STATE OF NEW JERSEY
216th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2014 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman BOB ANDRZEJCZAK
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman McHose and Assemblyman Space
SYNOPSIS
Establishes Common Core State Standards Evaluation Task Force; delays use of assessments developed by Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers until task force submits final report.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act establishing a task force to evaluate the implementation of the common core state standards.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established the Common Core State Standards Evaluation Task Force. The purpose of the task force shall be to study the implementation of the common core state standards.
b. The task force shall consist of the following 19 members:
(1) the Commissioner of Education, or the commissioner's designee, who shall serve ex officio;
(2) eight members appointed by the Governor, one upon the recommendation of the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, one upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, one upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Education Association, one upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, one upon the recommendation of the New Jersey School Boards Association, one representative of a nonpublic school located in New Jersey, and two public members who are the parents or guardians of a student enrolled in a New Jersey public school;
(3) two members of the Senate, who shall not be from the same political party, appointed by the President of the Senate;
(4) two members of the General Assembly, who shall not be from the same political party, appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly;
(5) one member, appointed by the President of the Senate, who has demonstrated expertise in language arts literacy instruction and curriculum;
(6) one member, appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, who has demonstrated expertise in language arts literacy instruction and curriculum;
(7) one member, appointed by the President of the Senate, who has demonstrated expertise in mathematics instruction and curriculum;
(8) one member, appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, who has demonstrated expertise in mathematics instruction and curriculum;
(9) one member, appointed by the President of the Senate, who is the parent or guardian of a student enrolled in a New Jersey public school; and
(10) one member, appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, who is the parent or guardian of a student enrolled in a New Jersey public school.
c. Appointments to the task force shall be made within 30 days of the effective date of this act. Vacancies in the membership of the task force shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments were made. Members of the task force shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenditures incurred in the performance of their duties as members of the task force within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the task force for its purposes.
2. The task force shall organize as soon as practicable following the appointment of its members, but no later than 60 days after the appointment of the members. The task force shall choose one member of the Senate and one member of the General Assembly to serve as co-chairpersons. The task force shall also appoint a secretary who need not be a member of the task force.
3. The Department of Education shall provide such stenographical, clerical, and other assistance, and such professional staff as the task force requires to carry out its work. The task force shall also be entitled to call to its assistance and avail itself of the services of the employees of any State, county, or municipal department, board, bureau, commission, or agency as it may require and as may be available for its purposes.
4. a. The task force shall evaluate the implementation of the common core state standards. The evaluation shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(1) a description of actions taken by the State to date to implement the common core state standards and a timeline of any subsequent actions to be taken;
(2) a comparison of the common core state standards for English language arts and mathematics to the core curriculum content standards in language arts literacy and mathematics that existed prior to the adoption of the common core state standards;
(3) an estimate of the full cost for school districts to implement the common core state standards, including those costs already incurred by districts and those to be incurred in the future; and
(4) an analysis of students' performance on the State assessments prior to the 2012-2013 school year and in the 2012-2013 and subsequent school years. The analysis shall assess changes in the achievement gap between different racial and ethnic groups and different economic groups.
b. The task force shall also study and evaluate the issue of student and family personal data mining and a student's right to privacy. The task force shall consider, but not be limited to, data related to learning disabilities, student behavior, political affiliation, religious affiliation, and medical history.
5. The task force shall issue a final report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), no later than six months after the task force organizes. Prior to issuing its final report, the task force shall hold at least four public hearings, with at least one public hearing to occur in each of the northern, central, and southern regions of the State, to gather information regarding the implementation of the common core state standards, the mining of student and family data, and student privacy rights.
6. The Department of Education shall not administer any assessment developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or any similar assessment, prior to the issuance of the final report by the task force pursuant to section 5 of this act.
7. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
In June of 2010, the State Board of Education adopted the common core state standards (CCSS) to replace the core curriculum content standards in language arts literacy and mathematics. This bill establishes the Common Core State Standards Evaluation Task Force to evaluate the implementation of the CCSS. The task force would include 19 members as follows: the Commissioner of Education or a designee; eight members, appointed by the Governor, five upon the recommendations of the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, the New Jersey Education Association, the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, and the New Jersey School Boards Association, one member who is a representative of a nonpublic school, and two public members who are the parents or guardians of a student enrolled in a New Jersey public school; two members of the Senate, appointed by President of the Senate; two members of the General Assembly, appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly; two individuals, one each appointed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General Assembly, who have expertise in language arts literacy instruction and curriculum; two individuals, one each appointed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General Assembly, who have expertise in mathematics instruction and curriculum; and two public members, one each appointed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General Assembly, who are the parents or guardians of students enrolled in a New Jersey public school.
The task force's evaluation of the common core state standards would include: 1) a description of actions taken by the State to date to implement the new standards and a timeline for additional actions to be taken; 2) a comparison of the common core state standards to the academic standards that they replaced; 3) an estimate of the of full cost for school districts to implement the common core state standards, including those already incurred and those to be incurred in the future; and 4) an analysis of student performance on the State assessments before and after the adoption of the common core state standards. The task force is also directed to study and evaluate the issue of student and family personal data mining and a student's right to privacy.
The task force is to issue its final report no later six months after it organizes. Prior to issuing its final report, the task force is to conduct at least four public hearings to gather information.
The bill stipulates the Department of Education will not administer assessments developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) until after the final report of the task force has been submitted. The department currently intends to administer the PARCC assessments beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.