Board of educ the first was in June second on
July 1st 2024 both meetings were conc Chapter 30 the EV I'm sorry valuation of performance School District known by us as more specifically the meetings were s
on amendments to chapter 30 I would like to commend work on the project uh this includes members of poliy committee members of the Department of
Education and members of the public who work the department much of the credit goes to the captain of our ship acting commissioner Kevin today the information will be Shar
you thank you thank you very much uh we'll go go to our next uh report uh we have our vice president who um will speak about go ahead I'll let
you take over thank you uh thank you um Madam president uh just wanted to update uh the uh board on the uh discussion and meetings around modifications to um
public testimony uh actually there are um two uh changes uh specifically that we're looking to put forward uh in regards to the uh start time of the meetings uh moving from 2:00 p.m to uh
30 minutes after uh the completion of the uh public board meeting and the second one would actually be the elimination of the uh previously established two hour limit to uh public
testimony so those are the uh two changes that we're putting forth uh do you want me to read the entire resolution at this point as a um just you can if You' like to you want us to go on record with the uh I know it's at discussion level we want to have
discussion or read the resolution at this point okay any uh questions at this point I think um for the Public's sake it would be important to mention that uh Dr Johnson and um led the committee and
and reached out that the board members should look at this and make any suggestions that they felt appropriate for this resolution and had um couple of months to get back to you and to discuss things so it's something that's been
being discussed for a bit now it's been a couple months we've actually uh we put out a survey uh to get feedback from all uh members as to uh the various uh thoughts on uh how things have gone with that and um as I said we've just made
these two minor uh recommendations for changes all right thank you so much thank you no other discussion at this time uh and now we'll go ahead please with um the commissioner's report thank
you thank you madam president um moving to the commissioner there are no commissioner reports so we can move right into um the items for Comm consideration this month uh the first agenda standing agenda item is for appointments and as we don't have any
appointments this month we can move to our our next standing agenda item which is the certification of school districts um there are 21 school districts present uh for certificate certification today uh since the June State Board of
Education meeting the executive County superintendents have finalized 45 NJ qac evaluation for districts I'm recommending 21 of those for certification today Mr Robert Gregory executive director Carlos Spates NJ qack
coordinator uh and uh Team are here to address any questions and respond uh to those uh that you may have and in your packet you can see the list of all the districts that are presented for certification today do you want to announce the
districts uh the list is quite comprehensive uh if you would like us to we will Madam president I think it's important thank you thank you in Bergen County we have cler public school district East Rutherford school
district hokus school district Loi School District MAA Township Public School District Montvale Board of Education School District Wickliffe Lake School District in Burlington County Burlington County Institute of
Technology School District in Cumberland County Cumberland County Board of vocational education in Gloucester County clear viiew Regional High School District hunon Clint and hunterton Clinton Township School District Clinton Glen Garner School District Hampton
burrow School District Lebanon burrow School District in Mercer County we have East Windsor Regional School District area Vocational Technical School District of Mercer County in Mammoth Millstone school district suxus county
is Green Green Township School District stanh Hope School District in Union County Cranford Public School District and in Warren County hacktown Public School District thank you so much it is quite an extensive list and we're thrilled
that so many were able to do this beautifully so um are there first I'd like a motion to accept this list thank you very much board member paa um may I have a second please thank you very
much you did thank you very much uh board member Bennett um is there any discussion or questions at this time yes ma'am um board member Barry I thank you I as wonderful is it is that we have
this list of schools that are demonstrating efficiency um I think it's equally important so how many districts if you could just um repeat I'm trying to get this open achieved um their qac goal of
80% how many schools we just certified the number we just certified yes uh 21 21 and and in in the whole qac review of this period how many are not being certified at this
time 24 24 so more are are not being certified um I when I I look at the list of um why they're not being certified th and and I'd like to really concentrate a little on that those
24 applaud those that that um have achieved the 24 that have not um and have scored below 80% when I'm looking at the list and why there these districts are not certified I'm
seeing it consistently in instruction and programming um you know 75% 76% and is consistently student achievement in ela Math and Science are the things that are holding them back
and I know we're we're talking about qac and the importance of it and I think sometimes when the department of Ed holds a bar and says we want to get all of our students at proficiency level and
we're seeing 24 schools that aren't I I know you guys work tirelessly we're on um policy committees but we really need to make sure that the pendulum is swinging back that we're making sure
that all schools are achieving um as we're coming into a new school year it's it's more important than ever so I'm hoping as we move forward not that we're lessening the bar um in QC and I know we're going to have that conversation
but I think it is really important that we um concentrate on the fact that we need to make sure all students are achieving and the instructional programming piece is something that we need need to be really laser focused on
and how to raise that up so I thought I thought it was important for the public to really understand where our numbers are right now and that our goal is to you know have everyone be proficient we couldn't agree with you
more thank you uh for the districts that uh did not make it what what supports are we giving them or are we if they're that close as as you said said 79% Etc so any District that uh does not
achieve 80% right a district Improvement plan that the county office also helps to facilitate also the the program offices within the department add their support and uh assist the district in any way that they're uh asked to do so
and to look at the results thank you you're wel they also then evaluated on an interim basis as well so they get additional evaluations great and those evaluations occur every six months excellent thank you any other questions at this time if
not I'd like to ask we've had a motion we've had a second any other questions okay um all those in favor to accept these 21 districts that were mentioned please signify by um saying I at this time hi
hi thank you any opposed please sign ify by saying no any abstentions no conflict of interest here all right motion carries thank you so much thank you thank you thank you you can
stand thank you everyone and today I'm happy to announce for I believe the second month in a row uh that we have uh donations to the Marie H katzenbach school for the dep we've got two uh individuals that have
donated funds Denise Ross donated funds totaling $25 and Joan P krinski donated funds totaling $50 These funds are to be used for the sole purpose of supporting the student drama club therefore I request that the board adopts a resolution
approving the acceptance of these donations um and our team here is to uh is available if you have any questions uh about these donations and we can respond to them Kevin I just wanted to point out on the resolution um still has
um it does not have your name as acting commissioner so there's an error on that it doesn't show up when it's printed shows up here okay all those in favor to accept the donations here no other comments um
