Projects

Final Report from the NJSBA Firearms Safety Task Force: Processes, Programs and Practices for Safety in School, Home and Community: In February 2023, the NJSBA’s Firearms Safety Task Force published a detailed report after reviewing research on firearm deaths and injuries; the impact of children’s exposure to violence; effective strategies to protect children from accidental injury; safe gun storage, handling and use; and school- and community-based partnerships that address students’ mental and emotional health, and help them overcome trauma and defuse conflict. The report offers local boards recommendations and suggested actions that reflect strategies endorsed by child welfare organizations, gun-owner groups, the medical community, experts in public health, education organizations and other advocates.

Report on K-12 Climate Change Education Needs in New Jersey  (2022) NJSBA teamed up with experts from Sustainable Jersey and other stakeholders from the education community to release this in-depth report, which will serve as a key resource for the school community to successfully navigate new learning standards adopted in June 2020 that made New Jersey the first state to incorporate K-12 climate change education across content areas.

Education During the Pandemic: A Series of Special Reports (2020 – 2021)

• Rebuilding Opportunities for Students (September 13, 2021) The report looks at challenges facing school districts and students in dealing with pandemic-related gaps in academic and social-emotional learning.
• Eye on the Future as Districts Monitor Student Mental Health (January 27, 2021) shows how mental health programs are helping students withstand the pandemic.
• Reopening Schools: Online Learning and the Digital Divide (October 23, 2020) looks at the challenges facing school districts in delivering instruction remotely to all students during the pandemic and beyond.
• Choosing the Best ‘Road Back’ for Our Children (August 31, 2020) provides an advocacy agenda for public education during the pandemic, including state and federal funding, assistance in securing personal protective equipment and technology, financial flexibility, and critical changes in law and regulation.
• Searching for a ‘New Normal’ in New Jersey’s Public Schools: How the Coronavirus Is Changing Education in the Garden State (May 20, 2020) addresses the safe reopening of schools, students’ mental health, academic and extracurricular programs, budgetary issues, and preparations for the future.
  

Building a Foundation for Hope (2019), Task Force on Mental Health Services in the Public Schools, provides over 70 recommendations, along with guidance and best practices.

Final Report: School Security Committee (2018), an update of NJSBA’s 2014 study, What Makes Schools Safe?, includes 15 new recommendations on response and recovery, law enforcement in schools, cybersecurity, after-school security, the use of schools as polling places, and other areas.

Educational Opportunities for the Non-College-Bound Learner (2018), an NJSBA task force makes 69 recommendations, identifying strategies to ensure that our schools are meeting the needs of the career-focused student.

Impediments to School District Regionalization (2018), prepared for the Office of the Governor, this NJSBA report identifies statutory and regulatory obstacles to locally initiated regionalization efforts and ways to remove these barriers.

NJSBA Task Force on Student Achievement (2017), a 107-page report that includes research and resources on the school board’s role in advancing teaching and learning, the impact of poverty, and the importance of early childhood education and social-emotional learning, with 83 recommendation for action.

Task Force on New Jersey’s Accountability Regulations: Final Report (2016), NJSBA’s comprehensive study of state code (N.J.A.C. 6A:23A), “Fiscal Accountability, Efficiency, Budgeting,” with 63 recommendations for improvement.