Wayne PARCC Results, Student Schedules Being Examined As Part Of 2015-16 Goals

Scrutinizing standardized test scores, examining middle and high school schedules, and improving the district’s carbon footprint are all goals for Wayne School Officials for the 2015-16 school year.

The Board of Education adopted five goals at its Aug. 20 meeting.

The district is developing an implementation plan revolving around the new Envision 2.0 math textbooks and instructional materials.

“We’re halfway there, now we want to get the most out of the new series and make sure that we are as effective as we can be with using these resources,” said Superintendent Mark Toback. “We want to make sure our teachers know how to all the parts of this new series.”

Officials will also examine the program and teaching strategies involving the district’s language arts programs. Staff will examine the language arts programs at each grade level in every school.

“ This goal is extremely important and it will determine the future of language arts instruction in the district,” Toback said.

Officials are examining just how well the results of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) examination are in determining how to place students in future classes.

“We want to look at how students did compared to their grades and determine how can we best use the PARCC,” Toback said. ”Our analysis will help determine whether the PARCC has relative value in the educational decision making process.”

About 600 Wayne students did not take the PARCC exam late last school year.

The middle and high school schedules will be examined this year. The schedules could change as a result of officials’ analysis and a new system, such as a block system, could be implemented.

“Organizing schools for the success of students is an ongoing project in every school district and scheduling is a major part of this work,” Toback said.

Finally, the school district will be exploring various ways to become more environmentally friendly by participating in the Sustainable Jersey for Schools Program. This program goes hand-in-hand with the many efforts made by the district to become more energy efficient and can lead to grant funding for additional projects.