Thursday,sept 19, 2013     BY  LESLIE BRODY  STAFF WRITER

New Jersey education officials said Thursday they plan to give 10 percent of the children in Grades 3 through 8 an extra set of standardized tests this spring to try out the new, more rigorous assessments that will debut officially next year.

Many of these children will sit for two 80-minute sessions of the new tests in math or language arts, officials said. Some district leaders have jumped at the state’s invitation to participate voluntarily, saying this trial run will help them work out kinks in technology for the new tests, which will be delivered online.

Some district leaders, however, said they would rather avoid cramming more tests into a busy spring when the current regimen – the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge — already eats up at least four days, plus make-up days. Many parents have expressed frustration with the amount of instructional time lost to testing, which has become an increasingly influential part of evaluating student growth and teachers’ effectiveness under the Christie administration.

New Jersey is one of 14 states, plus Washington, D.C., that is field testing items for a federally funded consortium aimed at measuring more complex analytical thinking than current tests. Supporters say the new tests will prod teachers to focus more intensely on sophisticated problem solving skills, a crucial step in helping American children compete with peers abroad. Skeptics argue there is too much emphasis on standardized testing, which cannot capture all kinds of talent and intelligence.

Some district leaders grabbed the chance to try the new test. Patricia Raupers, superintendent in Waldwick, said her district would tackle the new one for Algebra 2. “We believe it will help us get an idea of the efficiency of our technology in a dry run,” she said.

George Solter, interim superintendent in North Bergen, said the field test would be a "useful scrimmage ... It will give us a chance to see if our kids are ready."

At a meeting of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators in Jackson Thursday, Tracey Severns, the state’s chief academic officer, told about 300 district chiefs they should check out the sample questions released by the consortium. “When teachers look at the questions, they have an Oprah ‘aha moment’,” she said. “They realize this is a new day.”

An essay question for third-graders, for example, asks them to read two texts about famous people and write a newspaper story about how they overcame challenges to change America. “Be sure to describe in detail why some solutions they tried worked and others did not,” the instructions say.

Education commissioner Chris Cerf said he expected test scores would likely drop when the new tests are administered in 2015. “When you set the bar higher not as many people will get across it,” he said, adding that over time tougher standards would lead to better performance.

Cerf said that field testing items from PARCC, or the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, was strictly voluntary. To get a representative sampling of students, only certain districts were asked to participate. Some field tests would come at the high school level. In some cases, only one class per school would join. Students’ scores would not be reported to families.

The federal government offered states the chance to exempt children in the field test from taking other state assessments to avoid “double-testing,” but New Jersey officials said that waiver did not apply here because children in pilot sites would take only a fraction of the PARCC test, not the full form.

Email: brody@northjersey.com. on twitter @lesliebrody

NJ Spotlight - Grudging Acceptance of Christie Policies Sets Tone as School Chiefs Gather…Superintendents more subdued, non-confrontational in discussions of salary caps, evaluations, tougher testing

John Mooney | September 20, 2013

When it came time yesterday for the question-and-answer session at state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf’s now-annual convocation with school superintendents, there was an awkward moment: nobody stepped to the microphone.

“Oh, I know you have questions,” Cerf said wryly, aware of the challenges facing school leaders and their districts in a momentous year of change.

And while a few school superintendents did ultimately wander forward, the hesitation spoke to a different tenor – some would call it calm, others resignation -- that is coming over this group in the fourth year of Gov. Chris Christie’s tenure and the third year for his education commissioner.

Compared with previous convocations at which tensions were high and questions were plentiful, the more than 300 school leaders gathered yesterday at Jackson Liberty High School appeared to be getting used to the new world order under Cerf and his boss.

Gary McCartney, the South Brunswick superintendent and president of the state’s superintendents group, which hosted the event, said he saw the three years of convocations with Cerf as a period of evolution.

“I think people are beginning to assimilate,” he said. “In the first year, it was kicking and screaming, hoping (the initiatives) would go away. The second was wringing your hands and whining, thinking they would go away. Now you say, I don’t have any more tantrums, I think we’re going to do this.”

That’s not to say it has been an easy transitions – there are plenty of challenges ahead.

Conversations with a handful of superintendents afterward indicated there is still a bit of a siege mentality in the schools, with some still smarting under budget cuts three years ago and all now facing more state mandates and requirements.

It was a point ultimately raised in the question-and-answer session at the end of the three-hour event, when Woodbury City Superintendent Joseph Jones stepped to the microphone.

“One of the things I’m looking for is the Department of Education to celebrate what’s right, where schools have been successful in closing achievement gaps,” he said. “We need to hear the success stories.

“The more that we try to make our schools into businesses, the problem I start to feel is I can’t share with my colleagues the success stories,” he said. “Instead, I’m being ranked, I’m being compared…my community is looking at where I stand.”

Cerf took the question from the stage, trying to rebut the notion that schools are being treated like businesses, but saying that there is a very clear mission at hand.

“The first thing we need to recognize is whom do we represent,” Cerf said. “I don’t represent employees, I don’t represent communities. I represent the children of the state, and I have defined as my mission to make sure the children are getting the best education they can.”

A big task facing schools this year is the roll-out of the new teacher and principal evaluation system that will hold staff to specific measures -- in both their daily work in classrooms and in the academic performance of their students.

Those taking part in the convocation yesterday spent considerable time discussing the new system, known as AchieveNJ, with four superintendents who were going through different parts of the process speaking about their experiences so far.

The superintendents said there are many shortages, from the capacity of administrative staff to conduct the evaluations to the continued tensions and uncertainties among teachers about what the new measures will bring.

