Bernardsville-Bedminster Teachers Are 'Highly Effective,' New Rankings Say

BERNARDSVILLE-BEDMINSTER, NJ — The state Department of Education has some good news for parents with students in the Somerset Hills Regional School District and Bedminster Township Public Schools.

More than half of the Bedminster and Somerset Hills teachers received "highly effective" ratings, according to the state Department of Education's staff evaluations based on the 2015-2016 school year.

Teachers and staff across the state are graded and categorized as “highly effective,” “effective," "partially effective" and "ineffective." Results were released last week.

For Bedminster: Out of 50 total teachers, 35 were found to be “highly effective.” Another 15 were found to be “effective."

The district’s ratio of "highly effective" teachers came out to be nearly 6.6 and it was ranked 112rd out of 496 districts on Patch’s list, which is based on number of teachers per 100 students. (See the full list here.)

For Somerset Hills: Out of 162 total teachers, 116 were found to be “highly effective.” Another 46 were found to be “effective." There are 6 principals, assistant principals and vice principals in the district, but no data was provided for them.

Nearly two-thirds of the state’s 112,000 teachers were found to be “effective” and another third were “highly effective,” according to a report from NJ Spotlight.

State law requires each district to use a standardized system to evaluate teacher performance based on classroom observation and a form of student performance. It has been in effect since the State Legislature passed a tenure system five years ago to determine the strongest and weakest teachers in the state.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.