e e e [Music] check check thank you good morning everyone thank you for joining us we're delighted to have you here wishing you uh had a very
lovely Thanksgiving time and hopefully a wonderful holiday season coming up so I'd like to call this meeting to order New Jersey open public meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to
attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest 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 time and
place thereof posted in the Department of Education Secretary of State's office and notice has been given to the State House Press cores the governor's office and the state board agenda subscribers and as a quorum is present this meeting will now come to order may please have a
motion so thank you very much board member Bennett may I please have a second second second second thank you very much board member Barry um all those in favor please say
I okay for those muted maybe raise your hand m board member feno thank you and with that we will adjourn to Executive session whereas in order to protect the personal privacy
and to avoid situations wherein the public interest might be deserved the open public meetings act permits public bodies to exclude the public form the public from that portion of a meeting at which certain matters are discussed now therefore be it resolved that consistent
with provision njsa 12 10 col 4-12 B the State Board of Education will now adjourn to Executive session today discuss personnel and legal matters may I please have a motion thank you very much board member Bennett may I please have a second
second thank you very much board member Barry all those in favor please say I I I thank you any opposed please say n we'll go into it passes the board will now go into executive session we will be
back about 10:00 a.m. thank you very much than e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e [Applause] okay ready
I am are you good morning everyone thank you for being here happy December I hope Thanksgiving was lovely good to see all the smiling faces and for you tuning in thank you very much um I'd like to First please call our
meeting to adjourn from executive session whereas in order to protect the I'm sorry let me turn the page like to uh resume the public meeting whereas consistent with the
provision of njsa 10 column 4-12 B the state board will now adjourn from executive session to resume the Open Session portion of our meeting May please have a motion motion thank you very much board member Peña may I please have a second thank you all those in
favor I appreciate it board memb shahada all those in favor please say I I I anyos please say nay motion perries thank you um I'd like to please ask um board
member Dr Keenan if you would lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you allegiance to the flag flag of the United States of am stands one
nation indivisible for all thank you all right so we're starting out the month with the bang and on our state board meetings they are accessible to the public and viewing on the YouTube
channel one um channel on the YouTube channel and I would like to advise you that the YouTube provides readily accessible languages and translation options with close captioning if you are viewing the simoc cast at this time you
can use the settings option in YouTube for information about subtitles automatic translations and close captioning in various languages um our meeting minutes from November 6th
2024 I'd like to ask the board members to please vote on the minutes uh I'm sure you've reviewed them may I please have a motion to accept them motion thank you very much may I please have a second thank you very much all those in favor please say I
I thank you any oppose please say nay any extensions yes an exstension thank you abstain thank you uh the state board will not be receiving public testimony today as there are no educational topics
up for discussion for the month of January the state board will receive public testimony on the proposed amendments to chapter 32 State School District Operations related to the state excused
absence for civic events Additionally the state board will also receive testimony from registered members of the public on any educational topic of their choice as the January public testimony session is an open topic public
testimony session interested members of the public May register for public testimony beginning on December 19th until noon on January 2nd 2025 we have four things to go over in
my report today and I'd like to begin by introducing Anna pasait our wonderful student for us she's a senior at Palmyra High School in Burlington County my home county her advisors are Miss Kelly Jones and M Kim
Martino I Believe Miss Jones is here if you want to stand up thank you for coming thank you and now we'd love to hear the student report thank you thank you president Goldenberg and good morning everyone this month I
wanted to discuss something being used less and less in schools cell phones in recent years states such as Ohio Indiana South Carolina Florida and Louisiana have passed Statewide laws limiting cell phone usage in schools this year many school districts throughout New Jersey
have followed suit cracking down on cell phone usage by enforcing stricter rules regarding cell phones or in some cases Banning them altogether there is no denying that cell phones can be a distraction in an educational setting however there are a multitude of effects this Happ has on
students both positive and negative some schools have banned cell phone use strictly during class time which is helpful to teachers giving them the ability to teach students without the distraction of cellular devices many schools have taken it a step further including pyra High School where I
attend and have implemented a full cell phone ban for the school year this includes during lunch in the hallways and during study halls any student seen using a cell phone during school hours is subject to their phone being confiscated for failure to follow the rules many of the specifics are left up
to individual teachers such as whether they require students to put phones in a pocket chart or just away in a bag and whether students are given a warning before enforcing punishments at the start of the school year and along with the announcement of this policy many students were very upset with the phone ban feeling as
though they should be able to use their phone when not in class or at least in the cafeteria and study halls as this ban has remained in full force many students are now beginning to see some of the Poss positives of the policy though others still haven't fully come around to start with the positives most
of my classmates agree that they feel much more productive with any free time personally I can say that for work done in class students are also using free time to socialize with one another many students bring a deck the policy St students have gone so far as to say their grades are better without
the distraction of a cell phone they can pay better attention in class and therefore are more living overall less reliant on an outside of school and and don't consider cell phones as necessary as they did before the positives to cell phone bands are certainly a step in the right direction however there is still room
for improvement one of the things students complain about the most surrounding the policy is the prohibiting of communication with parents or Guardians students text their parents about all sorts of things including getting picked up from school after school plans and more many
students also miss being able to check certain things on their phone that they aren't able to on a laptop such as reviewing something in their camera rule or Notes app meor Moran a senior at Palmyra says I feel the phone policy has made me more productive but I also use my phone for school related stuff like
applying to colleges I also started playing more games on the Chromebook this shines a light on another factor of the policy that remains a battle the use of gaming websites on school issued laptops the Administration has made an effort to restrict any websites that may be considered games as a means of
extending restrictions on non-educational screen usage however students are often able to find available games online many students say that since the cell phone ban they are more likely to play games on the computer than they were before some say that they sometimes struggle to resist the temptation to
play an online game even when a teacher is instructing whereas before the policy was enforced students were able to take a brain break on their phones during lunch during a lunch period and then pay better attention during class which is certainly something to be considered when implementing phone policies it isn't controversial to say
that self phones are of are an often harmful distraction in schools however the way to deal with this issue isn't so clearcut many schools across the state are focusing their attention and efforts toward implementing new phone restrictions and it's important that the student perspective whether positive or
negative be considered thank you thank you so when this um decision was made in palmire did the students come and testify at the school board meeting um I don't believe so
what about the parents I don't I don't think so thank you any other questions at this time an I just want to clarify it was the other students that were doing Tik Tok instead of their homework right that
wasn't that wasn't you certainly not you thank you we appreciate very much and this is very important for us to hear so thank you so much thank you um and now we'll go ahead and go to our
school board committee reports um Dr Johnson would you like to go ahead and speak about the instructional policy committee good morning uh the instructional policy committee met on November 15
2024 to discuss the3 24 Statewide assessment results excuse me since this item is on today's agenda I will foro my report okay thank you um board member bobov uh would you like to discuss the
November 21st administrative policy committee meeting I'd be happy to I'd be happy to um the administrative policy committee met on November 21st uh this
year 2024 to discuss chapter 32 School District Operations amendments to address excused absences for students in grades 6 through 12 to attend a Civic event since this item is on today's
agenda for first discussion I will forego my report okay um now we have a very special recognition and it's for New Jersey Educational professionals and I would like to extend
a special welcome today to today's honores and special guests um the dedicated Educators and outstanding students that you represent are why we are honored to take this opportunity
today to celebrate your accomplishments this year and every year it's important that we recognize New Jersey Jersey's exemplary leaders and administrators all of you whether you were in a school or a district administrator or a family
member who came to celebrate your family members or a friend or a colleague who support our honores please know that we recognize and appreciate all that each of you do for our students today we have the privilege of honoring the
