Superintendent Contracts: NJSBA and NJASA Issue Statement

Governor Calls for Review of Superintendent Contracts

Senate Committee May Hear November Election Bill

NJQSAC Finds Half of Districts Are 'High Performing'

Education by the Numbers

NJSBA Looks for New Ways to Go Green

More Reasons to Attend Workshop 2008

School Board Member of the Year Nominations Now Being Accepted

Scenes from the Annual Special Education Week Celebration

Summary of May 17 Semiannual Delegate Assembly

NJSBA Executive Committee to Meet

Calendar

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2008 Annual Communications Competion entry form

Nearly half of the school districts assessed under the state’s new monitoring program were categorized as “High Performing Districts,” the New Jersey State Board of Education recently announced.

The first series of assessment grades under the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum (NJQSAC) monitoring system was announced at the State Board of Education’s May 21 meeting. Of the 124 districts that went through the NJQSAC system, 47 percent were categorized as “High Performing Districts” based on their performance in the five areas that the state monitors: instruction and program; fiscal management; operations; personnel; and governance.

The process began last September when districts started the self-assessment program. County superintendents then verified the districts’ self-assessments between November 2007 and January 2008.

School districts are rated on a 100-point scale in each of the five monitored areas. School districts that receive a grade below 80 in any one area are classified as “moderately performing” and must submit an improvement plan to the state education commissioner.

Districts that score below 50 are subject to an in-depth state evaluation and possible state intervention. Seventeen districts fell into this category during this round of NJQSAC monitoring. According to a statement from the Department of Education, all districts not classified as “high performing districts” have begun the NJQSAC district improvement planning process and will be scheduled for a review by their county superintendents in six months.

The state will apply the NJQSAC process to a new round of approximately 240 school districts in the fall.