On January 17, 2007, the New Jersey State Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting in Jersey City.  Following is the Superintendent’s Annual Report of Progress presented to the State Board at that meeting.

Good afternoon Commissioner Davy, Dr. Hyndman and members of the State Board of Education.  And of course Mr. De Rosa and members of our Board…it is always a pleasure to see you.

Greetings as well, and thank you for coming, to everyone else here with us today.

Welcome to Jersey City.

Once again, it is my great privilege to present the Annual Report of Progress for the Jersey City Public Schools. 

You know, this is fast becoming one of my favorite parts of the job, meeting and speaking with you, and reviewing what together, over the past year, we have accomplished.

And we have accomplished these things together.

What you see happening in our schools has resulted, in large measure, from the strong working relationship, mutual trust and respect that has developed over the past several years between the district, our colleagues at the Department, and the State Board of Education.

This partnership has allowed us to set in motion a full range of innovative instructional and operational solutions throughout the district, and to move our schools beyond “compliance” activities to a true focus on growth and change.

But that is only half the story. 

Today, as you visit our schools and speak to our staff, students, parents and board members, we’ll attempt to provide you with a more “up-front and personal” view of our district, and just a glimpse of what we feel has been quite a remarkable school year.  A school year that has placed our schools and our students firmly on the road to success.

Let me begin with one of our crowning achievements…the district being named a finalist for the 2006 Broad Prize for Urban Education, often called “America’s Nobel Prize for Urban Education.”

Of the top 100 urban districts in the nation, Jersey City was in the top five.

We are especially proud of Broad Foundation’s conclusion that “Other urban districts nationwide can learn a great deal from what is working in Jersey City.”

Among the Broad findings, it was noted that…

Jersey City narrowed the “achievement gap” in elementary and middle school reading and mathematics between low income students and their higher income peers, and between minority and non-minority students.

And that…

Low income and Hispanic students in Jersey City outperformed their peers across the state in elementary and middle school reading.

And that…

Compared to other districts in New Jersey that serve students with high poverty levels, Jersey City performed higher than expected in reading and mathematics in elementary, middle and high schools.

And, the Broad Prize was not one of accolades alone. $125,000 in scholarship money for our students comes with this award.

In Jersey City, we are on the road to success.  Our students and our schools are moving to new destinations…new accomplishments…and even higher goals.

But there are challenges ahead.

First of all, to influence achievement in a positive way, to keep our students on that road to success, we must be able to keep our students coming to, and staying in school.

And in those areas, student attendance and dropout prevention, solid progress is being made.

Our student attendance rate, at 93%, remains well above state standards, and our student retention rate, the percentage of students who begin as 9th graders and remain enrolled through grade 12, has reached 70%, the highest in over 25 years.

Remember, this is a number that has averaged around 45-50% for a very long time.

Many of these students who now come to school and remain in school were considered, just a few short years ago, to be our poorest performers.  Some may have expected these students not to come to school at all, and to eventually drop out.

But in Jersey City, we see the NCLB and Abbott mandates as both clear, and compelling.

We believe that the road to success must be made wide enough to accommodate all students.

That means that we must work as hard as we can to keep all students in school, and help them work even harder to stay.

Of course, test scores remain the standard against which all districts are measured.

If we look at the Jersey City’s three-year academic performance levels, we note a general upward trend in language arts, and strong results in mathematics in grades 3, 4 and 11.

But our scores are still not where they should be.  It appears that the easy gains have been made, and that new strategies are needed to re-establish and maintain a long-term positive trend in academic performance. 

This is especially true as we find that student performance begins to falter in the middle and high school grades.  This is an issue, statewide and nationally, that is just beginning to be addressed.

For the longest time, these grade levels have been a treacherous and isolated stretch on our student’s road to success.

So what should our middle and high schools look like if we’re to really address student need?  Hopefully, we’ll reach some answers through our participation as a pilot district in the Department’s new Secondary School Initiative. 

Our “Jersey City Model” will eventually provide a continuum of quality instruction and support that will extend from the middle grades through high school for all students in the district.

Already, we have established a singular focus on Smaller Learning Communities, and have established Freshman Academies in all 4 comprehensive high schools.

We have designed and implemented over 20 specialized Magnet Programs within our larger high schools, and these programs now serve 1,965 enrolled students.

And, we have established an all-honors Academic Program at each comprehensive high school campus, with enrollment now at 128 ninth, tenth and eleventh graders, with all students taking honors and AP courses.

But the challenge of educating our secondary students demands more than basic organizational change.