I'm sorry did we get a motion we did not did we move thank you sir Dr butcher has and Dr Johnson has seconded it uh any more further discussion at this point hearing none all those in favor please say I I any oppos please say
nay motion any extensions motion carries thank you so much and now we'll go ahead to the evaluation on the performance of school districts first discussion thank you and today I presented first discussion the
read-option with amendments to chapter 30 evaluation of the performance of school districts the chapter establishes a comprehensive single accountability system for monitoring and evaluating school districts called the NJ excuse me New Jersey quality single accountability
Continuum or NJ qac as we all know it under NJ qac school districts are evaluated and five key component areas of school district Effectiveness instruction and program fiscal management governance personnel and operations the chapter establishes the
standards and criteria used to evaluate school districts Dr Jordan ship the interim assistant commissioner for the division of field support and services and Mr Robert Gregory executive director of field support and services are here to present an overview and the of the
ruem and respond to any questions you may have thank you commissioner good morning president Goldenberg Vice President Johnson and members of the State Board of Education today executive director Robert Gregory and I will provide an overview of the Department's
proposed amendments at njac 6A col 30 the evaluation of the performance of school districts referred to as cusac cusc was adopted as new rules in 20 in 2007 and most recently reopt it
with amendments repeals and new rules in 2012 and 2017 the chapter is scheduled to sunset on November 1st 2024 cusac Remains the state's primary accountability system for monitoring and evaluating a school district's
performance in five key areas of school district Effectiveness instruction and program or imp fiscal management governance operations and Personnel these five key key areas along with their quality performance indicators are
set forth in the chapters appendices a for school districts and County vocational school districts and appendix B for County Special Services school districts cusac also serves as the Department's basis for initiating or
withdrawing from State intervention as part of cusac each School District completes a self- evaluation formerly known as the district performance review or DPR for five for all five areas each of the five dprs is worth a total of 100
points there are over 60 quality performance indicators set across the five areas of District Effectiveness that place school districts on an improvement Continuum the weights of each performance indicator is based upon the complexity and significance of that
indicator once the district submits their DPR the county offices of education verify I the district compliance and performance for each of the indicators based on Department Records to render a final score on the Continuum a school district that meets
80% or more of the quality performance indicators in each of the five areas is designated as high performing if a school district does not satisfy 80% of the performance indicators in one or more of the five key areas the district must develop a
district Improvement plan or dip and submitt it to the County Office of Education the district works collaboratively with the county offices of Education to develop a dip that identifies targeted areas of improvement on the performance Continuum the County
Office of Education then conducts a six-month interim qac review to monitor District's Improvement efforts note areas of marked improvement and provide technical assistance when needed on the performance continuum currently 560 school districts are
monitored and evaluated through CAC of which 274 or 49% are comprised of any grade configuration raging ranging from kindergarten through grade eight 236 or 42% are K through 12 districts and 50 or
9% are high school only districts cusc also monitors seven County Special Services school districts through performance indicators set at appendix B Charter and Renaissance school projects are not monitored through qac and the
County Special Services school districts that only provide shared time services are also not monitored through qac executive director Gregory will take us through the rest of our presentation Mr Gregory thank you Dr shev good morning president Goldenberg Vice President
Johnson and members of the State Board of Education our presentation today how highlights the most significant and substantive uh changes we are making to chapter 30 most of which are in the
chapter's appendices the non-substantive changes are not included in our presentation most of those non-substantive changes were made to the chapter's rule text sections 1.1 through
8.1 those non-substantive changes fall into two categories the first technical updates which ensure the chapters follows the code's most recent style guide uses gender neutral language
updates citations adds Clarity and removes redundant language the second type of non-substantive updates are process related which primarily streamline and clarify
rules our proposed amendment denes A and B add indicators for new statutory and regulatory requirements implemented since the chapter's last read-option they also rebalance points to provide greater weight for indicators
of more complexity and significance they align njq Sac performance indicators more closely with those in our state Essa plan additionally rebalance points to to equitably apply uh the performance
of all school districts regardless of their grade configuration and finally they shift points from Achievement to growth indicators to Foster and promote continuous improvements for educators and School District Boards of Education
to ensure all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the 21st century a comprehensive list of amended indicator and new proposed indicators based on new statutory requirements
since the LA the chapter's last read-option are Illustrated on this slide while all new statutory requirements are important and this list is comprehensive the addition of new operations indicators 17 18 and sub
indicators 15b and C aimed to ensure all students in our state will remain safe and educated in a warm welcoming environment that fuels and inspires learning with the addition of monitoring
the establishment of Behavioral threat assessment teams a school safety specialist and critical incident mapping with local law enforcement agencies we'll provide additional information regarding new instruction and program indicators momentarily the next two
slides highlight our rebalancing of points at fiscal and personal now DPS before we go forward on that does anyone have any questions at this point all right thank you thank you madam
president increases in point values at dependencies A and B the fiscal DPR are reflected on this slide we have increased points to place greater emphasis on a school district's compliance with njsa 18a
179 which monitors whether a District Board of Education secretary reports are completed and reconciled as required additionally increasing points to ensure school districts file their acfr AMR and
other supporting forms by the date set forth at 18a 23-1 further we're confirming school districts spend within authorized amounts to ensure they remain fiscally sound if we are adding points to an
existing indicator we are removing points from others which is reflected in the lower portion of this table specifically sub indicator 6A B and D which monitor oversight of capital projects in fund 30 and indicator 10
which monitors the development and submission of an annual budget calendar pursuant to 18a 22-7 our next slide highlights the rebalancing of points at personnel where the large shifting points are at
indicator six to place greater emphasis on a districts documentation and evaluation of administrative practices in short whether teachers are being observed and evaluated in accordance to Provisions at
the teach andj act it is ultimately one of the most important factors in Driving School District improvements providing teachers timely feedback that helps them get better and feel supported as our teachers play an integral role in the
future of our democracy our proposed amendments at appendix a the instruction and program DPR are highlighted on this slide as you preview the chart on the left and right it's important to note that qac does
more than Monitor and evaluate School District's compliance to state and federal statutes and regulations the department also evaluates and monitors the quality of Education school districts are providing to their students through student achievement and
