For the middle and high school students and parents wondering if their children will ever use certain coursework in the “real world,” New Jersey’s Gateway Regional High School has the answer.
The Gloucester County district tailors and adapts its curriculum-to-career education (CTE) program to fit and meet its community’s specific needs. Aptly named after its high school, The Gateway to Careers initiative began 11 years ago and is embedded across the district’s curriculum in grades seven through 12. It is organized around the nationally-recognized Career Clusters framework, including an annual career day.
It is one of 52 schools the New Jersey Department of Education selected as part of its Promising Practices Project, a $1 million research initiative launched in August 2024, which identifies and showcases innovative teaching approaches aimed at accelerating student learning or training students for career readiness post COVID-19 pandemic.
“Schools share their practices that address areas such as student engagement in mathematics instruction, expansion of career-focused programs, improvements in multilingual learner education and how to elevate discussions at parent-teacher conferences,” said Mike Yaple, Department of Education spokesman and public information officer. “The goal is to ensure that effective, tailored practices are not only recognized, but shared, so all students can benefit from effective approaches to learning that are working in classrooms across the state.”
The department announced its program in partnership with the New Jersey State Policy Lab and the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, both at Rutgers University. The study identified effective strategies that significantly improved student performance in English language arts and mathematics on the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) in the wake of pandemic-related learning disruptions. The Promising Practices study analyzed how individual schools across the state helped students succeed—particularly those from historically underperforming groups. Researchers focused on school-based practices that led to measurable academic growth and equitable outcomes.
Using blind data analysis to select schools that showed exceptional performance, the research team developed statistical models to forecast student outcomes. It also used the Department of Education’s annual School Performance Reports, which include student demographics and test score data, plus socioeconomic information from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Schools that significantly outperformed expectations were selected for more extensive study. All told, 52 schools from 47 districts in the Garden State were highlighted as helping students overcome learning losses based on achievements through classroom-tested learning practices in ELA and math. The program’s overarching goal is for other schools to replicate the findings.
What the Research Found
The Rutgers research team partnered with leaders from the select schools and districts to better understand what made their approaches effective. The result is a collection of innovative and practical strategies that helped drive student learning. The complete research findings are available on the Promising Practices Project webpage hosted by Rutgers.
Working together to identify classroom-tested strategies that address our children’s most pressing academic needs is paramount,” Gov. Phil Murphy has said about the program in a prepared statement. “Through the Promising Practices Project, we are pulling together invaluable first-hand feedback from educators.”
Bolstering Math Outcomes
In Gloucester County, the Caroline L. Reutter School in the Franklin School District accelerated its math instruction through a tiered model for intervention, categorizing students in math from a high level of understanding to below grade levels of understanding so each could receive the proper attention required, which has resulted in a better grasp of the curriculum while building confidence and making math more relatable.
Even though the Reutter school ranked in the top 10% for middle and high school math performance statewide, educators there still moved forward with a math teaching model to address the needs of all students. Developed by a district math coach, interventionist and teacher, Kristen Hayden, the tiered intervention and remediation approach has been used across kindergarten through grade six since its inception.
While Hayden initially only taught basic skills math, she began using different approaches based on a few researchers and noticed some of those strategies were working, according to Reutter Principal Theodore J. Peters, who attributed the students’ academic growth to the tiered systems of support program.
In addition to trying a few assessments, which provided more information that what the state used, Peters said Hayden discovered new ways of teaching that helped the students grasp the material including strategy-based lessons and goal groups which produced positive results.
The Caroline L. Reutter School is a fifth and sixth grade building of about 400 students from Franklin and Newfield Borough. Its students receive personalized learning paths for each student devised from assessments, data and other tools including strategy-based lessons, intervention, remediation, math reasoning inventory (MRI), concrete, representational, abstract (CRA) progression and more.
“This program has allowed us to meet the students where they are at, which has allowed us to custom tailor and really individualize their learning paths,” Peters said.
Universal screeners use rapid recall of math facts among other evaluation tools to help detect, identify and target overall ability of each student and placement according to their math fluency and skills. An alternate approach is available for students who may forget basic facts that involve strategic thinking and reasoning.
