Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 6, March 18, 2024
(a) All school districts shall implement a coherent curriculum for all students, including English language learners (ELLs), gifted and talented students and students with disabilities, that is content-rich and aligned to the most recent revision of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS). The curriculum shall guide instruction to ensure that every student masters the NJSLS. Instruction shall be designed to engage all students and modified based on student performance. Such curriculum shall include:
1. Interdisciplinary connections throughout;
2. Integration of 21st century skills;
3. A pacing guide;
4. A list of instructional materials, including various levels of text at each grade;
5. Benchmark assessments; and
6. Modifications for special education students, for English language learners in accordance with N.J.A.C. 6A:15 and for gifted students.
(b) All schools and school districts shall develop and implement professional development plans for teachers aligned with the requirements and the Professional Development Standards set forth at N.J.A.C. 6A:9. Professional development activities shall:
1. Improve teachers' understanding of the content and pedagogy related to their teaching assignment;
2. Promote individual and collaborative professional learning with adequate and consistent time for teachers, including English as a second language, gifted and talented, bilingual and special education teachers, to work together in and across content areas and grade levels to review student work, analyze classroom assessments and other achievement data, critique lesson plans, and solve instructional problems;
3. Include evaluation and analysis of professional development results in order to improve professional development by reviewing the following:
i. Student test scores, work products and attitudinal measures;
ii. Progress made in achieving professional development goals;
iii. Staff feedback on the effectiveness of professional learning activities and Professional Development Plans; and
iv. Analysis of the costs associated with professional development opportunities in relation to the impact on student achievement and district goals;
4. Include ongoing analysis by administrators and teachers regarding the effectiveness of implementation of professional development initiatives; and
5. Include school district support through policies and adequate resources.
(c) All school leaders shall develop and implement a professional growth plan aligned with the requirements and the Professional Development Standards set forth at N.J.A.C. 6A:9.
(d) All schools and school districts shall collect and analyze student achievement data by subgroups (such as economically disadvantaged, race and ethnicity, students with disabilities, English language learners) and make educational decisions based on such data.
1. The school district shall transmit required student, faculty, school and school district data to New Jersey Standards Measurement and Resources for Teaching (NJ SMART), the New Jersey Department of Education's data warehouse, on a schedule and in a form specified by the Department.
2. The schools and school district shall use NJ SMART and its data query resources to track student progress year-to-year and school-to-school and to identify continuously enrolled students by school and school district.
3. The school district shall ensure that teachers, school administrators and central office supervisors receive training in NJ SMART and its data query resources.
4. The schools and school district shall analyze assessments of student progress in relation to curricular benchmarks and the results of State and non-State year-end tests reported by subgroups (such as economically-disadvantaged, race and ethnicity, students with disabilities and English language learners).
5. The school district central office shall prepare data on comparative performance for all schools in the district and make them available to the schools. This analysis shall include the following comparisons using State assessment data:
i. Each grade level across all schools within the district;
ii. Schools within the district;
iii. Comparable districts by district factor groups; and
iv. Data with State averages.
(e) All school districts shall ensure that a free appropriate public education is available to all students with disabilities according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. §§
1400 et seq., and N.J.A.C. 6A:14.
(f) All school districts shall provide English language learners with instructional services pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:15.
(g) All school districts shall provide gifted and talented students with appropriate instructional services pursuant to 6A:8-3.1.
(h) All school districts shall provide library-media services that are connected to classroom studies in each school building, including access to computers, district-approved instructional software, appropriate books including novels, anthologies and other reference materials, and supplemental materials that motivate students to read in and out of school and to conduct research. Each school district shall provide these library-media services under the direction of a certified school library media specialist.