In our middle and high schools, we must ensure academic rigor and high standards in every classroom, and in all content areas, all of the time.  
All students must graduate ready for college, with strong Reading, Writing and Math Skills… 
All students must be prepared for a range of post-secondary options, including 4 year colleges, community colleges, technical schools and apprenticeships…
And most of all, as thoughtful educators, we must ensure that each and every student that we graduate has developed the character, purpose and resolve to live a rewarding and meaningful life.

But a good finish on our road to success –– graduation from high school – can  hardly be expected if we don’t get our students off to a great start.

We believe that our preschool program begins that momentum, that it jumpstarts a successful school career.

And we have done very well.

Last year, 2,067 three year olds and 1,842 four year olds were served, for a total of 3,909 students.

Services were provided in 299 classes, including 133 district and 166 provider classrooms.

Children with disabilities are included in the preschool program according to their IEP.  That could mean placement in an integrated classroom, an inclusion classroom, or a self-contained classroom.

Early Childhood staff also plan and execute a variety of activities for children and families throughout the year to ensure a seamless transition between home, early intervention, preschool, and kindergarten.

At times however, and despite our best efforts, we do not reach our goals.

That happened last year as three of our schools, PS 14, 15M and 41, entered Year 5 NCLB status, and a full restructuring was required.

But it has been said that “the road to success is always under construction”, so we took a close look at the landscape, and set to work.

The challenge was to serve all three schools, neighbors in the same community – with similar needs and a similar student population – yet struggling separately, and operating independent of each other.

But we saw in this an opportunity, to “cluster” the three sites in a new partnership, to consolidate and focus our resources, to provide support and oversight to those students and those schools.

In this case, we believed, the whole could truly be greater than the sum of its parts.

We began with a reconfiguration of grade levels at each school, with Pre K through 6 at PS 14 and 15, and grades 7 and 8 at PS 41.  A “Highly Skilled Professional” was assigned, as were Administrative Coaches for Curriculum, Operations and Professional Development.

Focus in all schools was placed on reading across the curriculum, and a system of ongoing evaluation was put in place.  Smaller learning communities, and a low student/teacher ratio were established at each site.

Finally, sustained, site-specific staff development was put in place, along with sufficient resources and a full program of extended day academic and recreational activities.
But student safety at these restructured schools soon became an area of community concern.
So, we began to look closely at the growing gang activity and other issues that our students must deal with every day.  We continue to work closely with city and social agencies, as well as with the Jersey City Police Department, to ensure a safe and secure environment for every student, in every school, all of the time.
As a daily symbol of our mutual resolve in this area, student compliance with the school uniform policy has reached virtually 100%.  All students in all schools, from kindergarten to Grade 12, proudly wear their uniforms every day.
Because school colors will always be more powerful than gang colors. 
And I intend to make certain that a student’s need for pride, self-respect and a sense of belonging is met by wearing a school uniform, and not by looking to have those same needs met on the streets.
Please…stay tuned. 

We expect very good things from our “restructured” district, and great things from the students in those schools.

But programs for our students can only be as successful as our ability to recruit, retain and support a highly qualified teaching staff.

And, in Jersey City, fully 98% of our staff is highly qualified.

Moreover, 99% of our staff has completed 100 or more hours of professional development.

It is important to note that the goal of our staff development program is to make every teacher a “specialist” in the delivery of the Core Content Curriculum Standards.

To have every teacher dedicated to a continuous plan of professional development that begins at their hiring in the district, and extends through the life of their professional career in Jersey City.

We believe that effective educators are themselves life-long learners, and we work to support that vision everyday.

We provide continuous and high quality training for staff at all levels. Even our substitute teachers must be trained before they ever step foot in a classroom.

Throughout our staff development program, a continuing priority is to minimize the loss of student instructional time.

This is accomplished by avoiding one-shot pull out training and, instead, designing our program around in-class coaching of our teachers in real classroom time.

This makes every day, every classroom hour, an occasion to learn.

Of continuing concern, however, is recruitment of Math, Science, Bilingual/ESL, and Special Education teachers, as well at the retention of new teachers in the district.

Finally, I’d like to bring you up to date on our All-Inclusive Schools Initiative, and its effect on both Special and General Education students.

Fully 66% of our students with disabilities now spend at least 40% of their school day in general education, up from only 37% just four years ago. 

And, as a secondary effect of inclusion, referrals for Child Study Team services have declined by 36%, and initial evaluations have declined by 56% over the same four-year period.
___________________________________

When all is said and done, we play by a few simple “rules of the road” in Jersey City:

This is our “Road to Success.”

So student by student, and school by school, we must be committed and prepared to respond to any and all issues facing our district with thoughtfulness, purpose and resolve.

As we travel this road together, sometimes we will lead, and sometimes we will follow… 

But it will always be our shared vision for students that will guide us, and their ultimate success that will signal that we have arrived.