superintendent of the year the school business administrator of the year and the vision principles of the year so we'll begin with the first recipient that we honor today for the 2025 Jersey superintendent of the Year award this
award recognizes superintendents who are remarkable education leaders and who have vision and Imagination and above all the empathy for the students that they serve thank you for the New Jersey Association of
school administrators for your commitment to this annual program it's my pleasure to ask Dr Michael Lusa president of the New Jersey Association of school administrators to introduce our 2025 New Jersey superintendent of the
Year Dr Lusa if you could please come to the podium and introduce the deserving recipient and their guest good morning and thank you president Goldenberg thank you members of the State Board of Education thank you commissioner damer thank you members
of the Department of Education and all the guests who are here with us uh today like President Goldenberg said uh my name is Mike Lusa I'm the immediate past president of the njasa and I'm the superintendent of the school district of the cadams it is a great honor for me to
present the njasa selection of the 2025 New Jersey superintendent of the Year Jack Hurley Chief education officer of the Rutherford school district Mr Hurley is now a contender for the national superintendent of the Year
award from the American Association of school administrators in September NJ njasa also recognized honor uh also recognized the other Regional superintendents of the year including do Tammy Kramer
Kramer of the Neptune Township Schools and Thomas Farrell of the Brick Township Public School District njasa introduced the three regional superintendents of the year at the annual fall Workshop in Atlantic City aasa will celebrate each
state representative and announce the national superintendent of the year at its National Conference on education in March 2025 this prestigious award now in its 38th year honors the talent and vision of educational leaders across the United States the selection qualifications for
the state and National superintendent of the Year include meeting the needs of students demonstrating communication strength a commitment to professional development and growth and significant Community involvement additionally at the state and Regional levels njasa has a qualification that addresses service
with the county affiliate and njasa at large kudos to Jack Hurley for a career spanning 47 years in the Rutherford public schools which is a prek through 12 school districts serving about 2600
students I did say 47 years appointed Chief education officer in 2014 his earlier roles included teacher supervisor assistant principal and high school principal Mr Hurley's extensive experience and commitment to the district have established him as a
respected leader admired by staff admired by the Board of Education and admired by peers in other districts during his superintendency Jack Hurley introduced preschool classes and 18 to 21 transition program and a restructuring
of school facilities for enhanced space and curriculum expansion a $45 million referendum passed in 2019 and completed in 2023 improved and expanded the district's six buildings this year the district is implementing profile of a
graduate to unify curricular M growth it is a today joining Jack will be his for [Applause] can I have think you never go [Applause]
thank you very much to the njasa and to Dr Lusa and congratulations again to Dr Hurley thank you and now we will honor and recognize the school business administrator of the year um it is our next honorey uh the
New Jersey Association of school business officials annually presents this award to an individual who demonstrates leadership service to the profession and is involved in so many projects that promote excellence in school business
administration I would like to thank New Jersey Association of school business officials for making this program possible as it remains a Hallmark achievement in the school business field it is my pleasure to welcome Mr Matt Clark assistant executive director of
the New Jersey Association of school business officials to introduce this year's recipient thank you very much good morning and thank you uh president Goldenberg and the State Board of Education along with acting commissioner
damer and in New Jersey Department of Education I see many friends in the audience um that I've had the pleasure of meeting with over the past few years um for today's recognition especially um we're very excited to go ahead and talk about our recipient each
year members of the New Jersey Association of school business officials select six committee then choose one of the six in the school bus as its School business administrator of the Year this year's selection is known by many Dr
Diane Fox she's the assistant superintendent for business and the board secretary at the Middletown ship public schools in Cape May County where she has been since 2012 she currently oversees a 60 million budget 2,900 students that Encompass
four schools from preschool through grade grade 12 Diane is the epitome of dedication and excellence and educational Administration with a focus on business operations Diane has overseen large
construction projects recently a 25 million doll Bond referendum and she was one of the leads for starting full day preschool Dan Diane has 24 years of commitment of committed service she has
left an indelible mark on the Middle Middle Township School District and Beyond Diane's commitment to service shows as she has filled many roles outside of the district Diane has served
as a New Jersey asbo trustee New Jersey asbo president chair member and member to every Committee of the New Jersey asbo uh group in addition she has been the Kate May the asbo president she has
also served as the reader for the asbo international annual conference and the meritorious budget award committee Diane is committed to bettering herself every day so she doesn't know how to go ahead and let the grass grow beneath her feet Diane is
committed um to bettering herself by she went on and and received her PhD in organizational lead leadership with a K12 educational focus and has completed her certificate in education Finance from the Georgetown University sponsored
by asbo International she is described by many as knowledgeable thorough and a do the right thing professional Diane keeps all things in perspective and goes beyond by taking on additional responsibilities which makes
all organizations and who work with her better a recurring theme for BA is very simple and that's what Diane uh you'll see in Diane Diane loves family life she and her husband of 35 years Rodney take pride in their three
children's accomplishments as said by a retired ba recently Diane is one of the best Diane personifies the distinguished service award and school business administrator of the year it's the relationships she's
built with her peers colleagues and staff she cherishes and more importantly it's her knowing that each year when the students of Middle Township High School walk across the stage to receive their diploma she can take pride in the fact
that she had a little something to do with it especially with their success with that I am happy to present the 2024 New Jersey school business administrator of the Year Dr Diane Fox from the middl Township Public Schools
Dr Diane Fox is accompanied by her husband Rodney Fox [Applause] sorry
than [Applause] and last but not least we have the Visionary principal of the year as we recognize his the accomplishments this
is the 23rd Co cohort to be honored for providing leadership that inspires excellence in learning and and teaching thank you to the New Jersey principles and supervisors Association for your commitment to this annual program it is
my honor and pleasure to introduce M Karen Binger executive director of the New Jersey principales and supervisor Association to introduce this year's recipient welcome thank you thank you everyone and good morning
I would like to first thank president Goldenberg acting commissioner damer uh the entire State Board of Ed the Department of Education and especially two of my uh colleagues back there Mary Reese and Denise heberger who are in integral in uh this selection process
and celebratory process um for principles so principles are the second most impactful people in schools after teachers and when you hear a little bit about Lindsay and Neil you will understand exactly why they so richly
deserve this recognition so it's my honor this morning to um introduce to you the njpsa Visionary Elementary School principal of the Year Dr Lindsey gtis the principal of Franklin Township School in Quaker toown Dr gdus has leveraged her passion
for sustainability digital instruction and early childhood education to fulfill the school's mission of nurturing responsible respectful members of a Democratic Society under Lindsay's leadership the school has earned for the past four years silver certification
through the sustainable Jersey for schools program for its numerous sustainability initiatives that enrich learning and Elevate School culture for example students have the chance to learn and practice electric vehicle engineering and energy conservation
through the empowered schools program the fifth grade students perform regular get this energy audits at the school and use their findings to propose changes that make Franklin Township a better Steward of the environment these
Endeavors have engaged students from preschool to eth grade by not only fostering Hands-On learning but also instilling a sense of responsib ility and environmental Consciousness among students Lindsay has also secured a $10,000 award through sustainable Jersey
for schools to establish a Hydroponics program related lessons will be provided to all students during the steam class and Community Partnerships will be formed to pre present to students on Farming and hydroponics for the last two years
through Dr Gus's initiative Franklin Township received funds to expand access to highquality pre school programs through the preschool expansion Aid in addition to these efforts Lindsay has integrated principles of trauma informed care into the school's teaching
color uh culture rather through the dreams project as part of Dr Gus's recognition njpsa has awarded Franklin Township Schools $10,000 which Lindsay will use to assist the PTA in creation of an outdoor
classroom additional support for the nurtured heart efforts will be included in the dreams project and njpsa provided Lindsay with a $2500 personal award she also received special recognition as a National Distinguished Principal by the
National Association of Elementary School principles it is apparent that Lindsay implements her personal Vision daily at Franklin Township school she says I will be an honest and collaborative leader who inspires others while having a strong work ethic I will
be a transparent Communicator who will support the academic personal and professional growth of students staff and myself and as we were talking before her staff is just besides themselves excited that their principal has earned this recognition as I know we all are as
