NJ Education Report

On Monday, Feb. 23, the state Assembly passed  A-4190, which would establish a three-year moratorium on the use of PARCC scores for students and educators.
The legislation eliminates the use of the PARCC test as a component of any evaluation rubric that the school district would use to assess the effectiveness of teachers and adminstrators for three years beginning in the 2015-2016 school year. It would also ban the use of the PARCC assessment for purposes of student placement in a gifted and talented program, placement in another program or intervention, grade promotion, as the state graduation proficiency test, any other school or district-level decision that affects students.     

NJSBA Testimony NJSBA opposed the bill, testifying at an Assembly Education Committee hearing on Feb. 12 that the bill could jeopardize federal funding for the state, that would eliminate a tool to help students and local decision-makers, and that it frustrates ongoing tenure reforms. 

“As written, the bill’s language would immediately put the state and local districts out of compliance with the federal ESEA waiver, which could jeopardize over $300 million in federal funding,” noted the NJSBA testimony. “New Jersey’s ESEA waiver requires a statewide assessment as part of overall measurement of student groups for purposes of determining need for intervention and/or corrective action. The ESEA waiver, which the Legislature supported in 2010 through the passage of ACR-127 and SCR-102, specifically requires the state to provide an annual assessment that districts are permitted to use as a tool for determining the need for intervention and corrective action within student groups, or entire schools.  A-4190 frustrates those purposes.”