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NJDOE Forms College and Career Readiness Task Force

By: Jennifer Keyes-Maloney11/2/2011 12:00:00 AM

 

The New Jersey Department of Education announced the formation of the College and Career Readiness Task Force on October 26. The group will include K-12 and higher education practitioners and business community representatives. The body will have two primary roles:

  • articulating the knowledge and skills that students should master to be "college and career ready"; and
  • ensuring that New Jersey has the appropriate graduation requirements and high school assessments in place to evaluate the mastery of these readiness standards.

The task force will submit its recommendations to the Department of Education by December 31, 2011.

The body will also discuss the degree to which the HSPA and AHSA exams are appropriately gauging college and career readiness, and make recommendation on how New Jersey should measure college and career readiness in the future. 

The Specifics

The work of the task force will be focused on answering the following questions:

  1. What does college and career readiness mean?
  2. What is the appropriate way to assess this level of student achievement?
  3. What graduation requirements should be required including comprehensive examinations and end of course assessments?
  4. What process, benchmarks, and timelines should be established to guide transition from the current system to the new system?

The body will be:

  • Evaluating the degree to which the New Jersey HSPA and ASHA are appropriately gauging college and career readiness
  • Reviewing how other states are defining and evaluating college and career readiness;
  • Recommending specific educational standards, course offerings, learning outcomes, graduation requirements, college entrance and placement requirements, and workforce readiness.
  • Identifying the means of measuring success for schools and districts including assessment tools to measure school completion and college entrance readiness that can be relied on by P-12, higher education and employers as a valid indicator of student readiness. The review shall include recommendations concerning a new comprehensive exam and end of course assessments.
  • Identifying data needs related to NJ demographics, school learning outcomes, completion and assessment, college entrance, retention and graduation, and demonstrated national best practice aligning school and college completion.
  • Establishing a state-level transition plan and timelines for moving from the existing system to the new system including:
    • establishing a structure and process to support implementation of the school/college completion agenda
    • engagement of appropriate constituencies, including teachers; faculty; school, college, business leaders, and others
    • identifying the need for professional development
    • field testing of the new assessments.

The members will meet twice monthly, and will solicit input from a variety of stakeholders, including testing experts, academics, and the general public.

College and Career Readiness Task Force Members

  • Casey Crabill, President, Raritan Valley Community College
  • Bob Goodman, Teacher, Bergen County Vocational and Technical School District and Executive Director of the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning
  • Dana Egreczky, Vice President, Workforce Development, New Jersey Chamber of Commerce
  • Bari Erlichson, Chief Performance Officer, New Jersey Department of Education
  • Jeff Hauger, Director, Office of Assessments, New Jersey Department of Education
  • Rochelle Hendricks, Secretary of Higher Education - Glenn Lang - Designee
  • Barbara Gantwerk, Assistant Commissioner, Programs and Operations, New Jersey Department of Education
  • Michael Gorman, Superintendent, Pemberton Township Schools
  • Darryl Greer, Executive Director, New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities
  • Dave Hespe, Chief of Staff, New Jersey Department of Education
  • Harvey Kesselman, Provost/Executive VPAA, Richard Stockton College
  • Steve Koffler, NJDOE Technical Advisory Committee, Adjunct Faculty at The College of New Jersey
  • Mary Jane Kurabinski, Director, Office of Literacy, New Jersey Department of Education
  • Penny MacCormack, Interim Chief Academic Officer, New Jersey Department of Education
  • Courtney McAnuff, Vice President of Enrollment, Rutgers University
  • Larry Nespoli, Executive Director, Council of Community Colleges
  • Michael Pennella, Superintendent, Essex County Vocational Schools
  • Peter Renwick, Principal, Westfield High School
  • Kathleen Waldron, President, William Paterson University
  • Ray Yannuzzi, President, Camden County College

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