well please join me and welcoming up Dr lindsy gtis her hus her husband Steve Timco and uh Mary Reese and Denise HEC Berger from njpsa to be a part of this celebration with us she runs the broad congratulations again
[Applause] aren't I the lucky one I have two of these today which is just wonderful it is really a pleasure to introduce to you the njpsa Visionary secondary school principal of the Year Dr Neil Birdie the
former principal of the John a KUSI Middle School whose and Neil's accomplishments actually recently resulted in his selection as the Director of secondary education in Cherry Hill where his leadership can now support more schools not just his former
middle school when Dr Bird's middle school students returned from remote learning after the pandemic he realized different structures were needed to make in school education effective again together with his staff Neil introduced new academic and social initiatives
entitled KUSI cares a framework that addresses the school's expectations and values around the way members of the school Community conduct themselves KUSI cares asks each student and staff member to care for themselves care for their
school and care for others the belief is that if everyone accomplishes these goals KUSI middle school will be a better place to learn to work and to grow additional structures were introduced to KUSI including Mustang mentoring opportunities for service
learning space safe clubs and academic intervention Dr birdie added the position of student Advocate who is charged with helping students in need after the programs were in place attendance increased and disciplinary
infractions decreased as part of Dr Bird's recognition njpsa has awarded KUSI Middle School $10,000 which Neil used to expand extracurricular activities in addition njpsa provided Neil with a
$2,500 award himself he also received special recognition by the National Association of Secondary School principles as the state principal of the year in the recent njpsa video that we did on each of our winners that highlighted uh Neil's accomplishments he
commented I have this conversation with kids frequently because I know they're not going to remember the math test or the five paragraph essay they're going to remember the friendships that they made at KUSI middle school they're going to remember the teachers who were
life-changing for them they're going to remember the connections they made beyond the classrooms and hopefully they will find their passion something will be ignited inside them and Inspire them to find their greater purpose that's
what KUSI Middle School is all about and ladies and gentlemen I would argue that's precisely what Neil birdie is all about please join me in welcoming up Neil his wife Jessica again Mary and Denise from njpsa to celebrate his accomplishment
[Applause] and his superintendent Dr kwami Morton going to to down on the podium good thank you than com thank you so much everyone Neil
birdie [Applause] so thank you to the njpsa and miss Karen Binger and congratulations to Dr Lindsey gdus and
Dr Neil birdie it's a true pleasure to Showcase their accomplishments and uplift New Jersey's remarkable Educators and administrators with examples like this thank you to our distinguished guest who joined us today in order to provide invaluable support every day to
these leaders and then I finally would like to congratulate all honores for their accomplishments and unwavering service to students in Innovative and definitely like changing ways so thank you so much this part I can speak for the board I hope saying that this is
part of the happiest thing that we get to do is to recognize people who Inspire kids and their passion so thank you so much everyone appreciate you anybody else want to say anything if not we'll keep
going so next we have petitions for rule making state board recently received two petitions for rule making related to requirements for certain instructional certificates the first request was submitted by Spiro Zambos on September
16th Mr zambus petition request question why a person who did not go to college but is able to pass State standardized tests that demonstrate the person's level of education is equivalent to people with a college degree in specific
subject matters and why they'd be prevented from earning an alternate path teaching certificate Mr zambus Crest was also questioning why a person who took extra courses that were irrelevant to the field of study or degree but resulted in a lower grade point average
should be be punished and deemed uneducated when a person who has earned a degree and passed all the practice test after due consideration pursuant to the law acting commissioner D damer and I denied the petition in part because of
existing requirements and flexibilities ensure that students are being taught by properly certified well-trained and effective Educators who meet the needs of their communities while increasing diversity and supply of educators and maintaining New Jersey's high standards
for educators the second request was submitted by Jeremiah price Williams on October 17th Mr Price Williams request questioned why 5% margin of error for the practice passing score when a
candidate's grade point average is 3.5 or higher applies to only a select few test and not the commissioner approved Test of Basic Reading Writing and mathematical Skills Practice core the petitioner stated that the department should accept a score on the
practice core that is within a 5% margin of error if the candidate's grade point average is 3.5 or higher after due consideration pursuant to the law acting commissioner damer and I also denied this petition in part because the
limited Certificate of Eligibility the CE pilot program also exempts certain candidates from having to achieve a minimum score of the commissioner approved Test of Basic Reading Writing and mathematical skills to the extent
the petition sought to amend the limited CE regulations to allow a candidate to receive two exemptions of the regular CE requirements such an amendment would not be permitted by state law full details of both of these petitions and denials
can be found on the petitions for ruem web page at new jersey.gov education SL code SLP petition final sl24 and now sir thank
you so before we get into commissioner reports we heard about some of the best uh School leaders in the state are here today so I invite all of you I know we've got a riveting agenda but uh some of you need to get back to work to make
sure that these schools don't fall apart so if anybody needs to go please please go ahead and go thanks congratulations congrat absolutely no worries
and so for the commissioner's report uh today I'd like to share results from the spring 2024 Statewide assessment Administration uh we just saw the dedicated leaders in the state that were recognized um and they've committed
themselves to meeting the needs of every one of our students throughout the state the Statewide assessment results serve as a rich source of data for determining areas of need and a useful metric for monitoring student performance and growth we know these results do not
fully describe the complexities of the depth and breadth of a child's complete learning experience but these data are important and help us understand overall performance Trends um there's a lot of stuff to get through today so we'll uh try to break this up as we as much as we
can to go through through it in uh a peac meal fashion and allow for time for board members uh to ask questions um and leading us here today are Dr Jordan ship and uh John bakani who will go through each of these results for you uh and
address any questions you might have so take it away thank you commissioner good morning president Goldenberg Vice President Johnson and members of the State Board of Education today we present the results from the spring 2024 Statewide assessments we will start start with an
overview of the major takeaways from the results and how the department is helping to support these findings next we will go through the results of the spring 2024 assessment and throughout the presentation we will highlight initiatives and programs being offered to support local educational agencies
improve student outcomes the three major takeaways from the results from the 2024 Administration are first that the student performance in ela and Mathematics continue to increase though the performance is still below pre-pandemic results the science
results remain consistent with the implementation of the new assessment through this year and are significantly below the ELA and Mathematics performance and third the achievement gaps between High performing groups of students and the lowest performing
groups remained significant those small improvements have been observed in both Ela and Mathematics the department has enacted multiple initiative to support elas for continued Improvement on student outcomes for ELA and
Mathematics some of the initiatives include the high impact tutoring Grants awarded last year as well as the implementation of the rapid and Rapid plus programs for supporting literacy through grade six for science New Jersey has joined the collaboration for the
opsed project to help provide students with instructional materials and professional development that is aligned to the New Jersey student learning standards for science we will discuss these initiatives and how they interact with the work that is done at the local level later in the presentation my
colleague director of assessment Mr John bosan will now share the njsla results for the 20123 2024 school year Mr ban thank you Dr shef here we can see the overall trend since the Inception of the trend line in
2016 it is important to note the Science assessment was field tested in 2018 and had the first operational Administration in the 201819 school year which is why there are less data points for the trend of this
assessment when we aggregate the data across all tested grades and include all students we find that the performance of New Jersey students was trending towards an increase from 2016 to 2019 in both mathematics and English language arts
there's no data listed for 2020 or 2021 as the njsla was not administered those years due to the covid-19 pandemic resuming Administration in 2022 the results were as expected and demonstrated a performance decline in all
subjects moving into 2023 the data shows that there is Improvement in performance in all subjects when all grades are aggregated 2024 continued to show the recovery in ela and math proficiency rates but science has remained fairly
consistent since the introduction of the assessment in 2022 the mathematics P excuse me the requirement to participate in the advanced mathematics assessments for geometry and Algebra 2 changed students enrolled in these courses were not required to
participate unless it was their first assessment in high school this had the effect of only the most advanced mathematic students participating in the assessments and as result showed an increase in overall performance this change remained in
effect for 2024 the red dashed line represents the mathematics results for grades 3 to 8 and Algebra 1 excluding geometry and Algebra 2 the performance on The Science
assessment remains well below the performance on mathematics and English language arts there are currently two conditions we can link to the performance first the Imp mation of the ngss Next Generation science standards represented a major change in
