No Child Left Behind and its impact on Warren Hills

The No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 was signed into law on January 8, 2002 by President Bush. The Act represents the President's education reform plan and contains the most sweeping changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since it was enacted in 1965. NCLB changes the federal government's role in K-12 education by focusing on school success as measured by student achievement. The Act also contains the President's four basic education reform principles:

• Stronger accountability for results
• Increased flexibility and local control
• Expanded options for parents
• An emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work.

The state of New Jersey uses student scores on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills (NJ-ASK) and High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) in order to determine if we are making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under NCLB. They monitor scores for both the total student population and for various subgroup populations (Students with disabilities, Economically disadvantaged students, Hispanic students, etc).

Many New Jersey school districts, including Warren Hills, are struggling to make AYP for all of the subgroups. Any school that does not make AYP for any subgroup for two consecutive years is considered a school in need of improvement (SINI). In order to come off that list, a school needs to make AYP or safe harbor (significant improvement over the previous year) for two consecutive years. Both our high school and middle school are currently listed as schools in need of improvement. For the 2006-07 school year, both schools made AYP or safe harbor for all subgroups. However, we will need to also meet that threshold for the 2007-08 school year in order to come off the SINI list.

While we have already made many improvements to our curriculum and instruction during the past few years, we are also continuing to look for new ways to help us make AYP. We received a visit from the New Jersey CAPA team during the fall of last year, and they gave us some important recommendations as well. Our major initiatives for the 2007-08 school year: differentiated instruction, curriculum mapping, and data-driven decision making, are all designed to help us meet the criteria of NCLB. Finally, we are always open to input from our parents and students, and we encourage you to contact us if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.

You can find more information about No Child Left Behind on the US Dept. of Education's website and the NJ Dept. of Education's website.