curriculum alignment indicators student achievement indicators 1 through 7 provide the department opportunities to promote behaviors that lead to growth and districtwide Improvement while existing indicators 9 through 15 and
proposed new indicator Ator 16 through 18 ensure our school district's curriculums and instruction are aligned to the New Jersey student learning standards established at chapter 8 our amendments that reflect news I'm
sorry there's a question under the am so the the next several slides will'll go into more detail thank you for and you didn't mention number eight I know you mentioned 1 through S and 9 through 16 yes um do you want to talk
about number eight why it was excluded well it's it's not excluded it's still a part of our comprehensive evaluation indicator 8 is uh whether a chief School administrator reports on an annual basis to Performance of all students to its
District Board of Education and the public it's required it is required yes ma'am okay we can go back one slide please our amendments that reflect new statutory curricular requirements at
existing instruction and program indicators 9 through 15 involve adding new sub indicators and three new curricular requirements which required us to rebalance each indicator from four
to three points we have added a new sub indicator to existing indicator 12 social studies to reflect the American Pacific Islander provision that became effective in 2022 additionally two new curricular
requirements for computer science and design thinking along with career Readiness were added as new indicators 16 and 17 finally a catchall for a new statutory CC for any new statutory
curricular requirements as of now there are two the diversity and inclusion uh requirement and the history of persons with disabilities and the lgbtq plus Community future statutory curricular
mandates that are not assigned to a specific content area will be added to the new instruction in program indicator 18 I'll pause if there are any questions um I I do have a question it's more along the lines of uh I guess your
combined presentations today and kind of refers back to uh board member Barry's uh question about inp and um uh specifically how how does um this tie into like the targeted
assistance that are provided to those most needy uh School uh districts and schools within those districts how do you mesh and coordinate those and then the final part of my question is uh the support
from the Department I know we talked a little bit about the county office and I know uh over the years we've uh asked in regards to the regional Achievement Centers and what filled in and has taken that place for uh that on ground support
within uh the counties so can you talk a little bit about that coordinated effort and how those districts that are coming up short in inp and not making uh the uh state of progress how how are you uh addressing sure uh most of the
coordination happens at the county level where our uh County Executive superintendents uh assist Chief School administrators in the development of their dip and implementation of their dip additionally our County Education
Specialists uh coordinate with different program Offices here at the department to support districts and specific indicators that are part of their District Improvement plan uh you made reference to uh I believe uh what we now
call our comprehensive support centers uh and that particular division in the department or should I say that program office uh we identify schools through our Sate plan uh they assist on the
ground with those school districts that fall in the bottom fifth percentile of performance in the State uh so that is identif through our SS state plan our qac is more comprehensive as it relates
to five areas of performance uh related to school district Effectiveness so can you talk a little bit about like the specific Staffing of those uh support uh that are are in those offices the offic so so at the County
office there's four basic I know the county office I'm talking the additional support um uh well we we also have an office that is focused in as as Mr Gregory just indicated on some of our lowest performing schools the bottom 5%
of tital one schools and that is staffed by a complete office including field service people um called the office of comprehensive support and those um those professionals work directly with um with
District level people with building level people they're on the ground and um and they work to implement the um the annual School plan which is a required plan that is developed for all schools that are in status that require comprehensive or targeted assistance and
support is that at the county level this this office you're referring to or is that a departmental that's at the department level but we also have offices that are in the in the north central and southern part of the state that are closer to to those districts so they have physical contact they're in
districts at times and and um um commissioner just go ahead no if you could like provide us in the future um and I know there's been like transition with different um individuals but uh we've asked in the past to kind of have
a clear understanding of how each of those uh Support Services uh how they're staffed how many actual boots on the ground how many people are out there providing that support how are they structured if they're not uh actually
built into the executive County Superintendent offices um are there just the three um regionally located or are there additional so and this this is actually where I was headed so the I I think the the operations are
very different now because so we're looking across these five key indicator areas but then you get into more granular areas so I don't have somebody here sitting here only looking through dips on science curriculum because we have science curriculum Folks at the
department so part of their responsibility in in the case where a district is struggling that area would be to help them so it goes very granular within the department so staff here with expertise in any given area where a district needs assistance could be
brought into to the fold to help them out it's not necessarily A standing committee focused on all of these areas we have folks working on this all of the time but we also are able to app across the expertise within the department on on any of these areas to help districts
uh make those improvements and and with any assistance that they need and where they've fallen short through through the qite process thank you y and just to expand it's all a collaborative effort between What's Happening Here in Trenton as well
as what's happening in the field so the office of standards that supports all of the standard areas that are now um being evaluate all nine of those standard areas we have coordinators for for those areas as well that support the field that support the county offices on that
we have an entire division that's that's dedicated to um children with um with special needs and um and all of us work collaboratively and collectively to make sure that we're addressing the needs of the field and providing that level of support and I I know we have a lot of
board members with questions but I'll wait my turn go ahead please Janette haa uh thank you madam president as you aware I have grave concerns uh that I've mentioned in the past two meetings that we've had and
you've all been very kind and listening to me just bring up the same question over and over again so I I just wanted to bring up in public again I have great concerns with the rebalancing from Achievement to academic
progress um especially as I look looked at the districts that were not certified and I just I this information is not was not I don't believe on the slide or presented to everyone but out of the 21 or 24
districts actually that were did not meet the 80% criteria uh 18 of them were within five points of 80% so I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves I think we are making that turn I think a lot of the
grant and programs that are being offered by the doe are making an impact and we're getting there so I just wanted to be on the record as saying I think that we're getting ahead of ourselves I think that we really need to
maintain that bar very high for our our students um and just focus on ways to raise them up to that bar rather than diminishing the uh standards for achievement yeah we're we're not diminishing the standards for