pedagogical approach from the New Jersey Core Curriculum standards second there was a shift from an emphasis on measuring rot memorization of facts and definitions with the NJ ASK and NJ BCT assessments to an emphasis on measuring
the students ability to use science and engineering practices to further their understanding of new and novel phenomenon this slide shows the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations levels four and five on
each English language arts assessment by grade as we look across the charts and focus on the results from 2023 and 2024 the data shows that grades three six and nine have shown Improvement grades five
seven and eight demonstrated a decrease from 2023 to 2024 and grade four demonstrated the same results in both years if we move to look at the results pre pandemic to most recent the data
shows that grades 3 through 8 are still recovering and have not yet reached the levels of proficiency that were demonstrated pre pandemic grade n however is displaying a significant increase from last year and also 2% higher proficiency rates than were
observed in 2019 several significant Department efforts are targeted to improve the quality of literacy instruction and ultimately student performance Statewide last month the department announced the formation and launch of a new working group on student literacy established
under the recently uh signed legislation Public Law 2024 chapter 52 this initiative is a key step forward strengthening foundational literacy instruction in New Jersey schools ensuring that all students including multilingual Learners and students with
disabilities receive highquality evidence-based literacy instruction the working group comprised of Education experts from across the state have been tasked with making critical recommendations to the department on the implementation of effective literacy strategies evidence-based screening
methods and criteria for highquality instructional materials the group will also explore ways to expand professional learning opportunities for educators to enhance their capacity to teach literacy effectively in late August the New Jersey Department of Education was
awarded $50 million over a five-year period in the new comprehensive literacy State development Grant from the US Department of Education this grant will support New Jersey school communities in advancing literacy skills including pre-literacy skills reading and writing
for children throughout their academic careers and an emphasis on closing achievement and opportunity gaps as one of 23 State education agencies receiving funding New Jersey has been awarded the largest year one Grant in the largest
ever round of clsd Grant Awards this grant will significantly ex expand the development and implementation of evidence-based literacy program programs to ensure students achieve key Milestones such as reading on grade level by third grade a critical
predictor of future academic success Additionally you will recall the inclusion of evidence-based foundational literacy elements into the New Jersey student learning standards in English language arts adopted last year by you in October in service to those revisions
and to expand research-based teaching of reading and writing for all students the department developed a series of learning acceleration professional learning opportunities to leas our two foundational literacy programs entitled The read acceleration professionally integrated development or rapid for
grades K through three and the complimentary rapid Plus for grades four through six have been designed to expand elementary teachers knowledge of research based um of the research base and how proficient reading and writing can be developed and how student
outcomes could be improved through effective identification and evidence-based interventions an educator preparation program component of Rapid is supporting the alignment of pre-service teacher programs um at our state colleges and universities to re um
to the revised chapter 9 requirements that support a focus on more advanced literacy training for our Educators this slide shows the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations again levels four and five on each mathematics assessment
by grade or course with few exceptions student student performance has increased in mathematics grades four and five students demonstrated performance consistent with 2023 Administration and the students taking the geometry test
demonstrated a minor decrease in proficiency the geometry and Algebra 2 stand out for large gains and high performance in both 2022 in 2023 and in Algebra 2 in 2024 there are other factors for these
assessments again in 2022 the requirement of which students must test changed for geometry and Algebra 2 students enrolled in those courses were only required to test if this was their first test in high school for mathematics or if they were enrolled in
the course in middle school students enrolled in the course but who had already completed their federally mandated testing had the option to participate at their District's discretion this means that only our most advanced mathematics students were participating in these
assessments and in turn it would be expected that the overall performance would increase similarly for grade 8 performance these results are not over are not representative of all grade 8 mathematics students over 30% of all
grade8 students were enrolled in Algebra 1 and therefore would not have participated in the grade 8 assessment high impact tutoring has been identified as a profoundly effective research-based method leas have leveraged to optim
optimize learning acceleration last year we released our $52 million tutoring initiative in November we awarded the majority of funds over $41 million to 243 local education agencies to implement their proposed programs that
prioritize students in grades three and four a second round of 57 grantees was awarded in March of this year to date over 60,000 students have been served by the high impact tutoring Grant uh across
almost 300 grantees grantees are reporting notable and early locally uh locally assessed gains in mathematics specifically it is important to note that the majority of grantees did not begin their programs until after the
spring njf SLA assessment Administration so we haven't seen the state impact of this program yet the department has also invested in the implementation of professional learning and resource development to improve math instruction professional learning for mathematics
Educators has been provided on the 2023 NJ SLS mathematics with a focus on data literacy fractions and early numeracy skill development in addition guidance has been developed to assist curriculum developers and Educators to prioritize
content emphases for both curriculum development and considerations of instructional time with grade and course level specificity new resources supporting leas in integrating climate education and information literacy and Mathematics instruction has also been
developed with an eye on interdisciplinary learning Madam President we propose to pause at this point to answer any questions that the board may have I think that'd be wonderful thank you I can start with a question if I might please um so the 50 million clsd grant
that was awarded to New Jersey it's amazing amount of money are we dividing that by 10 years 20 years three years what how do we anticipate using it five years over a five year period of time yeah and will it be divided um between all the school districts or how do you
anticipate for the literacy Grant to be utilized the literacy Grant will provide competitive grants um across seven or eight different um specific areas that were identified within that Grant including how to um address the
professional capacity needs of school districts learning um how to implement evidence-based literacy instruction all the way to early literacy work um birth through to um three years old all the way up to high school students that may be having difficulty with literacy so
each of these grant opportunities um and they'll be staggered through the 5-year period of time um will help to address literacy across the full scope so districts will have the opportunity to um to apply for these grants I see and
regarding that are we in possession of the 50 million or is that from the federal government at this point that they're holding part of it so it's a Federal Grant and typically the way those work is so this one is spaced out over five years that's the way it was structured um it's not an equal
installment each year because we have different work that we're doing each year um as we use it we request it from the feds and then they they give it to us so that it's essentially a like a bank account that we draw down from but is it guaranteed to come to New Jersey
despite a change in administration I'm just concerned guarantee is a tricky word but it's been awarded and and we have full anticipation of getting it across all five years thank you how about other
questions arcelio I see your hand up so hi madam president thank you very much I I just have a question regarding you mentioned uh so first of all let me let me mention I'm encouraged to learn about the various initiatives that includes
the literacy working group as Madam president just mentioned the clsd grant rapid education preparation program you mentioned for math high impact tutoring brand funding uh to offer high impact tutoring
is the so that's for math do we have something equivalent for literacy or is the SL the clsd grant also able to um provide high impact tutoring high impact
toring uh thank you for the question high impact tutoring is offered in in both Ela and Mathematics and districts had their choice um based upon the needs of the children in their District whether to focus on math only literacy only or a combination of the two all
right so it's to this question of the school district then it's a school district discretion yes okay great okay thank you very much thank you and just to Parlay that you said
there were 300 students who have taken advantage so far of the tutoring did I Mis 300 districts over 60,000 students and continuing to grow thank you yes ma'am please board member paa come on now
um so I was just looking at the chart on mathematics 2016 to 2024 page 9 and there is a striking difference when you look at the bar charts in terms of uh proficiency meeting expectations or
exceeding expectations between Grade A and Algebra 1 can you talk a little bit more about that that because I find it incredible that at the eth grade level we have such low I mean not even 20% of the students are meeting those
expectations uh and then the following year Algebra 1 they're doing so much better and and I understand that some districts choose to forego the uh grade8 exam versus other ones to say you know let's really make our students shine and and give them those foundational skills
and tests at that level um but if you could just speak to that a little bit because it's from 19% to 40% that's from one year to the next yeah thank you for that it's the student populations we have approximately between 95 and
