As the new school year starts, the NJ Department of Education faces a stern test of the State’s commitment to improving the education of New Jersey’s urban school children. Will DOE pass or flunk the test? It depends on whether the agency follows through on critical tasks, most of which were ignored last year.

Here are the test questions:

• (1) Will the Commissioner of Education adopt a coherent set of Abbott rules, giving teachers, administrators, school leadership teams and parents a clear roadmap to follow as they work on improving preschool, K-12 curriculum and instruction, whole school reform, and supplemental programs and services this year?
• (2) Will DOE finally issue a contract for the "comprehensive, formal" evaluation of whole school reform -- now six years overdue – to begin learning what reforms are working in Abbott schools?
• (3) Will DOE restart work on NJ SMART, the statewide student level database needed to identify achievement gaps, and inform work on closing those gaps?
• (4) Will DOE quickly release the "CAPA" reports for the 90 schools identified as "in need of improvement" last year, so the schools can use the reports’ findings and recommendations to guide reform efforts this year?
• (5) Will DOE take seriously a Superior Court order, issued July, requiring preparation of a plan to manage Abbott implementation, including "progress benchmarks" to assess DOE performance and a budget for the $15 million annual allocation for Abbott oversight?
• (6) Will the Commissioner and State Treasurer, as required under the School Construction Law, quickly submit to the Legislature the report on how much additional construction funds are needed to complete school projects already under development by the School Construction Corporation, and will the Commissioner then work diligently to secure the funds from the Legislature?
• (7) Will the DOE work with districts having less than 90% of eligible youngsters enrolled in the Abbott preschool program to prepare a corrective action plan that includes plans for temporary and permanent facilities to house additional classrooms?

ELC, as Abbott counsel, will closely follow the State’s performance over the next few months on each of these urgent tasks. We ask advocates, legislators and all those who care about the Abbott school children to join us, and then to hold state education officials accountable if they don’t perform. This is one test where the only passing grade is an "A."

Prepared: September 9, 2005

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