achievement and if respectfully I disagree we are changing we're rebalancing numbers but we are not lowering standards for achievement but let let us um continue with the perform with our presentation and we can talk specifically about those areas dud I think we have other questions though
already I believe Mary um I could just talk a little bit um get a little more clarification office of comprehensive support um how many school districts are receiving Services currently from the
office of comprehensive support I I don't have the specific number available but I can get that for you but it there are um close to 100 schools that are receiving additional support I I I would imagine just by sitting at all these board meetings and
seeing the number of District that have not received you know have not made that 80% so the office of comprehensive support I think really what um I'm thinking is because we have so many
districts I've been on the board now seven years I I'm seeing more districts not achieving their the qac um bar and becoming High performing I would like for us to be
thoughtful on how we can rise raise up these other school districts and if we're talking about the office of comprehens of support it seems like that they have a very crucial role now in in doing this how are they monitored can
you talk to us a little bit about where where they fit into this process how are they helping um our young people achieve school districts to achieve how are they monitored how are we knowing how are we knowing that
they're effective because seems like an awful lot of districts and and are they too overworked now are there too many districts if we're at a 100 I still I would very much like to see what those numbers are but I I have some concerns
that um how are we digging ourselves out of this hole we can certainly provide the board and the public with a comprehensive report on the office of comprehensive support so it I I don't want to conflate
the two because this is presentation specific to um qac and those um districts that are um that are requ required to do a district Improvement plan a dip is different um from school districts that identify for
comprehensive support and targeted support so it's a little bit different but the reason I shared it is because we have resources to address the needs of lowest performing um school districts and schools and in an effort to help and
support and to close those achievement gaps that are that um that appear throughout the state hugely important so if we can also get some data on how successful are they being yeah yeah um you know let let's look at that as well yeah we'd be happy to do so thank you
has there been a big anybody else first I'm sorry uh board member Keenan thank you I just have a question on slide 10 about the rebalancing points it seemed that many of the indicators were moving up by one or two there's one on there
that's moved up by seven about the documentation of performance can you help us understand the rationale behind such a dramatic increase from Five Points to 12 points it's more than double so that is the Personnel DPR and
that particular practice uh the reason it's double is because it is the focus of how we improve instruction in classrooms whether School administrators and those responsible for evaluating teachers are actually observing them giving them
constructive feedback in a timely manner so that they can Implement that feedback and improve instruction thereafter so it's one of the cornerstones of clinical supervision which is a practice employee to improve instructional practices
implemented by teachers thank you as a followup I just want to know what the patterns were prior to changing the scores were many districts receiving fewer than five points uh in this particular indicator we would have to look at it uh to get accurate
information to you thank you I'd appreciate sure how does this if are there other questions before I how maybe you're going to get into this later in the presentation so so you can say that but how is this affecting subgroups how is
this drilling down yeah we we are going to talk about the the calculation um we can answer that as we talk about the rebalancing between achievement and growth if you give us a a moment we can certainly cover that and another question uh you
had mentioned and I'm so sorry the five indicators at first and now we're moving can you explain a little bit more to uh as to why we're adding it you said we always had more standards right we've always had that and you mentioned about
the legislative act so if you expand on that that would be helpful sure uh just to make sure I'm understanding your question when we refer to five it's five areas of performance that five areas of
performance not the okay not specific indicators and so the act that you said has changed the legislative act can you explain about how that's caused this type of request from
about this sure so anytime uh required legislation uh is passed these are new statutory requirements that were passed since the chapter's last read-option and so we are incorporating them in our evaluation of school districts to ensure
they're implementing those required those required curricul uh requirements we wanted to have a catchall something that was General so that as changes in law come in that we can just fold that into the qac process
without rewriting indicators without coming back to the board and making those changes but what what is it that was changed by the Legislative I'm sorry I'm still trying to understand we tried to put together an entire slide that shared some of that yeah let me just
digress if you wouldn't mind no problem Madam president uh and if we could zero in on slide eight I believe slide eight y uh so this is again a comprehensive
list of new regulations and and statutory requirements that have passed since the chapter's last read-option and so we've indicated what we are adding to our evaluation of school
districts that's what's reflected on this slide so legislation will pass during that seven-year period of time you know before we revise this particular chapter so we wanted an indicator that we could use to evaluate districts on changes in
law that required adding certain things to the curriculum do other states that all do federal testing do they have uh similar things not just Ela and math and science that they're looking
at oh I'm I'm sure they do in terms of um evaluating the performance of their districts but states do it very differently state by state achievement is that what other states are also doing sure they do that as
accountability and a progress and the progress yes academic progress y individual states differ certainly certainly but it's all federally required so there's accountability
that's federally required qac is a state requirement oh um I believe um well do you want to go first Dr R you have had a chance absolutely okay please board member Peña thank you be very brief um
it's just a a thought I had I would find it very helpful if I had a a chart or a a blank QC form that I could review and see exactly where everything goes through the process um I I was looking
through my old documents and you know I I saw the training uh for for QC but it's just so yeah like 100 plus Pages um so if we had almost like just a chart where everyone can see I don't know if anybody else would find that helpful but just something where we we're looking
just like you have the small charts this is worth the Five Points um and only because I go back to um there's one uh can't remember the standard but it's toward six points where it has to do with the cheap
administrator's uh evaluation and I always get stuck with that it's due July 1st you have to in order to get those six points that evaluation has to be completed on a non-tenured chief administrator by July 1st or if not the
board has to complete it by July 1st when do people go on vacation when do we have our our graduations in June when do we have you know it's such a heavy time reorganization meetings for the boards um your school uh board estimate
meetings so and on top of that we're asking ask them to do this and it's it's a shame because the district is losing the six points and you're relying on what's mostly an elected group of people you're hoping that they will make the time to do this so I I don't want um as we're reviewing this I would hope that
we look at what is practical as well thank you I won't ask any more question I promise S I just I just want to jump in the appendex a that is included here that includes that's the that's all the
