N.J. School Report Card results show high failure rates for middle schoolers
By Steven Chambers
February 04, 2009, 7:14PM
Gov. Jon Corzine's goal of raising standards in New Jersey high schools is getting off to a rocky start, with huge numbers of middle school students failing rigorous new tests designed to prepare them for the next level.
Responding to test data released today, state officials said it was important to raise the bar last year for passing a new, more rigorous test so younger students could be readied to make the transition. But some critics said the results prove the state is pushing too hard, too fast.
New Jersey's annual School Report Card statistics were released today. Essex
-- STORY: State scores show academic gaps among Essex County schools
-- GRAPHIC: Essex results
Hunterdon
-- STORY: Hunterdon, Somerset school districts see mixed scores on state tests
-- GRAPHIC: Hunterdon results
Middlesex
-- STORY: State test scores may results in changes to Middlesex schools' curricula
-- GRAPHIC: Middlesex results
Morris
-- STORY: Good new for Morris County schools in state test scores
-- GRAPHIC: Morris results
Somerset
-- STORY: State test scores show mixed results in Somerset and Hunterdon counties
-- GRAPHIC: Somerset results
Union
-- STORY: Union schools up test scores, but challenges remain
-- GRAPHIC: Union results
Sussex, Warren, Mercer
-- GRAPHIC: Sussex, Warren and Mercer results
Full state report
The latest School Report Card and State Assessments showed the typical meandering of slightly up and down scores for high school and elementary school students. And fourth graders actually continued a long run of steady improvement in math, science and language arts.
But fifth and sixth graders failed in droves on the proficiency test. In language arts, for example, upwards of 40 percent of all fifth and sixth graders failed. In some urban districts, the failure rates were much higher, with about 70 percent or more of fifth graders failing language arts in Newark, Camden and Paterson.
"It's a higher, more appropriate level of expectation, so the decrease in some scores was expected," said Rich Vespucci, a spokesman for the state Department of Education. "But in the long term, it will fit the overall plan to turn out high school graduates who are ready for the demands of the 21st century."
Vespucci said students have traditionally fared worse when new tests or required passing scores -- called cut scores -- have been instituted over the past 30 years. He insisted teachers and students have quickly adapted in the past, and scores have bounced back.
But Don Goncalves, assistant board of education secretary in Elizabeth, said the changes and their unsurprising result may prove demoralizing to students and teachers who were progressing.
"The state changed the rules in the middle of the game," he said. "We got lower scores when, in fact, there was progress in the classroom. It was a strange result."
Corzine announced an ambitious agenda last year for making the state's high schools more rigorous, an initiative that has the strong support of the business community and is a response, in part, to the large number of students who arrive at college in need of remedial help.
Education Commissioner Lucille Davy agreed that, had it not been for the change in cut scores, sixth and seventh graders would have fared better on the state tests than the year before. Fifth grade scores would have dropped slightly.
"The goal is to have more kids graduate and go to college without having to do remedial work or be prepared to take a job without doing employer basic skills training," Davy said. "We'll stay headed in that direction."
Critics aren't so sure.
Steve Wollmer, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, said the state is pushing too fast and hasn't created systems allowing teachers to share "best practices" with colleagues.
"Any test where 40 percent of the kids are failing immediately has to be called into question," he said. "These kids did not suddenly lose the ability to communicate or compute."
Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, had a similar reaction, although he said the tests are invaluable for gauging success of both students and schools.
"It's great to see how we perform," he said of the data. "This year there is some controversy because they raised the standards after the assessments were already given (in fifth, sixth and seventh grades). But most people realize we have to continue to strive and get higher achievement, particularly in the middle and high schools."
The pressure to increase standards, part of a national movement, has shined a spotlight on test scores with sometimes embarrassing results. In some cases, the previous bar was so low in New Jersey that middle school students needed to correctly answer just 33 percent of the questions to be deemed "proficient." The bar was raised to roughly 50 percent on all the tests.
Although cut scores also changed for seventh graders, their failure rates didn't rise as dramatically. Statewide, about 30 percent of seventh graders failed language arts and 35 percent failed math.
Davy said many groups of students -- sometimes in individual schools, other times entire racial groups -- have been inching forward, something lost in an examination of statewide averages. One superintendent noted the scores of special education or otherwise disadvantaged kids can drag down averages.
That, of course, is the point of the tough No Child Left Behind Law, which argues that by pressing higher standards and holding schools accountable, every child can succeed.
Davy said part of the point of raising the bar in middle school was to identify thousands of children who may be in need of remedial help -- and need to get it now if they are to meet new rigorous standards being pounded into the high school.
That initiative includes not only tougher tests and added classes, but a whole new approach to teaching that will emphasize technology and more interaction with the outside world, she said.