100,000 students at every grade level the students the way the math test is structured if a student is enrolled in Middle School in a high school level class so in Algebra 1 geometry or Algebra 2 they would not participate on the grade eight test but rather they
would participate in that end of course test um from our state Essa plan we the waivers from used with that we had over 30,000 students from 8th grade enrolled in a higher level Math course so our top
30,000 student performers that are currently in grade eight did not take the grade eight test so we're knocking those top off so that's why the data is skewed it's not an Apples to Apples comparison so all third graders take the
third grade test all fourth graders take the fourth grade test all fifth graders take the fifth grade test very few sixth graders don't take the sixth grade test very few seventh graders giving us um a clear picture of where our students
are at because it's a little bit off um why wouldn't our Algebra 1 students or students who are taking High School level math not be able to take the grade a test if they are in the eth grade I think that would give us let John answer but I'm not so sure those students would
be really high on taking another Statewide assessment taking two in that that particular grade and their teachers may also have have concerns about that but I I'll turn it over to John so students in grade 8 the required test that they have is they have the English language arts mathematics and science in
grade8 so they're already in for nine hours worth of in a high school level math class because of federal accountability they have to take a higher level math in High School in order to be able to use it for the high school testing
requirement for the tests that we offer a student in algebra one in grade six would be out of tests before they got to high school soes on high school and that's a very very small number of students throughout the state in the hundreds yeah okay uh board member
Bennett thank you those awards from the federal dollars are going to the district that they'll be going to the districts through a competitive Grant opportunity what we call a notice of Grant or an NGO will you be looking at what other
program is being planned is research based Y and what the followup is to that training to that exposure in order to get the most Effectiveness from it yeah I uh attended as a community person a
workshop uh two weeks ago geared toward early literacy and starting with how children acquire language starting at as young as two months old because they're hearing they're they're looking at people's
faces as they speak and gradually language acquisition begins long before they ever hit school and then how does it be presented and how do teachers come to fully understand that children are not walking in as empty slates they're
walking in language is a part of what they've been hearing as long as they don't have the hearing challenge so my concern is that the dollars that are available and how they're awarded are awarded in a way that we're making sure we're not duplicating something but
rather designing something for greater Effectiveness when I look through your packet and I see that the africanamerican children in the data come up at the lowest end of the spectrum at what we're trying to do is designed for Effectiveness and not just
more money but that it enhances and integrates with what's already being done I I appreciate the question I think you're illustrating the complexity of early literacy and the grant itself is birthed to to grade 12 so it's really quite a comprehensive Grant but we're
we're looking at developing these grants with an eye on how can we build the capacity that um that it's it is um it is a process of sharing not just developing your particular systems so we have resources for screeners we have
resources for um uh for coaches we'll have resources for a lot of things through this grant that go are going to help build the capacity of those individual districts with the eye on how do we share that across the entire state
so I I totally agree with you the return on investment benefit from these dollars and and we're going to write the grants in that way um I have another question I don't see anyone else's hand up at this moment so you had said excluding geometry and
Algebra 2 with the math scores when you gave them and seeing that geometry the mathematics score did you take it out or is it just tested separately it is a separate assessment it is a separate assessment for everyone who's taking the
class that year or they students taking it who had it in years pasted all students participating in the assessment should be ened rolled in the course that is the guidance we've put out to the districts for participation rates that year so it is part of our curriculum um
in the department to help Foster uh a growth in Geometry we'll be talking a little bit later in the presentation about other ways that we are building capacity of teachers across all of the tested
content areas um including we call learning lounges which are professional development opportunities that are offered free of charge they're given by the experts at the department they're done virtually and any teacher that's interested can sign up we're doing them on a monthly basis
also okay I just know it's very important absolutely for students to Garner the experience and do well agreed any other questions at this time from anybody performance of disaggregated
groups of students and how they performed on the 2024 njsla this slide shows the aggregate Ela results when broken down by racial or ethnic groups as we present the student demographic groups we would like to
acknowledge this is not a complete list of the demographics the four being reported on African-American students Asian students Hispanic students and white students were selected because of their larger percent percentage of the New Jersey student population while all
student demographic groups are important groups with a low student count have not been traditionally reported on at the Public Presentation of results specifically the native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders American Indian
or Alaskan native two or more races and other all of our student groups demonstrated an increase in performance at around .9 % our African-American students demonstrated the greatest amount of improvement at a 1.9% increase
which exceeded the growth of the all student group Hispanic students demonstrated a 7% increase white students a 1.0% increase and Asian students a 3% increase all when compared to the 2023
performance in 2019 it is observed that the difference between the highest performing student group our Asian students and our lowest performing student group our African-American students was 45.4% this grew to
48.3% in 2022 performance Gap has returned to the prepandemic value the fact that this Gap exists is an indication there is a lot of work still to be done the rapid and Rapid plus programs are designed to provide additional supports to the elas for
improving the ELA outcome this slide shows the aggregate Ela results of economically disadvantaged students multilingual Learners and students with disabilities while economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities demonstrated an increase in performance or
multilingual Learners demonstrated a decrease from 2023 to 2024 all three groups are performing significantly below the all student average this slide shows the aggregate math results when broken down by racial or
ethnic groups all of our student groups demonstrated an increase in performance at 2% our African-American and white students demonstrated Improvement greater than our all student group at 2.2 and 2.5%
respectively our Asian and Hispanic students demonstrated performance increased less than the all student average at a 1.4 and 1.9% respectively group our Asian students and our lowest performing student group our African-American students was
54.8% this grew to 56.7% in 2022 coming out of the pandemic and in 2024 it is showing some closure at 55.8% the performance Gap is still larger than it was pre pandemic
this slide shows the aggregate math results for economically disadvantaged our multilingual Learners and students with disabilities in average this slide shows the aggregate science results when broken down by the by racial and ethnic groups
New Jersey African-American students demonstrated a 05% increase white students a 3% increase Hispanic students demonstrated no change and Asian students experienced a 0.2% decrease in proficiency from 2023 to 2024 highest
performing student group are Asian students and our lowest performing student group our African-American students was 45.2% this remained consistent at 45.0% in 2022 coming out of the pandemic and
continue to remains consistent at 45.4% this slide shows the aggregate science results of economically disadvantaged students eally disadvantaged students demonstrated an increase of 4% students with disabilities has traditionally been shown as inclusive of
students with a 504 for the Science assessment and that is demonstrated by the green line on the screen in mathematics and English language arts the students with disabilities group results are shown including students only with an
IEP the red dotted line displays the performance of students with disabilities only including students with an IEP what the data indicates is that the performance of students with an IEP has remained consistent since the launch of the assessment into one
average Madam president at this time we'd like to pause for any questions from the board are there any questions at this time no I think it's very clear from the people who are remote are there any questions hearing none thank you we'll
continue I'm sorry oh I beg your pardon board member Ponte you have the floor thank you uh uh if you could and in science there's a 45.4% achievement Gap I I just want to stress the point
that it's extremely frustrating to know that after all the all the Investments the number of programs over the years this this achievement Gap is persistent and um and Still Remains significant in terms
of uh the gaps between the African-American students white and Asian students students what do we do moving forward I is there anything that we have not Tred as of yet um it's just
again just just frustrating for me to see that uh year over year we we struggle to close this Gap close this guy so I uh thing that I think uh since I've come here I've been laser focused
on and we have an opportunity now we're creating a new permanent office um and this was this came out of liter what we call the literacy Bill package that was signed uh this past summer um internally and uh I think with some some backing in
that legislation we are adding to that office an emphasis on this very issue so that we have folks here at the department pulling uh all the strings that we can to address this each and every day and I think that that renewed
focus is uh not only within that office but gives us a kind of a Nexus point within the department to to hone in on that and and see what else we can possibly do uh to your point it seems like each and every year we talk about about the things that we've tried or new
