Bill Text: NJ A802 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires reporting of public high school, district and Statewide drop-out and graduation rates.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [A802 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A802-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
215th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2012 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOSEPH CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
Assemblywoman PAMELA R. LAMPITT
District 6 (Burlington and Camden)
Assemblywoman ANNETTE QUIJANO
District 20 (Union)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblymen Diegnan, Greenwald and Coutinho
SYNOPSIS
Requires reporting of public high school, district and Statewide drop-out and graduation rates.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning student drop-out and graduation rates and supplementing Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. United States Census Bureau research has repeatedly shown that the median annual income of persons aged 25 and over with a high school diploma is greater than the median annual income of persons aged 25 and over without a high school diploma. In fact, the latest data show that, statistically, the median annual income for persons with a high school diploma is $8,000 higher than for persons without a high school diploma.
b. Changes in the nature of jobs brought about by technological innovations have made the high school diploma the minimum requirement for entry into the labor market.
c. Failure to complete high school impacts not only the individual's employment opportunities and earnings but also our society. Recent estimates indicate that approximately 30% of federal and 40% of state prison inmates are high school dropouts.
d. Currently the State does not have in place a data system that enables it to track student mobility over time and across districts, nor does its current definition of drop-out use data that tracks an individual student from the time of that student's entry into ninth grade until the student either graduates, transfers or drops-out.
e. In order to address the critical issue of student drop-outs and to increase graduation rates, it is imperative for the State to adopt a uniform measure to calculate drop-out and graduation rates and require school districts to provide this information annually as part of an indication of high school and school district Adequate Yearly Progress. Such a measure has been proposed by the National Governors Association Task Force on State High School Graduation Data.
f. Therefore it would be appropriate for the State to implement the formula recommended by the National Governors Association Task Force on State High School Graduation Data and a data collection and reporting system that will, at a minimum, permit the collection and reporting of data necessary for accurate recording and reporting of school, school district and Statewide drop-out and graduation rates.
2. As used in this act:
a. "Grade cohort" means the pupils recorded on the school register of a public school district in the same grade for the same school year;
b. "On-time graduate" means a pupil who graduates in June or during the summer of the fourth school year following entry into the ninth grade after having successfully completed the High School Proficiency Assessment. An on-time graduate shall not include a student who graduates through a Special Review Assessment.
3. a. Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year and each school year thereafter, the Department of Education shall require each school district having high school students to provide information from the school register on high school students enrolled in the district that will enable the department to calculate the high school, school district and Statewide drop-out and graduation rates. Based on this information, the department shall calculate those rates.
(1) Drop-out rates shall be calculated as follows for each high school:
Drop-out rate = (on time graduates in school year x) - ((first-time ninth graders on the school register in October of school year x -3) + (transfers into this cohort after October of school year x - 3) - (transfers out of this cohort after October of school year x - 3)) / ((first-time ninth graders on the school register in October of school year x -3) + ( transfers into this cohort after October of school year x - 3) - ( transfers out of this cohort after October of school year x - 3));
(2) Graduation rates shall be calculated for each high school as follows:
Graduation rate = (on time graduates in school year x) / ((first-time ninth graders on the school register in October of school year x -3) + ( transfers into this cohort after October of school year x - 3) - ( transfers out of this cohort after October of school year x - 3)).
(3) For each district with more than one high school, the results of the calculations made pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection shall be summed across the district, treating students entering the ninth grade in the district as a cohort and counting as student transfers in and out of that cohort over the four years only those students transferring into and out of the district, not between schools in the district.
(4) Statewide graduation and drop-out rates shall be calculated annually by using the information gathered from all school districts with high schools from the school registers. In order to calculate these rates, the department shall develop a way of assigning a Statewide identification number for each student in the public schools of the State for a given year for all students entering the ninth grade in that year, which shall be the ninth grade cohort of school year _____. This cohort shall be adjusted over the next three school years allowing for transfers between districts so that, to the extent possible, an individual student is not counted more than once in the grade cohort, and for transfers into the cohort from outside the State.
b. School district graduation and drop-out rates calculated pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be included as Statewide information in the State Department of Education's Report Card. Statewide graduation and drop-out rates shall be included annually in the information included in the program data for the Department of Education in the Governor's proposed budget.
c. The State Board of Education shall promulgate regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act.
4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall first apply to the February 2011 Report Card and the Governor's proposed budget for FY2012.
STATEMENT
This bill requires each school district with high school enrollment to provide information from its school register on students enrolled in the district that will enable the Department of Education to calculate high school, school district and Statewide drop-out and graduation rates.
Information necessary to make such calculations is currently recorded on each school district school register and this bill provides the formulae for making these calculations. The bill requires the information on high school and district drop-out and graduation rates to be reported in the annual New Jersey School Report Card, beginning with the February 2011 Report Card, and the Statewide drop-out and graduation rates to be included in the program information contained in the Governor's recommended budget for the Department of Education beginning in FY 2012.
