Today, Governor Phil Murphy announced that he is signing an executive order that will implement new policies for the 2020-2021 school year as follows:
1. The graduation assessment test requirement for all 12th grade students will be waived.
2. Student Growth Objectives (SGOs) will be removed from educator summative evaluations.
3. Substitute teachers who are in the process of obtaining their teaching certificate or who are certified in an area other than what they are teaching will be able to continue as substitutes longer.
NJPSA Executive Director Pat Wright was appreciative of the Governor’s understanding of the circumstances faced by educators and students during this difficult year. “On behalf of the Principals and Supervisors Association of New Jersey, I want to thank Governor Murphy and the Department of Education for recognizing the impact these extraordinary times have had on our students and educators by granting much-needed flexibility on two issues related to state testing scores, the issues of high school graduation and teacher and principal evaluation,” Wright said. “The Governor’s action balances our collective desire for student readiness post-high school with the realities of schooling during a pandemic when multiple pathways to graduation were simply not available to too many students.
“Similarly, we welcome the appropriate elimination of the requirement of student growth objectives (SGOs) from educator evaluations for the 2020-21 school year due to the difficulty we have faced in data collection and data quality due to the pandemic’s impact on schooling,” Wright continued. “These common sense changes, including an extension of time that substitutes can legally work in our schools, will help everyone in the school community move forward in reaching our goals to help our students learn in these unprecedented times.”
For more information on this announcement, please read the story posted below written by Adam Clark of NJ Advance Media:
N.J. Seniors Don’t Have to Pass Exit Exam, Teachers Won’t Be Rated on Student Performance