On Wednesday, Sept. 8, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle visited the Delran school district to learn more about the New Jersey Public School Labor Management Collaborative.
The initiative, of which NJSBA is a partner, encourages teachers, administrators, school boards and unions to work together on school-related issues, such as developing and revising curricula and updating instructional practices and policies.
Saul Rubinstein, a professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, presented his research on collaborative school leadership, which indicates that in highly-collaborative schools, student achievement is positively impacted, as is teacher retention.
Delran is a pilot district in the initiative. Currently there are 23 districts and 128 schools in New Jersey participating in the collaborative; collectively those districts serve 77,000 students.
NJSBA’s Educator-in-Residence Vince DeLucia attended the meeting and briefed the participants about NJSBA’s role in the initiative.
More information on the meeting is available here.