new uh new ways to uh attack this problem and so we we really want to focus in on that um and I think Dr Schiff alluded to this but uh something that I'm uh I've charged this new office to begin establishing within New Jersey
uh is akin to what the US Department of Education has what they call they call it the whatw works Clearing House um which is a comp Jersey specific spe ific one for strategies and approaches that have worked in New Jersey schools so that we can lean in on those so when we
identify a school or a district that is struggling in a certain area we can when we're doing this Federal Grant or we're doing other initiatives we are also pulling out information on the approaches that have shown more success compared to those that are less successful and focus in on those where
we might get more uh bang for our buck so to speak but also to focus on those approaches that that are shown to be more effective thank you commissioner we we also have been working with the Ruckers policy lab for the past two years on identifying promising practices in
particular looking at um disaggregated student groups and what has what type of practices have led to improve student parties will help to inform the field of evidence-based promising practices based upon a New Jersey Centric approach to
addressing the needs of students there are areas within the state that we do see these gaps closing at a much more rapid Pace than we do in other districts and what we need to do is capture those practices understand them and uh and
replicate and incentivize the replication of those practices um throughout the state particular in those districts that don't I think 30 something years ago when Charter Schools began they were to try different things and then bring it back to the public
schools system I'm not sure that we um meet nowadays to hear their results and where they've had success but that's something else we should investigate Y and practices project I'm sorry mron of the Rucker
study so so in terms of the stud the study so practices are there we'll we'll replicate them I'm glad to know you're working with the ruer policy lab that said I also know that the uh the Cornwall
Center yeah um also recently released a study on the latinx community in New Jersey and uh their their uh test results over the past year
so there's a new study center encourage you to take a look at and happy to engage with Dr Charles Pay there to maybe walk through some of the highlights that study stud yeah and and
Dr Payne Charlie is part of this project so he's he's one of the lead researchers on the project very good great very brief question so there has to be a district or some districts that
we can maybe call pockets of Excellence with these the special student groups with the Latino groups um with the African-American groups special ed groups even that maybe did it better and I feel like this is very broad Broad and and I appreciate it because it gives us
a nice snapshot but I feel like it's important to look at those districts and just like we're saying creating a clearing house or just reaching out and asking what did you do there has to be District developing is um is going to be looking much deeper at the data to be
able to predict where those schools are and help us to identify those practices good maybe we could get a a followup in several months about what you've learned by these meetings and what the state has
garnered to try to help with the learning loss that we've encountered I think promising practic is coming to a theater soon so um once we receive those results and I think we we've been able to adjust them I think we could do a
similar presentation to the board that'd be great thank you I believe um board member Bob has her hand up can you hear me can you hear me thank you thank you um I think there is a
major group with which we have not dealt at all and that's in the parents or the car keepers of the children children so many families read to their children you know every day when they're
young before they got a bed etc and these children have developed the beginning of language and then go on with it but there are many many parents in the groups that we're picking where the people themselves do not really know
how to read they're afraid to learn it and maybe some instruction with parents is only wants to read something that's interesting after a while they you know they get bored with it but I think that would help a lot with uh groups as they come on because people will be knowing
that books should be in a home a home I I I agree that it's very very important that parents partner with us as we continue to improve student outcomes and literacy and part of the Federal grant looks at community outreach and how we're working with
parents as well more details will be forthcoming on that required that those results are shared back with parents as well that gives new information to parents directly on the performance of their their own child in I think it's twice a year um so they they're going to
have a better understanding of how their child is progressing with reading so it's it's a that's a another component to to connecting uh with families directly thank you if I could just add the the parents is certainly one
component but certainly not um the sole issue and certainly we're doing something over the years that have not benefited the uh broader population of
these students who are underperforming so I don't want to put it just under the backs of the parents and certainly there there are um many parents who do read to kids and the results so that they have not fed well in their assessments and so
we need to take a look at this certainly from a much broader perspective and um you know try to address this head on as aggressively and urgently as possible agreed where results of the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment
or NJ GPA as a note these data being presented will only include the spring grade 11 students this will allow for more direct comparison between the graduating classes the njpa was intended to serve as the primary pathway for
students to satisfy their graduation assessment requirement the assessment is aligned to the English language arts grade 10 standards and the aler one and geometry standards for the mathematics component in the 2024 administration of the njpa
82.5% of students demonstrated graduating graduation Readiness in the standards in English language arts and 55.6% of students demonstrated Proficiency in the algebra 1 and geometry standards this is an increase
of 2% in ela and 6% in mathematics compared to the spring 2023 Administration when reviewing the demographic and student group data the trends observed in the English language arts component of the NJ GPA are similar
to the performance patterns and achievement gaps that were shown with the njs LA looking first at the student demographic data it is observed that Asian and white students performed above the all student group while African-American and Hispanic students
demonstrated proficiency below the all student average all groups demonstrated an increase in graduation Readiness When comparing 2024 to 2023 looking at the student groups our multilingual Learners economically disadvantaged students and students with
disabilities they all performed significantly below the all student average again all three groups though demonstrated an increase in graduation Readiness when compared to 2023 when reviewing the demographic and
student group data for mathematics the trends observe are similar to the performance patterns and achievement gaps that were shown with the njsla looking first at the student demographic data it is observed that Asian and white students performed above
the all student group while African-American Hispanic students demonstrated a proficiency below the all student average all groups demonstrated an increase in graduation Readiness when comparing 2024 to 2023 looking at our multilingual
Learners economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities all three groups performed significantly below the all student average yet all three groups demonstrated an increase in graduation Readiness when compared to 2023 we'll pause here again for any
questions from the board Madam president thank you can me questions hearing none please continue thank you the next assessment we will discuss is the access for L's access stands for assessing comprehension and communication in
English state-to-state for English language Learners the access assessments serve as New Jersey's English language proficiency assessment these yearly tests are required for all students identified as multilingual Learners from kindergarten to grade 12 access measures
students English proficiency using a scale that ranges from 1.0 to 6.0 in all of the domains assessed a score of one can be thought of as a beginning score while a six can be thought of as an advanced score the assessments are
administered to satisfy Federal requirements under the every student succeeds act or Essa for states to measure students progress towards English language proficiency districts also use these results to determine multi ual learner student placement for the next school year in New Jersey a
student must earn an overall composite score of 4.5 on access for L's to First be considered for exit from a language instruction education program or Li the composite score is only one measure of Readiness in addition to State
standardized um process which includes other measurements this slide presents the participation rates and percent of students by performance level for Access for L's assessment the participation rates from the 2024 administration were
very high with all grades demonstrating a higher than 99% participation rate the data shows that more kindergarteners demonstrated level one performance than any other grade which is expected as a large number of students enter the program in kindergarten the data also
shows increased performance at levels five and six for grades four and five which is also foreseeable as it is estimated that students would take between four to 5 years to test out of the program with the students starting in kindergarten and needing to achieve a
composite score of 4.5 to begin the exiting process these represent the students who are in the process of exiting I'll pause again for any questions from the board seeing none yes sir please continue the next assessment program
we'll discuss is D the dynamic learning Maps or dlm assessments these alternative Assessments in English language arts mathematics and science are designed for students with the most significant intellectual disabilities and are intended to be administered to no more than 1% of New Jersey students
population for the every student succeeds act the dlm is a computer adapted test that means it is administered on a computer and as the student progresses through the assessment it will adopt to their individual skill level students are
tested on what are called Essential Elements which are grade specific expectations about what students with the most significant uh intellectual disabilities should know or be able to do for example ordering events as first and next or