items and the point values so that's that's included in the package if you look at appendex a is for um for all this and then the county districts have a separate appendex as appendix B so that I think uh for for first part of your question on on the we don't have
that um we have we have this yeah Madam president may I proceed think um I'm sorry Dr R did you question I did I I'm sorry I just want to make sure that this question was whole answer yeah good okay okay Dr rck good morning good
morning morning it's great to see you and thank you uh again for all this work uh Madam president I I need to apologize and certainly to chair Bob for missing in the last policy committee meeting um so we missed you I missed it um just and and I'm not
playing gotcha this is more you know certainly for my ignorance or maybe somebody who's interested in the public you indicated that many of these if not all of these recommended changes are in conjunction
with New Jersey asset plan is that accurate uh some of the specific recommended changes are in alignment with our state ASA plan great that is accurate so are they federally required to be constructed in this manner for
instance Are there specific indicators like proposals that are check the box at the federal level or is New Jersey does New Jersey have the ability to designate what they see as
appropriate or impactful in the qack ACT we we have authority on the state level to create our accountability our qac system the way that we wish to okay so for instance if if if the board
decided that no we can't support you know certain of these in the way in which they're they're being presented right now um we wouldn't fall out of favor compliance at the federal level it depends which indicator you're
looking at sir absolutely so some of our indicat matics has to be there absolutely right some of our indicators uh monitor Federal requir English language arts has to be there participation in the assessments themselves 95% whatever it is has to be
there right those kind of yeah that I I just want to be very clear qac is a state determined accountability system for districts Essa is federal certain FIB we're trying to to do some
alignment which makes sense that we're not that we're not rowing in different directions on on certain things that we're doing right so conceptually that alignment I I think makes a lot of sense okay and the reason I'm asking you know probing question that way is help my thinking in my decision-making process
because sure philosophically I think we're going in the wrong direction we're expanding cusac I think we should be looking at ways to refine it and streamline it make it more efficient and Trust the proc process of the local elections and Board of Education and the requirements that already exist in law
um as well as sixa uh for instance the evaluation of Chief School administrator typically that's contractual it's in the chief School administrator's contract that they're to be evaluated by a period of time every year and that's usually connected to the state July 1st deadline which by
the way you are right July 1 is is in good time you haven't yet even received the the data related to the annual assessments um you know so that's kind of out of line uh so okay so my question then really
is we we are not hemmed in necessarily as board from from a federal regulatory expectation for all of these proposed changes some maybe well we're we're to use your language hemmed in in terms of what's in
the law so we have to abide by what's in the law Q extends the idea behind what is required in terms of holding districts accountable to make sure that that um that there's a state interest in ensuring that children are receiving the best education that we can absolutely in
the state but as for instance like a catchall indicator and anything else that may be put into law does that raise a concern that that would allow the Department of Education
to immediately look for something that may have been passed let's say last week in in a qac this week and I've not yet been able to you know demonstrate whatever it is I mean typically these these items are already in involved in the overall
curriculum and and experiences of students at varying levels um is that a concern at all uh it should not be a concern we we would not uh if a law was just passed expect it to be implemented right right
away uh we do follow you know our 7-year regulatory process uh the catch all is just to allow that particular indicator indicator 18 is just to allow for as new
statutory requirements come into play that are not assigned to a specific content area we have a place in our district performance review right to include it right that makes sense I and again you know this is my own personal
philosophy I have concern with anything that's not related to a specific content area sure with regard to what the government or the state is requiring of the local school district yep okay thank you thank you no problem sir sorry no that was good the um we
continue yeah I just I also wanted to point out that it just it feels like there's such a differential between what we've had and what's been suggested here so I'm
interested in hearing more about the rationale for it so please continue thank you madam president uh this next slide really reviews uh the distinction between achievement and academic progress so our
existing instruction and program indicators one 1 through five are currently used and reflects New Jersey academic performance measures which consist of both achievement and academic progress proficiency at appendix a is
defined as achievement and reflected in our first three indicators Ela Math and Science proficiency represents the percentage of students who are meeting or exceeding grade level expectations
school year on Statewide assessments it's highly correlated to socioeconomic status and other demographics and measures performance at a given moment in time uh student growth percentiles or
SGP are defined at appendix a as academic progress the department uses sgps and our educator evaluation system and our state Essa plan sgps measure relative year year growth compared to
other students with similar prior test scores and have been reported on the New Jersey school performance reports since 2011 can I ask a question there yes sir we on
yeah so going back to Dr Rick's comment student growth percentiles they're not in federal law correct sgps it there are growth measures that we put into but the specific student
growth percentiles that we use I believe I'm accurate in saying those are not a federal law requirement they're not a New Jersey legislative requirement either as I recall so they are part of our state's
Assa plan they're part of our code I'm sorry I didn't hear you they're they're part of our code the board approves it is um a growth measure some states use value added growth some states use um student growth percentile
which is what we do I'm going more back to very specifically what he was referring to as the responsibilities and jurisdictions of the State Board of Education is looking at these and if if someone were
to agree with his position that we're doing Mission creep as opposed to reduction and and simplicity is student growth percentiles one of those options I yeah if okay we can we can go
back and research we have an answer for and talk to me about what the legal basis is for student growth percentiles okay that that's the simplest way okay because I believe there is no legal basis in the feds there things that allude to there's
no legal basis in state law but things that allude to and and this is something that we have educational expertise decided was something that we wanted to pursue as a way of meeting other
standards so so we can provide a more this we're we're going now veering off of this is the evaluation tool and getting digging into other areas so we can provide a separate a separate briefing on the what the basis for those
things are I think what the the point we're trying to make here is that this as a state we have Federal requirements requirements that we need to meet in order to meet the the the federal standard the state of New Jersey has put
forth policies procedures in an array of tools to meet those requirements that abide both the federal and state laws that's the rubric under which we're working using those tools that we've established now we're moving into our
evaluative tool of those tool of those mechanisms that have been put in place to abide by both state law and the the federal requirements that are that we face and I'll I'll go even further I I believe that we had had to submit to the
federal government that package and our package included student growth percentiles and was the basis for getting their approval which is a broader approval of having an accountability system
