-Jennie Lamon, NJPSA Assistant DIrector of Government Relations
The New Jersey State Board of Education convened for their regular monthly meeting on September 9, 2026. The State Board’s packed agenda included a briefing from Commissioner Laux on the Department’s developing strategic update, the Commissioner’s monthly literacy update, a proposed new organizational structure of the NJDOE, passing a resolution to appoint state special education advisory council members, adoption of a resolution establishing proficient level cut scores for the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments-Adaptive (NJSLA-A) for English Language Arts and Mathematics, and a discussion of proposed amendments to the educator evaluation regulations.
Commissioner Laux’s Strategic Plan Update
Commissioner of Education Dr. Lily Laux presented an update on the Department’s developing strategic plan.
The overarching goal of the plan is for every New Jersey student to be safe, supported, and successful. The Commissioner explained that the goal is intentionally broad and is intended to establish a coherent vision for the entire educational system rather than focus on one particular program or grade level.
The desired student experience includes ensuring that students:
- Learn in schools where they feel safe, welcomed, and able to focus on learning;
- Are connected to caring adults who believe in them and are prepared to respond to their needs;
- Build knowledge, think critically, and solve complex problems;
- Participate in rigorous, grade-appropriate learning while receiving timely individualized support; and
- Make progress toward graduation, postsecondary opportunities, careers, and lifelong success.
The strategic plan is organized around four major priorities:
- Early Excellence: Developing an integrated birth-to-five system, strengthening the early childhood workforce, improving early literacy, and creating a more seamless transition from preschool through the early elementary grades.
- Student Supports: Addressing student mental health and online safety, reducing chronic absenteeism, and expanding access to school-based mental health services.
- Inspired Instruction: Ensuring rigorous, standards-aligned instruction in every classroom, supported by appropriate instructional materials, educator preparation, coaching, tutoring, literacy initiatives, and other academic supports.
- Future Success: Expanding high-quality career and technical education, early college credit, industry-recognized credentials, work-based learning, and other pathways connecting secondary education with college and careers.
Three cross-cutting “enablers” support all four priorities: the educator workforce, school funding, and data and analytics.
The Commissioner emphasized improving educator preparation, apprenticeship and mentoring opportunities, reducing unnecessary administrative burdens, modernizing the school funding system, assisting districts with fiscal planning, and strengthening the Department’s ability to collect and use data to identify successful practices and areas requiring additional support.
Commissioner Laux’s Literacy Update
The Commissioner also provided an update on statewide literacy screening.
The Department will collect beginning-, middle-, and end-of-year screening data for K–3 students and is working to streamline reporting so districts can submit information directly from the screening tools they use rather than manually entering data into separate spreadsheets.
Parents are expected to receive screening results within 30 days of each administration, including information identifying specific skills for which their child may require additional support.
The Commissioner stressed that the purpose of screening is not testing for its own sake, but identifying student needs and using the information to improve classroom instruction, small-group support, and intervention.
Beginning-of-year screening data are due to the Department by November 13. The Department also announced the availability of free literacy coaching for school and district leadership teams.
Commissioner Laux’s Proposed New Organizational Structure of the NJDOE
The Commissioner presented proposed amendments to the organizational structure of the New Jersey Department of Education. The changes are intended to better align the Department’s organization with its developing strategic plan and create a more coherent system of support for schools and students.
Two major structural changes were highlighted.
First, academic functions previously distributed among multiple areas of the Department will be unified under a Chief Academic Officer/Assistant Commissioner of Academics. This structure will bring together teaching and learning, student supports, special education, educator support, and educator workforce functions.
Second, the Department is consolidating data-related functions under a Chief Accountability and Analytics Officer/Assistant Commissioner. New research and analytics functions will support the Department’s goal of using timely and actionable data to drive continuous improvement.
The Commissioner also highlighted the creation of a new school district fiscal oversight function intended to develop early-warning systems and other supports to help districts avoid fiscal deficits.
Following the presentation, the Board voted unanimously to approve the amended organizational structure.
Following approval of the Department’s organizational changes, the Commissioner recommended Jacqueline “Jackie” Gibbs for the first appointment under the new organizational structure – as Chief Accountability and Analytics Officer/Assistant Commissioner.
Gibbs brings more than three decades of experience in technology, data, analytics, business intelligence, and organizational improvement across multiple sectors. Gibbs also serves as an adjunct professor in The College of New Jersey’s data analytics program and previously served as president of the New Jersey PTA.
The Board voted unanimously to approve Gibbs’ appointment.
Following the vote, Gibbs thanked the Commissioner and State Board and said returning to State service represented a “full circle” moment in her career. She expressed her commitment to advancing the Department’s educational priorities and mission.
Resolution to Appoint State Special Education Advisory Council Members
The Commissioner presented a resolution approving appointments and reappointments to the New Jersey State Special Education Advisory Council.
The Board was reminded that the Council is required under federal and State law to advise on the provision of special education services. Its membership must reflect New Jersey’s demographic diversity and include individuals actively involved with or concerned about the education of children with disabilities. A majority of appointed members must be individuals with disabilities or parents of children with disabilities.