Still, the superintendents tried to assure the crowd that there is a growing acceptance to the process, and that high anxiety is giving way to simple nervousness.

“Effective teaching of the last 20 years will still show up,” said Monica Browne, superintendent of Upper Saddle River schools. “You aren’t suddenly going to go from effective to ineffective because of a different instrument being used.”

Another superintendent from a district that was part of the pilot tryout of the new evaluation process said it has already improved how teachers and administrators communicate and work together.

Still, Superintendent Michael Gorman of Pemberton said three of his 10 principals retired at least in part because of the new system, which will judge principals just as rigorously as teachers, if not more.

“The fact of the matter is there is a transition, and the new ones we brought on now know that their success will rest with the success of their teachers,” he said.

Another major task ahead is for schools to adapt and adjust to the new national Common Core State Standards, as well as new online testing aligned to those standards, starting in 2015.

One superintendent mentioned the experience in New York City – where achievement levels dropped by half with the switch to new testing tied to the Common Core standards.

She asked Cerf if he thought that would happen in New Jersey.

Cerf said New Jersey has been better at transitioning to the new standards. And he held out the possibility that setting different cutoff scores on the new tests might soften the blow.

But he also did not rule out that achievement levels might drop, but adding that such a decline “isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

“We will see a change,” he said. “I don’t think it will be as traumatic as New York City, but it will be a significant impact.”

One familiar topic did not come up during the event -- the Christie administration’s caps on superintendent salaries.

The caps are now three years old, and more school leaders are being affected as their previous contracts end, either taking mandated pay cuts or leaving their jobs. This school year, the state’s districts have 80 new superintendents.

Asked why the subject wasn’t addressed, the superintendents association’s executive director, Richard Bozza, said it might be a sign of resigned acceptance that policies and rules enacted under this administration weren’t likely to change anytime soon.

“I was not surprised,” Bozza said. “I think people understand the cap is the cap and won’t be changed with this commissioner. This isn’t the forum.

“But I still hear plenty about it, by the way,” he added.

Star Ledger - Wanted: N.J. teachers with better grades in college

By Salvador Rizzo/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger  Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on September 17, 2013 at 8:56 PM, updated September 18, 2013 at 1:53 PM

TRENTON — It'€™s time to hit the books if you want to become a teacher in New Jersey, because state officials are asking those who want to join the profession to get better grades in college.

State Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf says smarter teachers are the key to brighter students, and he'€™s moving ahead with a stalled plan "to ensure all novice teachers meet a minimum bar for knowledge and pedagogical skills before entering the classroom," according to a sweeping rule proposal published Monday.

Aspiring teachers graduating September 2014 or later would have to score a grade-point average of 3.0 instead of the current range of 2.5 to 2.75 while completing a higher-education degree. In other words, the Christie administration wants to see at least a solid "B" average on their transcripts instead of the "B-" now required.

"Research has shown that having a high-quality teacher is the single most important in-school factor to increase student achievement," said Michael Yaple, a Cerf spokesman. "The goal is to raise the bar for becoming a teacher, which will pay dividends in the classroom. This is also being done in surrounding states, such as Delaware and Pennsylvania."

Also in the works is a new final exam for aspiring teachers that covers "basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills." State education officials hope to roll it out in September 2015, adding that people who score highly on the SAT, ACT or GRE would be able to skip it.

Cerf and his staff "will set standards for the test" and may enlist private companies to help design it, Yaple said.

It's not the first education overhaul sought by Gov. Chris Christie, who is running for re-election in November against Democrat Barbara Buono.

The Republican governor partnered with state Democrats last year to raise the bar for teachers seeking tenure and also created new pay bonuses for Newark educators who teach difficult subjects or in poorly performing schools. Those "merit pay" bonuses are financed in part by a $100 million donation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The New Jersey Education Association —€” the largest teacher union in the state, which has tangled with Christie — and the New Jersey School Boards Association said they are still reviewing Cerf's blueprints.

NJEA spokesman Steve Baker said the union supported a 2004 action that elevated the minimum GPA in some cases from 2.5 to 2.75. Generally speaking, he said, the NJEA "is strongly in favor of high standards for entry into the teaching profession."

But he said that under the tough-talking Christie, "there'€™s been a demonization of educators and school employees that's been really damaging to morale. It'€™s going to be a futile effort to simultaneously set higher standards and then behave in ways that are going to drive people out of the profession."

Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex), chairman of the lower house'€™s Education Committee, said he had not reviewed the proposal but said administrators and state officials should rely on the interview process to find good teachers.

"If there were only a magic test or a magic GPA to find good teachers," Diegnan said. "I know the commissioner's heart is in the right place, but these kind of arbitrary benchmarks that many times seem to make sense don't make sense in the end."

Administration officials are gathering input from the public on the proposed changes until Nov. 15, when the state Board of Education is set to vote on them. The board will also hold a public meeting in Trenton Oct. 2 on the new GPA and testing requirements.

States generally have teachers take a series of rigorous courses before they enter the classroom, but almost all of them offer alternative tracks that factor in a potential educator's college GPA.

A Star-Ledger review of all 50 states found nine now require or are considering a 3.0 GPA minimum for those programs. New York and more than a dozen other states have set the bar at 2.5 instead.

New Jersey officials have sought the tougher GPA requirement before, unsuccessfully, but Yaple said the Education Department'€™s latest proposal allows more flexibility. In some cases, people who fall slightly short of a 3.0 GPA would still be able to get certified if an entire "pool" of applicants scores a 3.0 on average.

And some applicants with a minimum 2.75 GPA could still be certified if they are employed and take a special training course, he added.