so I'll go further then I'll shut up e even though it's not a specific requirement in federal law even though it's not a specific requirement in state law it's what the Department of Education along with the State Board of
Education did to come up with a a reasonable rational system that would comply with the federal requirement that we have an accountability system yes that I believe that that's
correct um and and our effort is to align our efforts right and and and I guess in Final could we change it if we wanted to because it was in our purview sure but in the process we would have to come up
with something different that would allow us to submit it to the feds to get their approval on some other General requirements such as the requirement that each state have an accountability system uh just one final thing would it be possible um commissioner for the
development of a cross walk where we could actually see side by side those three uh components the uh things that we're you know looking to uh move forward with so not that this is you know I I understand it's a separate
thing but you would mention that we're trying to coordinate and it would be a lot more um easier to digest I think if we had that comparative analysis side by side to see how qac is connected with
what the feds are asking us to do does that make sense I I think it does and I so we will we will provide some comparisons but I think what I I I want to refocus us on this conversation this is a state tool we're talking about a
state tool separately we are abiding by our federal requirements and so what we're trying to do is make sure as we do things change over a period of time we haven't updated qac since 2017 so Federal changes have happened State
changes have happened so we're trying to update both to make sure that we are consistent with everything that's happening both at the state and federal level but that is not this uh qac piece that we're talking about right now the
proposal that's before us is not is is outside of the qag piece we're talking about so I I think it's good background but I just I want to reenter the conversation um because uh I I
there's a lot of moving pieces here but uh as an overarching thing qac looks at a wide swath of what's going on in a district and is looking to make sure that our districts are complying with the rules that are set forth a lot of it
has happened requirements in state law when the state passes a new law that requires a curriculum this is the mechanism that we use to ensure that they are complying with that and so when we look at those additional uh uh indicators to review that those elements
of curriculum are being implemented in our district this is the mechanis mechanism that we do it so I I want to make sure that we focus on that part of the conversation or you know just a general recognition of what this part is versus the kind of statutory
requirements go through the legislative process but yes absolutely we'll we'll pull some uh summary together I I just as long as you're pulling things together um I I know we had asked this um in the past from
2017 to today can we get a list of all the school districts the qac scores so that we can look at are we going up going down where are we doing we're talking about changing the system and going to looking at growth maybe the
system we have will really give us um the direction that we need so that we can see whether we really are making progress instead of changing the system um it it may be the road map that we need so I'd like to before we make any changes see from
2017 to current how you know where our schools are falling yep we're getting that data together for J no thank you madam president I and commissioner thank you I I just want to be clear the reason why I was asking questions related to the federal government because in the past and some of you may remember this we've we've
been considering recommendations that do cross over and um the board has found itself in a position where if we were going to make a change to a proposed recommendation it may have an impact to something that had
already been approved at the federal level so that was the that they're kind you know what I mean yeah I wasn't trying to go down and rabit hole thank you may we proceed yes sir thank you uh while our proposed amendments Place greater weight on growth they keep
a significant percentage of points and achievement to mirror our state as a plan at Ela and math achievement we're going from 10 to 7.5 points for K GR8 districts and 7.5 to5 five points for K
through 12 districts for science achievement we are going to Five Points for all school districts academic progress or student growth is going from 10 to 15 points for K to 8 and K to 12 districts if I can draw your attention
to the table on the right specifically the last two rows we are flipping not disregarding our achievement and progress indicator totals for K through 8 and K through2 districts and here's
why growth assessence assesses student progress from year to year regardless of their starting point and provides one of the clearest Windows into how educators in school systems are helping students achieve Great Heights the goal of our
amendment is to provide school districts points for moving all students forward at varied performance levels so incorporating both achievement and growth allows us to recognize that school districts serve diverse
populations and in order to gain proficiency or achievement you have to experience growth we want to acknowledge schools moving all students forward by incentivizing growth and we want to
ensure uh that we are doing this because it provides us a more complete picture of a school district's impact on all of their students students similar to the Continuum for improvement that school districts undergo when they do not meet
80% of our performance indicators in a particular area we want school districts to focus on those students who have not yet met proficiency and incentivize growth so that they can get to
proficiency uh I'd like to discuss two more proposed amendments specifically at indicator 3 science achievement our I'm sorry just before you move on so is there a rubric on how you're
measuring growth growth is measured based upon the the student growth percentile which looks at relative growth of a group of like scoring students from one year and how their scores spread in the next year
when they take that as assessment and that determines um basically their percentile rank in that particular group and then um we watch that year to year so I I'm the teacher in the classroom how am how exactly am I doing that if I
handed out a test and kids were getting an 80 or 90% on the test I'm thinking that they're mastering some of the information how am I in my classroom day in and day out measuring a student's growth
it it's a very different metric when you look at relative growth versus just a static growth from from one assessment to the next to the next assessment um the sgps have been used for close to a decade I I think in this state and we
use it as part of um teacher evaluation as well as qac as well as um um other indicators that are Local District uses for for msgp um so it it's a more complex indicator of of growth because it says
that we're always looking at at growth that you never meet you know that that particular goal you're always growing and in many ways I think that most teachers most Educators most principles most superintendents they're always looking at at growth the learning versus
a particular bar that we're we're jumping over we're doing both here and and I think I want to make that very clear it's not that we're saying um we're not doing achievement or we're only doing growth that's not the case at all we're rebalancing we are we are
moving growth ahead to in order to try to incentivize growth as a metric that is so important to um to evaluating overall um progress that we see in the state of New Jersey and as I shared with um with the policy committee districts
that grow schools that have significant growth well above the norm and the typical need to be elevated need to be celebrated I mean that that is some very very important work that is going on within our state and as I shared with with this state board when we looked at
the um State achievement results and I shared with you the achievement gaps that we see between children with plenty and children that qualify for for free and reduced lunch the Gap is extraordinary closing that achievement Gap as a matter of policy requires a
