New Jersey Administrators’ ESSA-Aligned Guide to Planning for the New School Year
New Jersey Administrators’ ESSA-Aligned Guide to Planning for the New School Year
We know you have been hard at work making sure everything this school year goes off without a hitch but there may be a few things that still need to be buttoned up. Not to fear! To support you, we’ve put together this blog post, which takes a closer look at New Jersey’s ESSA goals and provides you with a curated list of our best resources.
Boost New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) Mastery and PARCC Achievement
The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) is prioritizing student success within and beyond the classroom by placing a strong emphasis on student growth and academic achievement on the NJSLS and PARCC assessments. Utilize the following guides to apply a fresh approach to your instructional programs or refine your current practices.
Frequent, standards-based formative assessments are a critical piece of effective data-driven instruction. Our formative assessment workbook provides a framework for implementing formative assessments throughout the lesson cycle. Its planning forms and data-tracking worksheets can be used across multiple subjects and grade levels.
New Jersey has put forth a plan that emphasizes career readiness beginning in the earliest grades. And, a strong foundation in literacy is key to that future success. This workbook evaluates the many facets of structuring an effective, research-based reading and language arts block and helps you select the appropriate technology tools to support your approach.
Bring the best parts of online learning and traditional instruction together in a blended learning program. Blended learning programs come in many forms and enable scalable personalized learning. Use this workbook to get your district’s or school's blended learning program started.
Blog: 10 Creative Ways to Formatively Assess Your Students
This fun, GIF-filled blog post is great to share with teachers to help them get some fresh, creative ideas for ways they could assess students!
Address Achievement Gaps and Support English Language Learners and Special Education Students
The NJDOE is demonstrating its student-centered commitment to closing achievement gaps and increasing equity with a rigorous long-term goal of reaching 80% proficiency across all testing grades and subgroups in both English language arts and mathematics by the year 2030. The following resources provide strategies for meeting the needs of special student populations.
Special Populations Program Planning Worksheet
Use this worksheet to plan programs to address the needs of special populations of students.
Personalized Learning Workbook
Personalized learning allows educators to meet the varying needs of all learners, improving learning outcomes. This workbook takes the guesswork out of personalized learning by providing a step-by-step plan from development to implementation.
This collection of blog posts addresses topics like back-to-school strategies to support ELLs and ways to prepare ELLs for high-stakes assessments, and it features a post focused specifically on how you can address New Jersey’s ESSA requirements for ELLs.
Special Education Blog Collection
This collection of blog posts addresses topics like dyslexia, ways to navigate IEP meetings, ADHD, and trends in special education.
Support Graduation Rates
The NJDOE has set ambitious standards for graduation expectations with a long-term goal of achieving 95% of students graduating within four years and 96% of students graduating within five years. Make sure that your school has a credit recovery program in place so that all students who fall behind can catch up and graduate on time.
Our credit recovery worksheet will show you how to set up a new program or enhance your current credit recovery offering.
A virtual implementation may help your school or district offer more flexible and expansive course options to serve populations in need. Use this workbook to evaluate if a virtual implementation is the best option for your school and get guidance on developing a program and selecting a digital provider.
Ensure College and Career Readiness
The transition from secondary education into the workforce is a pivotal one, and the NJDOE urges schools to foster environments where every student is ready to graduate high school prepared for what awaits them in college and future careers. The following resources will help you open the door to several options in support of this initiative.
CTE programs have been shown to increase engagement and improve outcomes for enrolled students. Use our CTE workbook to plan a new program, or utilize it as a guide to augment your current one.
Online curriculum can open up a world of college- and career-focused courses to students that their schools may not otherwise be able to offer, including Advanced Placement®, CTE, SAT®, ACT®, and WorkKeys® assessment preparation. Our online curriculum guide discusses several different ways that online curriculum can be used, and it even includes a worksheet to guide the process of identifying a provider that meets your needs.
Reduce Chronic Absenteeism
Chronic absenteeism negatively impacts student success in a palpable way. As a result, the NJDOE is using this metric as one of its school quality indicators required by ESSA. Check out the following resources for more helpful information and suggestions for improvement.
How Chronic Absenteeism Affects Student Achievement
This blog post looks at the impacts of chronic absence, and it includes information on initiatives that aim to move the needle on this growing problem.
The Consequences of Suspension and What Schools Can Do Instead
When it comes to missing school, suspension is a big offender in hiking up the chronic absenteeism rate. As you consider how to keep students in the classroom, taking a hard look at suspension policies is an important step in the process of overcoming chronic absenteeism.
Looking for online programs to help your school or district improve outcomes for all students? Check out Edmentum's suite of K–12 evidence-based assessments and digital curriculum, and see why over 8,000 districts in the nation partner with us.
This blog post was originally published on July 24, 2018.
