New Providence, Berkeley Heights Teachers Are 'Highly Effective,' New Rankings Say

NEW PROVIDENCE-BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ — The state Department of Education has some good news for parents with students in the New Providence School District and Berkeley Heights Public Schools.

More than half of New Providence and Berkeley Heights' 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 New Providence: Out of 182 total teachers, 155 were found to be “highly effective.” Another 26 were found to be “effective,” with no data provided for the other two categories. There are 7 principals, assistant principals and vice principals in the district, but no data was provided for them.

For Berkeley Heights: Out of 227 total teachers, 131 were found to be “highly effective.” Another 96 were found to be “effective,” with no data provided for the other two categories. There are 9 principals, assistant principals and vice principals in the district, but no data was provided for them.

For Mountainside: Out of 57 total teachers, 17 were found to be “highly effective.” Another 40 were found to be “effective,” with no data provided for the other two categories.

New Providence's ratio of "highly effective" teachers came out to be nearly 6.5, and it was ranked 115th out of 496 districts on Patch’s list, which is based on number of teachers per 100 students. While Berkeley Heights had a ratio of 4.8 and ranked at 203rd and Mountainside's ratio was 2.3 and ranked at 368th. (See the full list here.)

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)

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