focus on growth and that and that's really our our intent here and and I I always think in our classrooms our teachers are always thinking about growth I I couldn't agree with you more we have amazing teachers and they focus
every day on growing their students in their classroom I'm not sure how it's translating into achievement I don't understand what your time frame is how long are they growing or it translates
into achievement so I I think I need to see a little more data information timelines to you know as part of supportive of this conversation be happy to provide that the the SGP measures on state assessments from one year to the next so
it's a it's an annual growth met is it the same student or the next group of students it's it's um it is students with similar scores or or um that score similarly so it's different students every
year it's redone scoring yeah because what happens is that the scores differ the following year so what was similar in one year differs the following year and then and then is calculated who are the who's um
those similar scores for that particular cohort that particular group of students I think and when will the achievement Be Imagined then if as we're following along I that's that's the piece I need to get to yeah it it happens in time and
you know it really depends so if a if a um if a school has a high percentage of children that are very close to the proficiency level and we see growth could be one year that all of a sudden their their achievement is much higher
if it's much different than um than proficient and those scores are low it may take additional time and that's how Essa is built also it's built off of a time frame that over time as we see growth we see Higher Achievement scores doesn't happen overnight we know it
doesn't happen overnight but the key to doing it is to make sure we incentivize growth we're putting a lot of points into incentivizing growth you were about to say about the science and I think that that's a very uh important point to bring up do you want to go ahead about
that yes Madam president thank you uh at imp indicator 3 science achievement our proposed amendments entail reducing the number of points for K to 8 and K to 12 districts and adding a science achievement indicator for 9 through 12
districts to support our rebalancing of points from Achievement to growth and the reality that in K 8 and K to 12 districts the Science assessment is administered in grades five and 8 and for high schools grade 11 therefore
achievement scores tend to represent fewer students keep in mind in 2017 when the chapter was last reopt it the state did not have an operational High School Science assessment the assessment became
operational in 2019 therefore we want to provide a more comprehensive picture of a District's performance uh for all school districts regardless of their gr configuration and we want to do this in an equitable manner um I believe board member paa has
a comment or a question yes um so I apologize I would like to go back to slide 14 just to again I I really want to stress I understand
you're rebalancing you want to put you know the focus on academic progress what what slide 14 14 please thank you if we're looking at the current indicators the current imp values
everything's on an even level we have everything is worth 10 points Ela achievement math achievement science achievement Ela academic progress and math academic progress when we're looking over at the proposed imp values
we are making our progress worth double what the achievement is for ELA and math and then now you're talking about um science achievement there's nothing to measure science sence progress and we're behind in science we really
are so it's it's concerning whether it be computer uh science you know our physical sciences I if you can just comment on that well computer science is not even included in this science right
it's a new additional that's a a new curricular require so it's not it's not in this science achievement of of that so that's not part of it thank you for there's no progress for ass science yeah we we yeah we can't calculate it because
it's not a year after year assessment it's not an annual assessment it's fragmented so again uh students taking in grades five and eight and then again in grade 11 but would you hope there would be progress between grades five and
eight I understand it's not a yearly but absolutely just the point yep thank you uh Madam president any other questions at this point if not please sir thank
you I just lost my PowerPoint I apologize I um page 17 is about the proposed amendment for imp DPR sure we just need to get it on the screen if we could page 17 thank you
uh so our last subst substantive proposed amendment is regarding State graduation rates at indicator six and we are proposing to increase the point value by 10 as a consequence of our efforts to rebalance points towards
growth and the fact that high schools do not have growth indicators keep in mind students are required to meet rigorous course standards and content areas in order to receive a high school diploma in the state of New Jersey further our 9
through 12 achievement scores only reflect 9th grade assessments taken roughly after seven or eight months uh when a student enrolls in a 9 through 12 School District our shift allows us to have a more comprehensive picture of the
district and their impact on student achievement over time from grades 9 through 12 as opposed to just grade nine similar to to our decision to rebalance weights for instruction and program towards a more growth Focus we are rebalancing weights for 9 through 12
districts looking at graduation which reflects the progress students are making over time and is a more accurate reflection of instruction going on in classrooms as opposed to relying heavily on a grade nine assessment finally we
all know the research behind the benefits of graduating from high school as it relates to earning potential and we want to ensure our students are graduating high school College and Career ready which our course standards promote for those districts that have
low graduation rates this indicator really highlights an area of folky that will be the Cornerstone of their District Improvement plans and that concludes uh our presentation this morning we'll take
time for any additional questions so if if this were to be approved how would this affect our CAC districts that have not passed so far I'm sure you've done an assessment of that before you brought this forward to
us yeah we're we're we're still running those analyses what what makes this complicated is that we're looking at dprs that we haven't evaluated in the past so we're adding additional dprs that we not it's not like you could just take what we've done in the past rerun
the numbers and be able to um to do that quickly and easily we'll have to make some assumptions and that's what we're we're currently doing how are we doing well I have many questions but this is our first presentation so I don't know if anyone
else has questions at this moment for them to come back with information perhaps I believe I believe board member any has just I don't know this um how many
different Pathways exist for graduation if I if we can the board members can get that graduate the would you like me to run them down for you if you could if you could sure so you can either graduate through your typical graduation requirements including a the
um GPA the graduation proficiency assessment if a child does not pass the graduation proficiency assessment that but completes all other graduation requirements in terms of seat time in terms of courses that then they can um graduate through an alternative assessment then there's a list of menu
of alternative assessments that are available um and the third part is through a portfolio appeal process with the district um develops a an assessment that is Guided by by the state on assessing certain standards to provide
an alternative means for the student to demonstrate um Readiness for gradu situation through a portfolio the portfolio assessment yeah any other questions or comments please Dr R
sure so good that um pursuing to Pathways we had talked about making sure that our students who are interested in serving the nation have a pathway to gradu through the aspat process we had difficulty with regard to receiving data from the
Department of Defense in order to align uh the standards for for graduation high school with what's expected for military service do we have an update on where we are with that as a as a pathway to graduation in the state of New Jersey I think we all agree that it is very very important uh for students who are
