Tag: state mandates

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Ridgewood Parents Feel Ill Served by PARCC testing

standardized-testing3
May 2,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , Residents of school aged children are continuing to question concerned  a week of interrupted instruction because of the seemingly useless PARCC tests. 7 days of testing fro 8th graders to get a reading and a math score really? If our kids can take an SAT for college admission in under 3 hours, what is the State of NJ doing? Testing is not teaching!

Maybe this is another reason we have so many “PARCC refuseniks” the lengthy tests take to much away from learning time?

Many teachers think PARCC a waste of time and needs to be eliminated. Teachers know better than anyone the progress of their students better than any testing can determine. Education is a local issue ,state and federal mandates are in no way indicative of what children’s specific needs are in a specific school district.

We learned this from “No Child left behind” , when it had more of a negative impact  on a high performing district like Ridgewood .
The current PARCC tests seem to be pushing education to the lowest common denominator instead of encouraging individual growth and advancement.

Perhaps it’s time we move on from State mandated testing of any kind and truly get down to the business of educating students. Maybe if we didn’t lose all this time on nonsense like this we could focus on important things like civics, grammar, real math (not common core crap) .

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Ridgewood Board of Education approves new administrators

cottage_place_theridgewoodblog.net_21

Ridgewood Board of Education approves new administrators

JUNE 27, 2014    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2014, 2:46 PM
BY JODI WEINBERGER
STAFF WRITER
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The school board voted on Monday to move forward with hiring new administrators under the condition that Superintendent Daniel Fishbein research whether teacher evaluations qualify as unfunded mandates from the state.

A lengthy Board of Education (BOE) discussion resulted in a 4-1 vote, with trustee Christina Krauss as the lone dissenter.

Fishbein spoke of the long-standing need to replace the administrators let go in 2010 when deep budget cuts set in, but to some BOE members that argument paled in comparison to what they believe is the real issue: increased workloads from the state-required evaluations.

Because of the state- mandated transition to a new evaluation system, administrators’ teacher evaluation “events” have increased from 44 to 109, Fishbein told the board at a previous meeting. But, he emphasized, Ridgewood has fewer administrators when compared to other districts and the need for new hires predates the evaluations.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/trustees-sign-on-for-supervisors-1.1042907#sthash.nelqCiyv.dpuf

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Fishbein: Why do I follow proposed legislation?

Dan-Fishbein-10.08

Fishbein: Why do I follow proposed legislation?
Friday, February 28, 2014
By DANIEL FISHBEIN
COLUMNIST

Each week I monitor proposed, new and pending legislation. Why?

Generally, I do this because I find a significant amount of legislation interferes with the operation and efficiency of our district. When I determine legislation that is or will be problematic to the district, I both inform the Ridgewood Board of Education of the issue and I write a letter to the state officials explaining how this legislation will negatively impact our mission of excellence.

At times my letters result in formal Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) resolutions — either supporting or opposing — that are officially passed by the BOE after public discussion. In addition, many resolutions come from individual BOE members themselves, who also monitor legislation on their own or through their active involvement in various school issue-based organizations such as the New Jersey School Boards Association and the Garden State Coalition of Schools.

Since our legislators are busy people who receive thousands of pieces of legislation, interact with other constituents and must deal with other distractions from within their own organization, my letters and BOE resolutions help keep our representatives informed as to our stance on the education bills that cross their desks on a regular basis.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/247718541_Fishbein__Why_do_I_follow_proposed_legislation_.html#sthash.wpxxr65d.dpuf

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Ridgewood school officials say state mandates are a burden

cottage_place_theridgewoodblog.net_2

Ridgewood school officials say state mandates are a burden
Monday January 20, 2014, 12:02 PM
BY  LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

The Ridgewood school district is backing two resolutions in a fight against state mandates that officials say are placing a burden on Ridgewood.

Both resolutions are being sent to various state legislators and New Jersey education groups for review.

The Board of Education (BOE) noted in one of the documents, which were approved last week, that “based on the history of high test scores achieved in Ridgewood Public Schools, these new mandates are unnecessary to the district to provide a thorough and efficient education system, a fact making these unfunded mandates particularly onerous to Ridgewood Public Schools.”

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/241158431_Ridgewood_school_officials_say_state_mandates_are_a_burden.html#sthash.YjXJ6XNd.dpuf