identifying angles as larger or smaller the variability of students eligible to take the dlm assessment is extremely wide about 1% of the student population meets the definition of having a significant intellectual deil disability
the criteria is as followed first the student has a disability that significantly impacts intellectual functioning and adaptive Behavior two the student is primarily taught using the dlm Essential Elements three the student requires
extensive repeated individualized instruction and support that is not a temporary or transient nature four the student us it substantial adaptive materal materials and individualized methods of assessing information and finally the students significant
intellectual disability will impact post School outcomes the test is administered one-on-one the classroom teacher is usually the test administrator but other professionals with whom the student is comfortable can administer the assessment the level of assistance that
a student receives when taking the dlm is connected to the support the student needs to assess the assess to access the assessment for example a student who is able to navigate the test platform by using a touchscreen mouse or adaptive switch can work fairly independently
students with physical limitations who are unable to independently navigate the test platform but can indicate responses through an eye gaze or some other means have answers entered in by the classroom teacher now I'll turn it over to Mr bosan who'll go through the
results this partici participation rate table shows that the participation remain High during the Statewide assessment Administration and just shy of what it was prior to the onset of the pandemic for English language arts this
slide shows the percentage of students by grade for the ELA assessments on the dynamic learning Maps the dlm performance levels range from 1 to four emerging to Advanced as this assessment is an alternate assessment designed for those students with the most severe
cognitive disabilities having higher percentages of students in levels 1 to three is forseeable this slide reflects the dlm mathematics results with the dlm offered in El Math and Science this slide represents the
science results the performance mirrors what has been observed with the ELA and Mathematics on the dlm we'd like to take a moment to pause to respond to any questions on Dynamic learning Maps board members any questions at this
time any of our remote members are students pered to remain in the prevel is there a is there a clearly delineated time that students should exit but if they haven't reached the
level of performance can they Remain the dynamic learning Maps does not start an exiting procedure for this population of students so they can they have the specific criteria established in order to be considered for the program and this is just
offered as an alternative to our general assessments the child study team would make that determination be in I exactly got it thank you thank you now let's take a step back to consider the data in the context of the
larger system designed to support student performance and outcomes this graphic will help us visualize the collaborative efforts and flow of information between the various stakeholders emphasizing the role of our Statewide standards and assessment system and the supportive role of the
state on this slide you will see four key groups working in concert to improve student outcomes teachers school and District leaders the New Jersey Department of Education and parents and families each group interacts with the
state assessment system and with each other to drive student Achievement First Student parents are informed by the njsla results understanding student performance identifying strengths and areas for improvement as a result parents and students use the information
to make decisions about learning supports and focus areas teachers are informed by the njla data using it to tailor instruction and interventions for individual and classwide Improvement as a result they adjust curriculum offer
remediation or enrichment activities and align teaching with our standards school and District leaders are informed by the njsla report they where they analyze performance Trends across grades and schools identifying professional development needs as a
result they Implement strategic plans to improve instruction allocate resources and provide support for teachers and students and lastly the department provides State support to leas through guidance funding professional development and data tools to improve
instructional practices and student outcomes these supports provide districts with the resources to implement State Standards with Fidelity the njsla system informs all stakeholders and Department supports enhance the entire process by empowering leas to take meaningful action for
student Improvement the department is committed to helping students Excel and a number of initiatives and resources are designed to help local education agencies Bridge the educational gaps created by the pandemic you are acutely aware of the critical role that learning
acceleration can play in addressing learning needs of our students and the role the department plays in catalyzing those efforts through these and other projects we have discussed a few of these programs earlier in our presentation established through legislation this August and mentioned by
our commissioner the office of learning equity and academic recovery will be responsible for improving the Department's capacity to make datadriven decisions coordinate resources and research best practices to support the creation of effective literacy learning Equity learning acceleration policies
and professional development opportunities this new office is being staffed currently and will be active in early 2025 high impact tutoring program has the potential to drive significant improvements Statewide for almost 300 leas that were awarded the grant this
program will continue through the end of June and more data will be shared by grantees in future reporting periods to address gaps and science proficiency the department collaborated with open sad to develop instructional and professional learning materials for science courses through this project the department
seeks to provide Educators with access to free coherent rigorous res research-based set of instructional materials that will support all students in meeting the vision of science literacy defined in the New Jersey student learning standards for science the department also provides regular
technical assistant and professional learning to leas through the office of Standards learning Lounge series and other events so how did these initiatives Drive the gears of student achievement we explored earlier at the department level the installation of the office of
learning equity and academic recovery will drive state level efforts advancing student outcomes while the literacy working group will inform the work that the office um as well as a larger department-wide efforts in the service of literacy and academic recovery
schools and districts leverage and enact programs and initiatives including but not limited to the competitive grants like the high impact tutoring Grant the clsd grants and curriculum materials from open sad Educators can access professional learning opportunities as
rapid and Rapid plus trainings and other njsls align professional learning lastly projects such as the upcoming early literacy campaign underscore the importance of the role of parents and families in the context of student learning taking together these
initiatives projects and opportunities such as the few we highlighted here work in concert to improve student outcomes the interactions are designed to offer multiple entry points and levels of Engagement for key stakeholders to engage with in the system and amplify
these efforts and this now concludes our presentation and we welcome any additional questions or comments from the board thank you for all of this data it's incredible it's something that hopefully will help our many districts look into what is
happening at a state level on average and then certainly delve into it in their districts um I find this fascinating and I really appreciate all the work that went into looking forward to hearing more as as we
get I see that Dr butcher has his hand up Sir would you like to speak and then uh Mr Aon next Dr butcher are you muted Frozen why don't [Music] we first go to Mr Aon and we'll come
back to you Dr butcher great Madam president um if we could bring back up slide 34 so again I want to recognize the department and the P the department for all of these initiatives which I think
is fantastic in trying to improve student outcomes but I also think the Board needs to take a leadership role particularly when it comes to closing the achievement Gap so I'd like to recommend Madam president that we form a
task force or subcommittee of the board to um focus in on the achievement Gap and work with the Department to ensure that we're making uh progress and um being informed of the progress that
the department is making when it comes to the closing the achievement Gap initiatives so I'd like to recommend that that maybe we have Dr Johnson as vice president of the board lead this task force or subgroup or subcommittee of the board and maybe some
of the other members of the board have certainly a lot of expertise on this board including uh Dr Keenan Dr R uh me board members Ben and Peña we have we have a lot of experts on
our board who have extensive experience particularly working in uran districts that I'm sure will add value to the discussion been working with the Department of Education and trying to uh continue to uh make some progress
towards achieving or reducing the achievement Gap thank you very much we will talk about that that's great thank you Dr butcher sure are we able to get Dr butcher
online I'm sorry yes I just want to go back to Mr aon's point I think the state does a fantastic job I do work in one of those um quasi urban districts and I believe they do a fantastic job with the guidance and support that they give us and you know with especially with all
these grants and stuff so I think creating a task force would be redundant and I think it would step on you know active commissioner damer and his team's footsteps I think we can monitor it from afar but I think that's interrupting on day-to-day operations and that should be something left to the acting
commissioner to to handle with his team thank you if I could just respond to that certainly don't intend to step on the the the uh toes of the commissioner the operation of the department I want to enhance their efforts by providing
what we have a responsibility to do as a state board of education receive public education to Monitor and ensure we're making progress towards uh priorities of the department and so I want to supplement the work not and not uh
disrupt and or prevent the department from um it's pursuit to help uh improve student outcomes or close the achievement um commissioner D would you like to speak so I I it's a I think it's an
interesting recommendation we'll we'll uh president Goldenberg and I will talk about how we could structure that and how we could uh work together and uh collaborate on this because I I think the when you look at the data that was just presented that's what stands out
