Overall, New Jersey’s schools are excellent. That’s not in question. A recent study ranked New Jersey second in the nation in student achievement and chance for success.
That’s impressive.
The Garden State ranked second on The Quality Counts report, which the publisher of “Education Week” conducts. Only Massachusetts ranked higher than New Jersey in the Chance for Success Index, which measures the role of education in an individual’s life.
The state’s B+ grade was much higher than the national average of C+, and also bested the grade for nearby states Maryland (B), Pennsylvania (B), Delaware (B-) and New York (B-).
Yay for us.
With every positive seems to come a negative, though, or, in this case, an area in need of improvement.
The same Quality Counts report ranked New Jersey below average in the categories of standards, assessments and accountability (C — 44th overall) and teaching profession (D+ — 38th).
It has been widely reported, both here and elsewhere, that our school districts are actively working to improve their accountability and assessments, so let’s leave that one alone for now. The concerning aspect of this study is, without a doubt, the teaching profession.
According to the report, New Jersey has “no incentives for teachers or principals working in hard-to-staff disciplines or schools, no salary parity with other occupations, and no financial incentives for teachers to earn national certifications.”
This needs to change.
As we wrote some time ago, our students and, therefore, our schools are only as good as the teachers and administrators we hire; ergo, we need to ensure that our teachers and administrators are not only well qualified at the time of hiring but are also incentivized to grow professionally within our system as well.
Our schools are great now, but let’s make sure they continue to be great. Let’s find a way to incentivize our teachers and administrators to work in difficult subjects, in difficult schools and earn bigger and better certifications.
Our students are the ones who will benefit the most.