Michael Lasusa, co-principal of Chatham High School, said his district supports the effort and already is instituting changes to make that dream come true. He said he is hopeful the state will one day focus less on standardized tests and more on other types of assessment that gauge critical thinking and things such as technology.
"We fared very well on the tests," he said, "but we're very fortunate we don't have some of the pressures other communities have."
Wow! Glad to see the money collected as exhorbitant property taxes to fund these school systems is being put to good use. Why don't they put more $$ into the classrooms and less into the NJEA commercials?
1.It will only get worse. The one issue still not addressed is the use of worthless "education packets" used by school districts. There was suppose to be a federal investigation into this but it was squashed by powerful lobbyists. Many have become millionaires by selling these packets to schools and NJ is one of the worst offenders. Teachers are forced to teach from these packets and they must show proof the students used them. The districts then pay millions to political friends and former teachers who have become filthy rich from this scam.The packets often have no educational value and as the tests show have actually done damage. They need to go back to having administrators and teachers preparing lesson plans that actually teach something.
2. Time to retrain these middle aged administrators and teachers on how to use technology. The number of computer illiterate staff is amazing. How can they train students for the future when they are still using a 1950's model for teaching. Even the way they communicate with parents is outdated. Many mothers are no longer home during the day and yet school systems still have not developed an integrated system to contact or meet with parents They still rely on snail mail and phone calls only.
3. Stop the creation of classes that are only designed to put unqualified teachers on the payroll. World Language is a joke. Try increasing their knowledge of English first. Also, stop all the waivers for teachers who are not certified.
None of the above will be done because it will break the cycle of political patronage and abuse. The only other solution is for people to stop voting in the same local politicians over and over.
get rid of the expensive and top-heavy adminsitrations, stop dumbing-down the curriculum for "special" learners and PUT MONEY WHERE IT BELONGS - TEACHERS AND THE CLASSROOM
Middle school is an absolute joke. The kids that failed probably derserved it.
"The change in scores is part of a conscious effort to identify middle school students who might need extra help preparing for high school."
I'm sure this is going to involve more money, & probably more members for the NJEA.
The crux of the story is in the 9th and 10th paragraphs: "The large failure rate for 5th and 6th graders are directly linked to a change last year in so-called 'cut scores,' the score students need to prove proficiency....
Education Commissioner Lucille Davy has said that 6th and 7th graders actually would have improved their passing rates over the previous year, had the cut scores not been changed. Fifth graders' passing rates would have declined slightly."
But people don't read beyond headlines; they don't hear more than soundbites. Because of that, they post unsubstantiated nonsense.
No, kids are not dumber. No, teachers are not doing a worse job. No, tax dollars are no being wasted. (In fact, 39 other states spend more on school adminsitration than does NJ.) The tests described in the article are not nationwide tests. They are designed by NJ education officials and only administered here. On nationwide tests, New Jersey students do much better than their counterparts in other parts of the country.
It's only a matter of time until the NJEA announces that this proves we need to hire more teachers and administrators in our schools; and that we need to increase the school budgets even more. But all one has to do is look at the Abbott Districts to see that throwing more and more millions of dollars into the schools does little to increase performance. How about evaluating all the teachers in these failing schools and getting rid of the ineffective ones? Oh wait... the NJEA ensured that with tenure, we're stuck with them. So we can't even reward the good teachers who go above and beyond. Too bad this organization has proven time and again that they really aren't in it just for the kids.
Keep wasting kids' time on sports. While kids are wasting their time on sports programs that will leave them with nothing but injuries, they're becoming so stupid they're failing out at record rates.
You'll never see an Asian kid wasting their time on sports. They're working their butts off studying and achieving great grades. Look at any school's honors classes - they're all Asian, and with good reason.
"No, tax dollars are no being wasted."
"On nationwide tests, New Jersey students do much better than their counterparts in other parts of the country."
Obviously the NJEA has sent out the lobbyists and shrills to try and make this report look better. Get ready to hear similar comments from their paid advocates.
Here's what galls me:
Look at the figures given as MEDIAN salaries.
The great majority of the Administrators are $100,000+. A median means that half of the sample makes more than the stated number, and half less.
It might take time, but I'd love to see how much savings statewide might occur if 75% of the adminstrators were cut out.
Plus failures in middle school? Even with a change in passing? What the hell are these teachers doing?
Also, the inner cities suffer. I saw the Paterson passing rates for 11th Grade were low - 40%, 30's for math.
Pathetic. What are these teachers doing?
What were those cut scores again? Proficient meant 45% right or something like that? Please SL, include that very pertinent info in this article when you print it tomorrow!
Hamiltonguy go back to your NJEA union meeting and save all of your condescending crap for your contract negotiations. We can read beyond the headlines. So the test was changed and even though you spend all year teaching to the test a significant percentage of your students still could not achieve proficiency. I know, I know it was the unmotivated parents, the "rigorous" new state test, the lack of funding or the teachers miniscule raises this year.