Five individuals were recommended for reappointment and seven for initial appointment, for a total of 12 appointments.
The Board unanimously approved the resolution.
Congratulations to NJPSA’s own John Worthington on his reappointment.
Resolution Establishing Proficient Level Cut Scores for the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments-Adaptive (NJSLA-A) for English Language Arts and Mathematics Adopted
The Board received an extensive presentation on establishing proficiency-level cut scores for the new New Jersey Student Learning Assessment-Adaptive in English Language Arts and Mathematics.
Department staff emphasized that NJSLA-Adaptive represents a substantially new assessment system rather than simply a new administration of the previous NJSLA. Among the changes are:
- Transition from a fixed-form assessment to an adaptive assessment;
- Alignment with the 2023 New Jersey Student Learning Standards;
- Revised performance-level descriptors;
- Changes to test blueprints and content emphasis; and
- Establishment of a new performance baseline.
Under the adaptive model, the difficulty of questions changes in response to student performance, allowing the assessment to collect more targeted evidence about student knowledge and skills.
The standard-setting process involved 122 New Jersey educators representing different regions, district types, subject areas, and professional roles. Educators reviewed assessment items, student performance information, and performance-level descriptors before recommending the scores associated with each performance category.
Department staff cautioned against directly interpreting differences between results from the new assessment and previous NJSLA administrations as increases or decreases in student achievement. Because the standards, assessment structure, performance descriptors, and definitions of proficiency have changed, the 2026 results establish a new baseline.
Particular attention was given to Algebra II, where proficiency results differed more substantially from previous patterns. Department staff identified several factors that may help explain the change, including increased content expectations under the 2023 standards, more precise performance-level descriptors, and a redesigned test blueprint requiring broader content coverage.
Board members engaged in an extended discussion with Department staff regarding interpretation of the new results, comparability with previous assessments, the standard-setting methodology, the use of assessment results for accountability, and how the Department will communicate the changes to districts, educators, families, and the public.
The Department emphasized that a statewide assessment is only one measure of student performance and should be considered alongside classroom work, local assessments, teacher observations, graduation rates, growth measures, school climate, and other indicators.
The Department expects individual student reports and district and school results to become available as early as September 18. Additional virtual training for districts and educators on accessing and interpreting results is planned for the week of September 21–25.
Following the presentation and discussion, the Board unanimously adopted the resolution establishing the NJSLA-Adaptive proficiency-level cut scores for English Language Arts and Mathematics.
Educator Evaluation First Discussion
The Board conducted its first discussion of the proposed readoption with amendments to the educator evaluation regulations at N.J.A.C. 6A:10.
Department staff presented their proposal which is the product of nearly three years of work and stakeholder engagement and incorporates recommendations from the Governor’s Educator Evaluation Review Task Force and subsequent working group.
The proposed changes are intended to modernize New Jersey’s educator evaluation system while maintaining accountability and placing greater emphasis on professional growth, collaboration, meaningful feedback, and student success.
Among the proposed changes discussed were measures intended to strengthen the connection between educator evaluation and professional development; increase educator involvement in the evaluation process; reduce unnecessary administrative requirements; and encourage innovation and professional growth.
One proposal would provide districts with greater flexibility regarding whether individual observations must receive numerical scores. The annual summative evaluation would continue to reflect the statutorily required effectiveness categories, but districts could choose to reduce the emphasis on numerical scoring during individual observations.
Department staff explained that this flexibility is intended in part to address concerns that teachers may avoid trying innovative instructional practices during observations because of fear that an unsuccessful attempt could negatively affect their evaluation.
Another proposal would allow additional evidence or artifacts demonstrating how educators have applied professional-development goals and evaluator feedback in their classroom practice.
For highly effective educators, proposed changes would also permit certain Commissioner-approved professional activities to satisfy multiple evaluation requirements when appropriate, reducing duplicative administrative work.
The proposal additionally calls for the temporary two-year reinstatement of a local evaluation advisory body. The intent is to provide administrators, educators, and other stakeholders with a formal collaborative forum while districts implement the revised evaluation requirements. After the two-year transition period, continuation of the advisory body would become optional.
Board members expressed overall support for the shift toward a more collaborative evaluation process in which teachers have an active role rather than experiencing evaluation as a strictly top-down process. They also praised the stronger connection between evaluation and professional development and the Department’s efforts to incorporate feedback from educators and other stakeholders.
The Commissioner thanked the numerous educators, stakeholders, committee members, and Department staff involved in developing the proposed amendments.
Because this item was presented for first discussion, no vote was taken.
Next month, following the October monthly meeting, the state board will hold public testimony on the readoptions and amendments of educator evaluation regulations located at chapter 10. If you would like to speak about the readoptions and amendments of educator evaluation, you can sign up through the NJ State Board of Education Public Testimony page or by calling the State Board office at (609) 376-9071.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the NJ State Board of Education, please visit https://www.nj.gov/education/sboe/, or reach out to your NJPSA Government Relations Department for further information.