TRENTON, December 3, 2014—The executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association today commended Acting Commissioner of Education David Hespe for implementing a streamlined process that will further relieve high-performing school districts from frequent state monitoring. State officials announced the revised process this afternoon.
“Student achievement has to be at the heart of all educational policy,” said Dr. Lawrence S. Feinsod, NJSBA executive director. “The new streamlined monitoring process announced by Commissioner Hespe is consistent with that belief. It will substantially ease the administrative burden placed on districts that meet state standards, while allowing the state to focus its resources where assistance is needed.”
Feinsod continued, “In our membership surveys, local school boards found value in the monitoring system, the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum. But they also indicated that the frequency of the complex process could divert time and resources away from supervision of instruction and other areas related to the delivery of the educational program.”
The NJSBA supported earlier revisions to the process that were implemented by the state Board of Education in 2012 and which also eased monitoring requirements on high-performing school districts.