Lets face it any standard set by the state is going to be minimal at best, and no matter what teachers will never accept any responsibility. These are just realities of NJ public education. I'm sure you'd agree this article proves the need for several billion dollars more in Abbott money?
My favorite part of your post was this:
"They are designed by NJ education officials and only administered here. On nationwide tests, New Jersey students do much better than their counterparts in other parts of the country".
Yes, they are designed by NJ education officials and the NJEA makes sure that the school district's curriculum is specifically designed and that teachers lessons are focused on passing those tests, and yet they still have unacceptable proficiency rates. So NJ students do better on nationwide tests? Is that a testament to NJ or an indication of just how bad the rest of the country is doing educating their kids?
baligirl, JerseyOpine and funinmo are onto something. The NJEA is as culpable here as are the clueless school boards. The NJEA is a union and it's job is to represent it's members: teachers. The union has no place in developing or in some cases dictaing curriculum; and that's what too many school boards have allowed them to do.
Gee, let's dumb down the curriculum so that our teachers can look better! And it thee results are poor, we can make a case for more teachers, beter year "specialists" who can command higher pay and mjts have a certificate that's only available from a politically favored college
As a country, where are we going with a large percent of our youth receiving a mediocre education??? I think that, our government not ensuring that all our children receive the same education sends a disturbing message.
I bet the Abbott district schools kicked ass because of all that cash; LOL; newsflash: money can't replace parenting; solution: throw more money at the "problem";
I have several gripes
I agree the NJEA has got to be blamed for this. If they did what there TV commercials say, we'd be in great shape educationallly. Next are the school districts and school boards. Let's consolodate some of them. There are 21 counties and over 600 school districts. Let's cut some of this waste.
Next, I believe it is a conflict of interest for a school teacher to be a member of a school board. The school board handles the business part of education. let business minded people, not NJEA minded people run teh boards.
And don't forget Abbott. What a crock of liberal garbage that is. The Supreme Court is there to interpret the constution, not write the law and teh rules. That is what our legislative branch is for.
I am so happy John Corzine has a plan for education. How about we privatize and monetize. This is hi sanswer to everything else. I am tired of paying nearly $8,000 per year in school taxes to see that our education system is failing. Wake up NJ, these kids are our future and we need them well educated so they can pay for our retirements and all the bail-outs we are leaving them.
Corrections: NJEA has nothing to do with the state's governance and organization of school of school districts; teachers cannot serve on school boards for districts in which they work, and NJEA does not run school boards.
NJ should feel ashamed of its report card. How do we expect our children to succeed if we are not preparing them properly for success?
I'm sure the test results in Rockaway will be skyrocketing shortly, they just got a 20% raise over 4 years.
Actually I think the only reason for these poor test results is money. I think all teachers should get an immediate 20% raise and the statewide starting pay should be $60,000. If these new teachers were in the private sector they would make far more money. Also all the tired, old, fat, out of shape teachers(50-60 years old) should get a day off every week so they can rest. They should only have to work 150 days a year instead of the slave like 180 days.
Online degrees from "diploma mills" should be made available to all NJ teachers that don't already have them. They learn alot in these online schools and can then substantially increase their pay.
Teacher aides should correct all homework so the teachers are not burdened by 3-4 hours of work every night.
Teachers should also get two free periods a day instead of one, plus lunch. Having only one is very Draconian.
More administrators should be hired to relieve the pressure and stress on the overworked ones we now have.
And lastly, the passing grade for all state tests and class work should be 40%. Give the kids a chance. 40% - 50% a D, 50% - 60% a C, 60% - 70% a B and every thing over a 70% an A. The kids and teachers will "FEEL" great and have "HIGH SELF-ESTEEM".
We also need more diversity and more inclusion, kids learn far better in these enviroments
USA education ranks 18th in the western world, with these changes I recommend we can surely rise to 17th or 16th. Would be great.
We've upgraded our community features on NJ.com
Learn more! »-
TODAY IN NEW JERSEY
- • Send tips, photos, video
- POPULAR NEWS TOPICS
- JERSEY NEWSPAPERS
- Browse today's news:
-
Browse by week:
- STAR-LEDGER VIDEO
-
Trenton Catholic defeated University 63-46 in the Tournament of Champions semi-final game held at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway. Dondre Whitmore of Trenton Catholic led all scorers with 21 points. Trenton Catholic moves on to meet Camden Catholic in the championship game at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands next Tuesday. (Video by Andre Malok / The Star-Ledger) -
- PHOTOS
-
Most Commented on NJ.com
- COLUMNISTS
-
Comments
(106 total) RSS