interested in in participating and and serving the nation to have a pathway to do that that um and we're talking again for folks who haven't heard me talk about this um these are not students are choosing this Pathway to try to escape other types of of standards for
graduation these are folks who have already uh in contact with the recruiter signed the contract they're ready to go any update yeah we we don't have an update from what we shared with you the last time unfortunately the Department of Defense um was not willing to release
information that allowed us to do the equivalency study to determine the appropriate cut off for New Jersey um for graduation but we we continue to care deeply about this particular issue and and we'll explore what we can explore but at this point um
we do not have an update for the State Board just if I could add so U My Hope was to have a solution for this graduating class we were not able to work through all the logistics for this class um but I fully expect for next
graduating class we'll have a pathway for those students that have taken the an thank you commissioner I I really appreciate that and thank you very much as well for for the work there and I was going to suggest and it sounds like you're already doing it um if we can't get assistance from the Department of
Defense related to data understandably if you know state secret or national secret I guess um allowing school districts to create a pathway that meets with the Department's approval for those who wish to do it um is another
mechanism that we might want to consider y so for instance I put together a plan I send it to the department you review it um it has indicators there related to academic Performance Plus uh the completed ASAT we might be able to say sure and just to yeah put a finer point
on it exactly we we were not able to get the data that we needed directly from the Department of Defense because of how they process those exams so what we've decided to do is exactly that go another way that's entirely within the state's control and so that's the that's those are the traps that we're running through
now but I fully expect by this next school year we that's great thank you thank you that'll be very appreciated Madam president yes ma'am um so asbab was included as we looked at Alternatives in
the past yes and so pursuing how to make use of that going forward I think is very important I also think it's important that we continue and get the information we requested so that everyone sitting on the board can have a clearer understand understanding of
where there's connectivity between what is in qac and where it allows us to meet the requirements for the feds for Essa as well as other data because it is already July we're looking at read-option in November so we don't need
to let time lag because we need to use the process that affects all districts in the state of New Jersey and make sure it is as shorted up as possible and I will go on record saying I think that it is an incentive especially to your
question about subgroups when you have communities that struggle with a myriad of challenges and are trying to meet needs and show Improvement for all young people they need to be incentivized to press forward they need to be urged to
take a closer look to see when progress is occurring how it's coming about and how to escalate it to get to board member Barry's question of when achievement is reached there may not be a definitive date but you need to be definitive about progress no child
should be going to school every day and standing on the same rung of the ladder in June that he or she started on in September so progress is important in every aspect and I think we need to embrace it and we need to find a way to include it thank you thank
you uh Dr rck this is more housekeeping and again I beg the pardon of policy committee if this is something you already talked about in the past there had been items in qac that if you were un successful of achieving them you sort of got double
dinged we used to say um because if you didn't get this one you definitely weren't getting that one they were connected curricularly sometimes sometimes from functions in the in the business department sometimes from Board of Education governance functions um did we go through cusac to determine if
those types of pitfalls still exist andate them uh we we we did uh because it seems like there there are still some double ding ones in other words you're giving points for and I and
I'm sorry my thing is already closed but one of them was about superintendence and contracts or something but it was or getting signed and it was already in another area so I think there still might need to be a bit more review on
that um I I saw it somewhere the district well no no because I think yeah because I we have more detail now so um but that would be of interest as well and I know
with science i' heard from Superintendent at one of their meetings that um of course they don't get tested as often so it was too large a score to be equal with Ela and to be equal with uh mathematics but um
I think you know that was one of the things that came out pretty clearly but I I don't know the detail on others I'd be interested in um groups also coming forward to hear at public testimony what their thoughts are on this as well
people who deal with this every day and I'm so grateful that um Dr Rick is here from a superintendent perspective as well but we we really need to think carefully because it feels like there's more emphasis right now on progress than
on actual achievement and I might be incorrect so I'll look at it more closely but I want to make sure that achievement is still the goal of the districts because that's not it's National since the pandemic we've lost
footing and we're trying to catch up and remediate uh learning remediation but we need to keep that Focus so so and I I come on Dr R's question so I we have gone through this
and I I think we'll we'll if you any items that you've identified where you think there's overlap we should look at them but there are I mean there are some things that naturally overlay and we still need to make sure that they they they're done for a compliance uh aspects but I'm happy to dig in more on those
and and make sure that we've we've covered those bases I know that that in the 2017 iteration of this that was a major point of emphasis so I don't think it required as much in this go round um but we we can certainly take a look at it um and and Madam president I couldn't
agree more this is and that's I think you you hit the nail on the head that post pandemic everyone here everyone in in the audience has been talking about thinking about living and breathing helping our students we've talked about
learning loss there's uh 18 other terms I think we've talked about with that coming out out of Co and it's about helping our students get back on track help them get back to the achievement that we know that they can they can
accomplish and that is the undercurrent that is happening nationally and at the state level and I think that's what's being manifested here in this proposal in those in Trans in shifting to the the
the growth measures because that that is what hard Focus has been so I I I could not agree more and I think that's at a high level that's what this proposal is attempting to do we will continue to pull together information
and answer these questions but at a very high level that's the goal here is to take that feeling that we've all had for the last four plus years in helping our kids uh address what's happened but this goes beyond the pandemic for many many
years we've seen subgroup differences and we need to refocus our efforts on that across the board um so I I I look forward to you know working with all of you addressing all of these questions but I I think at a high level we're all
pulling in the same direction and so we just we need to work through those details and help uh us all come to a collective understanding of of what we're working towards and I think um I think we have a lot of agreement uh in in that regard um but I really
appreciate that those comment that that hit home for me uh as part of this proposal thank all right um if we can continue now no more questions no more comments at this time or I don't want to cut anyone off but um if there are no more
I'd like to ask if there's any new business no thank you thank you uh may I please have a motion to adjourn thank you may I please have a second second thank you all those in favor
please say I not in favor don't say nay uh motion adjourn uh meeting adjourn thank you thank you e