Education First

09/15/2016

What an awesome idea! I hope it works well and then perhaps it can spread!!

An elementary school in Woodbridge has decided that "the most important things students can do when they go home each day are play, eat dinner with their family, engage in conversations, help with family responsibilities or chores and read by themselves or with a family member. The skills of responsibility, time management and creativity are all fostered through the aforementioned activities."

Robert Mascenik School #26 is de-emphasizing homework this school year and telling parents their children should spend more time playing, doing household chores and eating dinner with their families.

The goal is to make school work at home a more meaningful experience and not an exercise in compliance, according to Principal Judith Martino wrote. "Studies have shown that there is no link between homework and academic achievement for elementary school students, she added."

"It's not that there's no homework," Woodbridge Township School District Superintendent Robert Zega. "The homework that students will be coming home with is a little bit different." Students will likely see fewer worksheets asking them to fill in the blank or circle the correct answer, Zega said.

Some reading assignments may no longer be tied to a specific written response, and students might be asked to read a book of their choosing rather than a specific passage, he said.

Students may be assigned homework if they are unable to complete assignments they were given time to do during class or it they miss a day of class, the school said.

Long-term projects will still be assigned and students will expected to study for test and quizzes at home. Students will also be required to read every day and keep a reading log.

The departure from traditional daily homework assignments comes as part of a district-wide shift toward making homework more relevant and creating a more positive learning experience, Zega said.

In some instances, homework has been counterproductive, especially for students participating in multiple activities after school, Zega said. Students otherwise earning high marks have seen their grades drop solely because they were not completing homework, he said.

"If you think back to your own educational experience, how many homework assignments did you do to get them done just so that you didn't get a bad grade?" Zega said. "And how many of them did you really learn from?"

http://www.nj.com/education/2016/09/why_this_nj_school_is_doing_away_with_homework.html

08/04/2016

Sad day for our state. But we can change this when we dump CC.

04/21/2016

Change Delran to Madison (or fill in the name of your town) and send them all to the NJDOE!!

04/06/2016

To sum up today's action at the State BOE regarding PARCC testing.

The legislature passes bills and the Governor signs them into law. The various state departments write the regulations that detail how laws will be implemented.

Current NJ regulations say that in order graduate high school, students must complete 120 credits, satisfy attendance requirements, and pass HSPA or AHSA. The DOE wants to change the graduation test requirements.

To change the requirements, the DOE is supposed to follow a prescribed process. A major function of the State Board is the adoption of administrative code that contains the rules for implementing education laws. For new code or major revisions to the code, the following process is applicable:

1. Code is proposed by the Commissioner and introduced for discussion.

2. Proposed code is published in the New Jersey Register.

3. Public input is accepted for 30 to 60 days after publication in the New Jersey Register.

4. Monthly public testimony sessions are held by the State Board.

5. Code is adopted by the State Board after evaluation of input and subsequent revisions.

Two months ago, the State BOE complied with #1 above. Today, the State Board approved #2. After the public comment period ( #3) has concluded, the DOE will schedule a public hearing on the code changes, probably in June ( #4). And if all goes according to plan the State BOE will adopt final graduation regs during the summer ( #5). All of that does not preclude us from speaking about the proposed regs next month, during open public comment, in addition to the upcoming hearing required by #4.

The DOE has gotten itself into trouble with this year's graduating class because it did not follow the process above. Rather, the Commissioner issued a series of memos changing the 2016 graduation requirements. The ACLU and ELC sued the DOE over this action and that case should be concluded soon.

The action today will establish regulations that affect the graduating class of 2017 and beyond.

Especially, If you have children in 7th grade or below, pay close attention and start taking action NOW!!

04/05/2016

For anyone who is considering refusing the test. Here is a great tune to listen to.

More Than a Number Thinking of all New York students as they take tests this week. Here is a song that speaks to the truth. Children are...

04/05/2016

In time for the PARCC testing, to give us all something to think about.

04/02/2016

It's getting close to the time when these tests will be rearing their ugly head. Here's a solution.

12/26/2015

The Education Race is the New Arms Race.

11/01/2015

We need more teachers like this one and not less.

September means apples, bulletin boards, foliage, name tags, a new class and everything else about going back-to-school! After over thirty years of starting the fall in a classroom, as a student or...

10/30/2015

Shame on Chris Christie.

10/24/2015

Please take action and please share.

10/20/2015

So was this a surprise? For some of our children who didn't waste time taking the test, at least they never were made to feel like failures.

New Jersey on Tuesday released the overall results of its state tests, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exams, revealing that more than half of the students in every grade level tested failed to meet expectations in math.

09/24/2015

For all those who teach. Although the governor doesn't appreciate you, there is a higher power that does. God bless all the teachers.

09/21/2015

Here's to the Career Teachers. College and Career Readiness is not how a child's life should be measured.

The ultra-wealthy are terrified by those who make the choice to teach, because a choice to teach is a choice to value service over greed. Career teachers, merely by their existence, are living crit...

09/16/2015

The reading log isn't as bad as the Summer Reading assignments. What do you think?

Parents and teachers of elementary school aged students, I have a confession to make: I loathe the reading logs my daughter brings home. So, just to be clear, the reading logs that return from my h...

09/13/2015

The Middlesex County Education Association and the NJEA cordially invite you to: LIMITED TO 300 SEATS! Join us in watching “Defies Measurement “By Shannon Puckett. Defies Measurement strengthens the discussion about public education by taking…

09/10/2015

Something worth practicing.

Encouraging Words for Kids - You never know the words that your kids will carry with them the rest of their lives. Add more positivity and encouragement with this list.

09/10/2015

I believe this will continue until PARCC disappears entirely.

In a memo sent to school superintendents, the Department announced that it would extend the graduation requirements currently in place for seniors, juniors and sophomores to the Class of 2019.