Glen Rock School District Part of N.J.'s New Education Evaluation - How Did We Do?

When New Jersey’s Department of Education wanted to restructure its teacher and administrator evaluation process, it knew a major undertaking was necessary.

As such, volunteer school districts were asked to participate in the new program, and of the 17 participants across the state, the Glen Rock School District was one of them.

So, how did they do?

According to the state’s findings from the pilot year of 2013-14, teachers and administrators alike performed pretty well.

A district-by-district report has not yet been released by the DOE, but Wednesday’s disclosure of the program and overall state numbers showed the majority of educators in New Jersey earned two of the top four possible ratings of effective or highly effective.

However, some 2,900 teachers – providing instruction to more than 180,000 students that school year – across the state were considered ineffective or partially effective, the state noted. As a result of those ratings, AchieveNJ requires those teachers to receive extra support and demonstrate progress over time to earn or maintain tenure, the report said.

“The real story of the first year of AchieveNJ,” said Peter Shulman, Assistant Commissioner of Education and Chief Talent Officer in a press release, “is that educators have risen to the challenge of improving feedback for all teachers and leaders. While one year of this new data is insufficient for identifying sustained trends or making sweeping conclusions about the state’s teaching staff, we are proud of this significant improvement and the personalized support all educators are now receiving.”

The 17 school districts that volunteered to participate in the program included:

• Bogota School District
• Camden City Public Schools
• Collingswood Public Schools
• Delsea Regional School District
• Glen Rock Public Schools
• Hillsborough Township Public Schools
• Manchester Township School District
• Montgomery Township School District
• Morris School District
• Mt. Olive School District
• Newark Public Schools
• North Bergen School District
• Parsippany-Troy Hills School District
• Passaic Public Schools
• Paterson Public Schools
• River Dell Regional School District
• Upper Saddle River School District

According to the report, approximately 87-percent of teachers and 85-percent of principals received a grade of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale. To see the full report from the 2013-14 school year, click here.

The program was also implemented in 2014-15, but results have not yet been released.