it's it's stood out for many years and so that should be the point of our our emphasis uh going forward so uh much appreciated on that uh discussion point and we'll we'll continue uh to to figure out how we push that forward uh going
forward thank you uh Dr butcher are you able to speak now Dr Johnson are you able to speak at this time Vice President Johnson yes good morning good morning hi um would um would you like to continue
Sir with the meeting for um the next agenda item which is um the appointments were we going to uh go into res or continue just please if you don't mind taking over for a few
minutes thank you we'll do thank you thank you thank you Dr Johnson so I'm going to move into our uh items for consideration the first one is for appointments and today I'd like to
present uh one candidate for appointment that's Stephanie C uh nominated for the position of director for the office of State monitors which is in our division of finance and business services um so Dr Johnson will turn it over to you uh
for a vote um he doesn't Madam president were you going to continue or head on um what I might take this one and you take the next one with certification is that all
right okay okay okay so for the appointment we have a recommendation of Stephanie the director for the office of State monitors we had the pleasure of meeting with her during our executive session um and spoke with her
and asked a few questions um I'd like to please uh ask for a motion to accept motion thank you thank you for that for the accept Miss as the Director in office of State monitors
there's a motion on the table and may I please have a second thank you very much sir we have a second and um all those in favor please say I I all those opposed please say nay
any extensions the motion carries and Dr Johnson it's all you now thank you thank you madam president we're going to move now to Item B certification of school districts um since the November State Board of
Education meeting uh State Board of Education meeting the executive County superintendents have finalized 32 njq saac evaluations for districts recommending six of those for certification uh Mr Ambrose Ducket and
Carlos Bates are here to discuss those um and why don't I read through the list of the six districts um in U these are the six that are being recommended for certification in Bergen County Leonia
Public School District in Camden Eastern Camden County Regional School District in Essex the South Orange Maplewood School District in Monmouth County the Shrewsbury burrow
School District in Morris County the Handover Township School District and in Salem County ellenboro Township School District um with that I'll turn it over to the excuse me to the assistant
commissioner uh for any questions that you may have please continue no questions we have a vote May I please have a motion to accept the district I think we have a question oh we have a question from
board member Barry yes thank you very much so um I'm looking at 32 reviews that were conducted six are being recommended which means 26 are not
being certified my question is we had a great presentation where we talked about tutoring um are we to assume then that the districts these 26 just as an example
this month um that are not being certified will they all be receiving the high impact tutoring Grant so the high impact tutor grants was a was a is a a competitive Grant process that's not directly linked to
this we I think we've talked when we did the uh qac regulations of the last several months we talked about the different interventions that we provide so as these are identified the districts create an improvement plan in coordination with our County offices and
then uh additional resources are pulled from throughout the department to address that but the high impact tutoring there's overlap of course we're talking 300 school districts that are receiving that but that's not directly linked to the Q are two
separate so will we be getting a report on the six Monon interim progress review how are we seeing um what progress these districts are making do you want to answer that so the county offices conduct a six
month interview and during that interview uh review rather not interview review they collaborate with the school districts and the school districts present information based on their plan what the measuring what they were using to measure progress in a district or
local capacity and how that they're hoping that will reflect on the state assessments so uh that's what's discussed at those interim uh reviews and then as they have outcomes they look to see if they met any of them or maybe
if they need to change any of them at that time you know it's not it's to further the growth so it takes time but we look to meas whatever the tool was to measure the out the outcomes that they're hoping to achieve and to see that there's progress in in that and
that's handled through the county offices through the district Improvement plan which is heavily scrutinized and discussed between curriculum director superintendent and also as Specialists um and it depends on what area the
district needs Improvement on as you can imagine all the districts the 26 that you mentioned all needed Improvement on construction program um there were two that had issues in finance um but all the districts needed some support and
instruction of program so don't wor with the county offes for that so so some of those I mean there's a district that's 45% and some of these are are definitely low when we're looking at instructional
programming so my my um I I would just love to know in a six Monon interim progress review how much gains are we making in those districts on raising up those um young people and
making sure that certainly in instruction and programming we're seeing a big you know an improvement improv that that's dependent on the district and the individual work that they are are doing um but Al also the
collaboration um what you'll see is some of those schools with very low scor scores will have a high turnover and administration so they'll go in a different direction um and then hopefully you will see an increase in in scores but there are some very low and
there's some that have just missed a cut score by by two points so you know we are talking about a broad range here when we're talking about instruction and very good any other questions at this
time hearing none um I'd like to did we do the motion for this make a motion to thank you sir may I please have a second thank you very much um are there any other comments or
questions before we vote hearing none all those in in favor to accept the districts that were mentioned independently please say I any opposed please say
nay are there any abstentions at this [Music] time all right thank you thank you Madame President moving on to item C uh Ambrose don't go anywhere
I'm not going today presenting for first discussion amendments to chapter 32 which is School District Operations the proposed amendments are related to a state excused absence for civic events uh as I mentioned Mr Ambrose Ducket is
here and joining him as Robert Gregory we will go through those changes in more detail thank you commissioner good afternoon Madam president Goldenberg Vice President Johnson esteemed board members the commissioner uh today we want to highlight two proposed
amendments to chapter 32 School District Operations to ensure that the chapter reflects current New Jersey public laws and statutes related to State excus absences for students as a quick review chapter 32
provides assistance to District Boards of education and administrators regarding the daily operations of schools and school districts our proposed amendments of which there are two are to align a sub chapter regarding
State excuse absence to Public Law 2023 chapter 274 which was enacted in January of 24 it allows a public school student in grades 6 through 12 to have one state excused absence each year for the
purpose of attending a Civic event provided the parent or guardian of the student provide written notice um and Advance uh five days in advance of the absence and the student attending the Civil event our proposal are in two
areas in the chapter highlighted on the next two slides and I'm just going to pause there are there any questions thank you for that opportunity um did you thank you for that opportunity I I think we're ready okay we continue the
first proposed amendment is 30 2.2.1 which provides definitions for terms used Throughout the chapter we're adding a proposed definition to the term Civic event to mirror a definition in 18a 36-
33.1 uh which reads Civic event an event sponsored by a government entity a community-based organization or nonprofit organization that incorporates elements of service learning whereby students learn Le and develop through an
organized service a Civic event shall address an issue of public concern such as community health and safety or environmental economic or Community well-being the Second Amendment is at the sub chapter regarding student attendance
32- 8.4 and is specifically to add a number seven to the list of state excuse absences of which there are currently six the proposed amendment is bolded in the last sentence of the slide and
permits a state excuse absence once per year for students who attend the Civic events in grades 6 through 12 as in the past District Boards of Education can establish student attendance policies that allow for locally defined excuse
abces that extend beyond njac 6A 32- 8.4 e and with that are there any questions comments I have a question if I might sir and you might have said this and I apologize if I think I heard it in a
committee meeting perhaps but Civic events are they limited to once a week once a month once a year once a quarter what are we thinking once per year once per year One Civic event per year that has to be preapproved is that anywhere in this so
it's defined yes okay yes I sorry that's okay oh I see up to one day per year for students in six through 12 thank you yes you're thank you thank you any other questions at this
time thank you very very much thank you you [Music] are there any other matters you want okay thank you very very much I hope all of you have a tremendous holiday season and make memories with
your families and um I would like to please ask for a motion to adjourn toj thank you may I have a second thank you I heard something but I don't know if from him Dr
Johnson yes um I was having some problems technically and I just wanted to from earlier and I'd be willing to um possible we've been talk
Ury you know L for last few years so whatever way the commissioner and his office would like for us to participate I'd be more than willing to do that thank you Dr Johnson motion to
reer okay um any other comments at this time I just like to thank Dr John for his willing to delete this effort thank you um motion has been made to adjourn um all those in favor please say
I oh I'm sorry I I I oh we need a second I beg your pardon thank you yes I thought okay thank you okay I I heard an i all those in favor please say I thank you any please say
nay have a wonderful rest of 2024 thank you very very much that's okay I believed you I always believe e