Ramsey Educators Voice Concerns About New State Evaluations

Some officials in the Ramsey school district are questioning two state-implemented initiatives that will change the way the Ramsey School District, and its students, are evaluated.

At the last Board of Education meeting, members spoke out against the state’s new “School Performance Review,” a new annual review that is set to replace the old School Report Card. According to Ramsey educators, a preview of the new evaluation system has many errors in it that may skew its findings.

Interim Superintendent Bruce DeYoung called the new system “troubling” and said it uses “bizarre metrics” to measure student achievement.

For example, the new review uses student attendance in grade three as a measure of workplace readiness, he said.

“So, if students at Tisdale are in school an average of 97.5% of school days, and the average for the group of districts we’re now being compared to is 98%, the results would show that Ramsey doesn’t prepare its students for the workplace,” he said. “One or two kids with an illness or who go on a vacation could really skew the numbers.”

DeYoung also said the new metrics change the group of schools Ramsey’s statistics is compared to. And, he said it doesn’t account for certain factors in its evaluation. For example, it reports that Ramsey has low PSAT scores, but does not account for the fact that 100% of Ramsey students – including freshmen who don’t take the exam in other districts – take the PSATs in Ramsey.

“If you put any semblance of credibility in [the new School Performance Report], you’re wrong,” he said.

According to a NorthJersey.com report, DeYoung was one of many local Superintendents who complained to lawmakers at the state Department of Education about the new system. DOE representatives said they are working to fix any inaccuracies in the report before it is released to the public, NorthJersey.com reported.

However, Ramsey officials said they feel they will have a hard time making sure the public understands the review once it is released. 

At recent Board of Education meetings, Curriculum Director Dr. Richard Wiener has also voiced concerns about the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC assessment, a national exam based on the new Common Core standards that will eventually replace the NJ ASK.

According to Wiener, the new exams will be administered via computer, which presents at least a few logistical challenges for the district in years to come. First, the district needs to make sure it has enough computers or mobile technology devices to give the exam. Wiener said he was unsure at this point if iPads will be a valid tool students can use for the exam, or if a traditional computer or laptop would be better.

Wiener and DeYoung also expressed a concern that the new exam will necessitate a more rigorous keyboarding curriculum for Ramsey’s youngest students. Students’ keyboarding skills would need to be advanced enough for them to take the entire exam online, they said.

“We want the test to measure our students’ knowledge, not their computer skills,” DeYoung said at a recent board meeting.

Wiener also said the PARCC significantly increases that amount of time and number of days each year students will spend taking standardized tests each year. He said the district will be monitoring the progress of the new exam, which is set to be rolled out in time for the 2014-15 school year.

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