New Jersey Launches New Tool for Improving School Performance
For Immediate Release Contact: Michael Schneider (973) 868-1000
George Koodray (973) 919-9293
New Jersey Launches New Tool for Improving School Performance
December 2, 2003 (Trenton, N.J.) – New Jersey’s business leaders and representatives of the education community announced a new school improvement program today called Just for the Kids-New Jersey. This program offers a free Web site (www.just4kids.org) that provides education leaders, policy makers, parents, and the public with fair comparisons of schools and valuable data for educational decision-making. It will also enable education leaders to tap into practices that have effectively enhanced student achievement. Just for the Kids-New Jersey is open to the public and funded by the Business Coalition for Educational Excellence (BCEE) at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.
For as long as school test results have been reported and compared to one another, parents, teachers, and school administrators have voiced concern that these reports do not accurately reflect achievement and provide little information to help schools improve student performance. Just for the Kids-New Jersey provides fair comparisons of schools. Each school in the state is compared only to schools that have similar or harder-to-educate students (based on the percentages of students that are economically disadvantaged and have limited English proficiency). And, achievement results are reported only for students who have been continuously enrolled in the school for at least one academic year.
Through Just for the Kids-New Jersey, each school’s potential for growth or “opportunity gap” is identified in a simple bar chart format. An “opportunity gap” is the difference between the achievement of an individual school and the achievement of the five highest achieving schools in the state serving similar or harder-to-educate students. It represents the school’s potential for improvement, which can be learned by studying and implementing the effective practices of high achieving schools.
“Just for the Kids-New Jersey points us in the right direction to improve our schools - identify the practices that result in high student achievement, then help lower achieving schools implement those effective practices,” said Governor McGreevey. “I am pleased to launch Just for the Kids-New Jersey in partnership with the state’s business and education leaders. This is another example of how we can improve our schools by working together.”
Also announced today was the seed funding from the BCEE for a Just for the Kids-New Jersey Benchmark Study to be conducted by Rutgers University. This study will examine six high achieving schools and share findings regarding their effective practices. These studies represent an important first step in the identification of the practices of highly successful schools. Findings will be released in spring 2004.
The Just for the Kids-New Jersey Web site allows visitors to view New Jersey school testing results by individual school, rather than by whole districts as typically reported in the past. Visitors to the site can navigate several easy to read summary charts that show school performance over time and achievement relative to other schools with similar student populations. Individual school performance is shown in comparison to five schools that have similar or more challenging student populations to educate. This “apples to apples” comparison enables underachieving schools to learn more about high achieving schools and encourages the sharing of best practices.
The site’s data uses assessment scores provided by The New Jersey State Department of Education. Currently, www.just4kids.org contains full statewide data on the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) results for the years 1999 through 2003. New Jersey’s 4th and 11th grade test results will be added to the Web site this spring.
“Just for the Kids-New Jersey demonstrates the power of collaboration between the business and education communities,” said Arthur F. Ryan, chairman and CEO, Prudential Financial, Inc. and chair of the Business Coalition for Educational Excellence. “The unbiased data and best practices provided by Just for the Kids-New Jersey give parents, educators, and the community meaningful information to strengthen New Jersey's education system and to help students become high-achieving and well-prepared adults.”
Edwina Lee, Executive Director of the New Jersey School Boards Association, noted “Improving student learning and closing achievement gaps are at the heart of our work as school leaders. New Jersey’s school community looks forward to working with Just for the Kids-New Jersey to provide training and assistance to implement highly successful practices.”
In Texas, where Just for the Kids reports have been used since 1998, schools that use the data to set goals, investigate best practices, and implement change improved between three and eight percentage points more on state assessment proficiency level between 1999-2001 than did otherwise comparable schools.
“Today, New Jersey joins a growing number of states that use education data to increase the transparency and clarity of how well students are learning. The Just for the Kids-New Jersey Web site transforms testing data from a static ranking list to a dynamic tool that highlights academic achievement, culls out the lessons learned from successful schools, and provides the motivation and knowledge to replicate it across the state,” said Terry Kelley, vice chair, National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA) and national sponsor of the Just for the Kids School Improvement Model.