Students then are enrolled in tiered classrooms, from students performing above grade level at Tier 1, down to Tier 3, which is designated for students performing far below grade level. Educators follow a structured daily plan that includes:
- Strategy-based lesson determined by the students’ diagnostic assessment scores
- Standard-based lesson from the grade-level curriculum
- Fundamental fluency goals, or goal groups, during which each student receives targeted instruction based on their goal
There also is a Tier 1.5 for ìbubble kids” who receive push-in math support to prevent them from needing Tier 2 instruction in the future.
“We offer opportunities, not just to regurgitate (math facts) and really teach the same way. We’re teaching math differently, conceptually. But we are also providing purposeful opportunities for intervention and we’re relating what the grade level topic is to how they have started to interpret how to learn math,” Peters said. “If we’re teaching them a different way of learning math, we are teaching them how to learn that new concept based off the way that they are now learning math.”
Since the Reutter School program proved to be such a success in students building fluency and understanding math, the school adjusted its tiered learning model for English language arts. The district’s other two schools, Main Road and Mary F. Janvier schools, have followed suit using a similar approach beginning with the first grade. Schools outside the district have noticed, too, reaching out to the district to learn about the program.
Bridge Course for Multilingual Learners
At the Sara M. Gilmore Academy, a public magnet school, grades one through eight in the Union City School District of Hudson County, a tailored bilingual instruction program is offered to better meet the needs of its multilingual student population.
Designed to be culturally responsive and linguistically inclusive, the Bridge Course offers students instruction in the students’ native language and English. Supporting bilingualism as an asset, allows Gilmore Academy students to develop literacy in both languages simultaneously, according to district officials.
Newcomers to the U.S. with minimal English language proficiency are placed in a “Port of Entry” program, where instruction is provided entirely in Spanish.
Union City has developed the transition program, where the general education curriculum is taught by a bilingual instructor instead of directly placing students into English language mainstream courses. The bilingual instructor of the language gap-closing program is skilled in monitoring and addressing students’ linguistic challenges, making the content accessible, while also gradually integrating English language learning into their curriculum.
Career Training Options
The Gateway Regional High School in Woodbury Heights, N.J. offers a program that reflects the district’s philosophy that every student deserves the opportunity to explore, discover and prepare for their future through real-world experiences integrated into their everyday learning. The program has been integrated from middle school through high school graduation to introduce students to a broad range of career paths.
Through classroom instruction, hands-on learning and partnerships with local industries, students gain exposure to career opportunities early and often. Field experiences, mentorships and an internship or entrepreneurship project round out the experience.
For example, teachers Kathy Bailey and Liam James took their students to PSEG’s Education Center to learn about energy careers. The school district also has a partnership with PSEG which has supported the Gateway Careers sensory education program for more than a decade.
Quianna Rosa, a recent Gateway senior, spent time in two different professional settings. In the first, she interned at Nemours Pediatrics in Deptford, N.J. After the experience, she decided she no longer was interested in healthcare and pivoted to spending time with Gloucester County Superior Court Assistant Trial Court Administrator Tina DiNicola to learn about legal careers.
“At Gateway, we believe in helping students discover their passion by giving them real opportunities to discover what they can become. Gateway to Careers makes that possible,” Pierro said.
The district uses the Naviance web-based tool for college and career and life readiness planning platform, and its internship tracking. District officials attribute the strength of the program to the relationships built with students, staff, local employers and mentors. Professional development for district staff over the years has been provided by the New Jersey Department of Education, the South Jersey Workforce Development Board and partnerships with colleges and trade organizations. Staff also undergo ongoing professional development aligned with career readiness, while its school’s counselors, CTE instructors and internship coordinators receive training or provide customized training to their peers.
The district intentionally built a sustainable model that does not rely on costly outside services. Its board of education has been very supportive of sponsoring career trips for students, adding that district students who are in the program leave Gateway Regional with a sense of purpose, practical experience in their chosen fields, and a network of mentors and industry contacts.
“For many, their internship experiences have directly led to job opportunities. But, most importantly, students graduate with more confidence in their future career paths,” Pierro said.
Rosa Cirianni is the owner of Rose Write Strategies, LLC. She is a consultant to the NJSBA.
