1. NJPSA Legislative Conference March 18, 2016
Kimberley Harrington, Assistant Commissioner
Peter Shulman, Deputy Commissioner

2. Improving our Delivery
As the NJDOE looks toward supporting Districts in successfully completing this school year and prepare for 2016/17, the Department is aiming to:
Better align, simplify and clarify existing initiatives
Better inform educators of prospective timelines, requirements and releases
Provided enhanced and timely support around new data and tools to inform instruction
Streamline burdensome procedures to ensure more time can be focused on instruction
Refrain from adding more regulatory requirements and, where possible, deregulate current administrative code requirements.

3. Current Focus Over the past few months, NJDOE has focused on…
Continuing our standards review and adoption process which has been informed through the input of thousands of New Jersey educators
Preparing for the Spring administration of the PARCC exam (which begins April 4th)
Ensuring all technical requirements and accommodations for students are being addressed
Providing Evidence Statements and training to districts to understand how their schools on last year’s PARCC exam
Preparing for the release of 2015 mSGP scores to educators and finalization of prior year’s evaluations
Proposing new graduation requirements which most acutely affect the graduating classes of 2020 (current 8th graders) and 2021 (current 7th graders)

4. On the Horizon As we look to 2016/17 and beyond…
Supporting implementation of the revised standards
Providing updated PARCC data and new tools this summer so they can be used to inform instruction next year
Streamlining evaluation policies to allow school leaders to spend more time focusing on novice and/or struggling teachers
Working with all stakeholder groups to determine “teacher-leader” policies and best practices as directed by the recent statute
Expanding professional learning communities, as supported by the Governor’s budget, to provide meaningful time for educators to collaborate
Reviewing our existing accountability structure and leveraging new opportunities afforded by the Every Student Succeeds Act