At today’s launch, ten of New Jersey’s top achieving schools were honored as 2003 Just for the Kids-New Jersey Benchmark Schools and participated in a roundtable discussion with New Jersey Department of Education Commissioner William Librera. As part of this roundtable with the Commissioner, each Just for Kids-New Jersey Benchmark School shared some of their highly effective practices.
The Business Coalition for Educational Excellence at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is an association of New Jersey business leaders, educators, and policymakers committed to ensuring that all children achieve at high levels, become productive citizens, and are well prepared to function successfully in the workplace. The BCEE promotes policies and implements programs that support the business agenda in K-16 educational reform and has greatly impacted the course of education reform in the state. The BCEE has four areas of interest: standards and assessments, teacher quality, accountability and technology. Companies such as Prudential Financial, Inc.; The Merck Institute for Science Education; Verizon; Washington Mutual; ETS; Johnson & Johnson; State Farm Insurance; New Jersey Monthly; PSE&G; Schering-Plough Corporation; Fleet; IBM; Cendant; Infineum; San-Jae Educational Resources; and Eisia are all members of the BCEE. For more information on The Business Coalition for Educational Excellence, please visit www.bcee.org.
Just for the Kids (JFTK) is a powerful Web-based tool that helps schools view their own performance relative to schools with similar student populations. JFTK reports are based on analysis of information obtained from the state department of education in each state and provide an unbiased, data-based view of a school's academic achievement. Based on performance results, state study investigators identify the practices that distinguish consistently high-performing schools from other schools and encourage the replication of their practices. To date, Just for the Kids data is being used in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. Within the year, Illinois, Hawaii, and Michigan will be launching Just for the Kids Web sites as well. The National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA), national sponsor of the Just for the Kids School Improvement Model, is a part of a nationwide collaborative effort by the Education Commission of the States, The University of Texas at Austin, and Just for the Kids.
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Press contact RobertSunga
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New Jersey Launches New Tool for Improving School Performance
WHAT: For as long as school test results have been reported and compared to one another, parents, teachers, and school administrators have voiced concern that these reports do not accurately reflect achievement and provide little information to help schools improve student performance. New Jersey’s business leaders, along with Governor James E. McGreevey, and representatives of the education community, tomorrow will launch a new Web site called Just for the Kids-New Jersey that provides fair comparisons of schools. This Web site compares each school in the state to other schools that have similar or harder-to-educate students (based on the percentages of students that are economically disadvantaged and have limited English proficiency). And, achievement results are reported only for students who have been continuously enrolled in the school for at least one academic year.
This free Web site, www.just4kids.org, which is open to the public and is funded by The Business Coalition for Educational Excellence (BCEE) at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, will enable education leaders to tap into practices that have effectively enhanced student achievement. Ten high achieving schools will be honored as 2003 Just for the Kids New Jersey Benchmark Schools and will share their effective practices. The BCEE will also announce funding of a Just for the Kids Benchmark School Study to be conducted by Rutgers University that will examine six high achieving schools and share findings regarding their effective practices.
WHO: Joan Verplanck, President, President, New Jersey Chamber of
Commerce
Mary O’Malley, Vice President, Prudential Financial, Inc. William Librera, Commissioner, New Jersey Department of
Education
Edwina Lee, Executive Director, New Jersey School Boards
Association
Terry Kelley, Vice Chair, National Center for Educational
Accountability
WHEN: Tuesday, December 2, 2003 at 10:30 a.m.
WHERE: The State House Annex
Committee Room One
125 West State Street
Trenton, NJ
BACKGROUND:
The Business Coalition for Educational Excellence at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is an association of New Jersey business leaders, educators, and policymakers committed to ensuring that all children achieve at high levels, become productive citizens, and are well prepared to function successfully in the workplace. The BCEE promotes policies and implements programs that support the business agenda in K-16 educational reform and has greatly impacted the course of education reform in the state. Companies such as Prudential Financial, Inc.; The Merck Institute for Science Education; Verizon; Washington Mutual; ETS; Johnson & Johnson; State Farm Insurance; New Jersey Monthly; PSE&G; Schering-Plough Corporation; Fleet; IBM; Cendant; Infineum; San-Jae Educational Resources; and Eisia are all members of the BCEE. For more information on The Business Coalition for Educational Excellence, please visit www.bcee.org.
Press contact RobertSunga
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