newjerseynewsroom.com

Includes schools in Newark, Jersey City, Camden, 6 other cities

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The state Department of Education has received $11 million in federal school improvement grants to attempt to help fix New Jersey’s most persistently underperforming schools.

Last year, the DOE received $66.7 million.

Eligible for the aid are 31 high schools, elementary or middle schools and one charter school in Asbury Park, Camden, East Orange, Irvington, Jersey City, Lakewood Newark, Paterson, and Trenton.

Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf said Monday that he wants to make it clear that districts must propose aggressive strategies in their grant applications if they hope to secure aid.

“School Improvement Grants provide an opportunity to end business as usual in the state’s most troubled schools,” Cerf said. “To make the most of this opportunity, we will give preference to bold, innovative plans that promise to drastically alter the practices of these struggling schools.”

The aid was made available by the U.S. Department of Education. The program is designed to provide funds to persistently low-achieving schools based on measurements such as poor scores on assessments and graduation rates below 60 percent.

Preference will be given to schools presenting the most aggressive strategies for change, Cerf said.

One of the options calls for replacing the principal and at least half the teachers. A district could also choose to convert a school into a charter school, allow another entity to operate the school, or close the school and transfer its students to higher-performing schools.

New Jersey’s share of the money is part of a $550 million in federal aid distributed nationwide. Schools were notified of their eligibility in January and were provided training and a draft application to begin their planning. Applications for the aid are due by April 26.