This Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) annual performance report for the year 2016 describes New Jersey's accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and strategies New Jersey will implement to address those challenges. The cross agency RTT-ELC team has continued to implement the eleven projects that the federal partners have…

The author founded Greater Newark Charter School in 2000 at a time when charter schools were little more than a nuisance to the traditional public school establishment. Just two years earlier, when first learning about charter schools, he recalls questioning the necessity for "new" schools when so many operational public schools were in…

Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, and Pittenger (2014) addressed the need for states to align their accountability systems with new college- and career-ready learning standards. The authors recommended a new accountability paradigm that focuses on 1) meaningful learning, enabled by 2) professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by 3)…

This Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) annual performance report for the year 2014 describes New Jersey's accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and strategies New Jersey will implement to address those challenges. In December 2013, New Jersey was awarded $44.3 million to implement the Race to the Top-Early Learning…

The Early Learning Challenge (ELC) program awarded more than $1 billion in four-year grants to 20 States to implement comprehensive and cohesive high-quality early learning systems that support young children with high needs and their families. A key lever in making these improvements was the enhancement of States' Quality Rating and Improvement…

Improving teacher preparation is critical to long-term improvement in teacher quality. More than 200,000 new teachers enter classrooms each year. Increasing student enrollment, the retirement of baby boom generation teachers, and high attrition in their first five years (between 40 and 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession) have…

The enactment of No Child Left Behind (2002) and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act had a significant impact upon how we hold schools and its students accountable for high stakes testing. In particular, students with educational disabilities who were previously exempted from any performance accountability on…

This individual profile provides information on New Jersey's high school exit exam standards and policies. Some of the categories presented include: (1) State exit exam policy; (2) Type of Test; (3) Purpose; (4) Major changes in exit exam policy since the 2009-10 school year for financial reasons; (5) Subjects tested on exam; (6) Grade exam first…

Presented in this paper are the results of interviews undertaken in 1977 to determine who supported a new statewide minimum standards bill in New Jersey and why. The views of forty individuals who were selected on the basis of their active involvement in the statewide minimum standards issue, are summarized in statements following each of twelve…

This paper highlights the utility of the "third wave" of school equity cases that began to take shape subsequent to funding cases. These cases challenged the adequacy of public education systems, as measured not only by funding, but by educational content and other factors. The cases attempted to create a concrete mandate for an adequate…

New Jersey has taken steps to improve vocational education programs and services in response to two state reports and the measurement and evaluation requirements of the reauthorized Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-392). Among state initiatives is the Occupational Competency Project, a study of 100…

The eight schools profiled in this document are serving different populations, but all of them are closing the achievement gap between low-income, minority, and special needs students and their peers. By trying out innovative new strategies, these schools are blazing a trail for others to follow. They are dispelling the myth that some students can…