Often, school districts are reluctant to adopt innovative approaches to serving children breakfast in school because of logistical concerns that are easily overcome. Districts that adopt these more innovative approaches report significant increases in participation rates and improvement in student behavior and performance. This report provides…

The need for science communication programs is matched with the need for program evaluation. This case study is an evaluation of the "Decoding Science" program (DSP) [Rodgers et al. (2018). "Science Communication," 40(1), 3-32], a science communication training program, and examines key experiential-learning themes [Kolb, D. A.…

When Superintendent Dennis Vespe came to Somerdale Park School District, he was very interested in strengthening teachers' capacity to track student growth and progress. To do this, he knew the district needed to enhance its "ability to accurately assess and accurately drive instruction." But years of experience had taught him that new…

Learners of a foreign language (FL) typically have to learn to process sounds that do not exist in their first language (L1). As this is known to be difficult for adults, in particular, it is important for FL pedagogy to be informed by phonetic research. This study examined the role of FL learners' previous linguistic experience in the processing…

This paper presents results from the evaluation of the Nurture thru Nature (NtN) programme, a natural science and environmental education intervention designed to help elementary school children from disadvantaged backgrounds increase their knowledge of science and strengthen overall academic performance. Using an experimental design the pilot NtN…

This correlational, explanatory, longitudinal study sought to determine the combination of community and family-level demographic variables found in the 2010 U.S. Census data that most accurately predicted a New Jersey school district's percentage of students scoring proficient or above on the 2010, 2011, and 2012 NJ ASK 7 in Language Arts and…

Children in New Jersey's foster care system are more likely to remain in their home school when they enter foster care, thanks to a law passed in 2010, giving these fragile children improved educational stability. The law allows children to remain in their "school of origin" when they are placed in foster care, even if the foster home is…

Background/Context: Early childhood education joined the standards movement in 2002 with the Good Start, Grow Smart initiative (Brown, 2007), with advocates arguing that standards were a tool for creating more continuity and coherence in PreK systems (Bowman, 2006; Kagan 2012). Critics posed concerns about a perceived poor fit between…

Nearly 25 years after New Jersey first took control of a troubled school district, a proposed state takeover of the Camden public schools sheds a critical spotlight on that state's long--and still mostly unsuccessful--record of trying to right struggling districts through such intervention. The state began running the public schools in Jersey City…

This study examined the strength and direction of the relationship between 2009 NJ ASK 3 Language Arts and Mathematics scores and district social and demographic data (i.e., lone-parent household, level of parental education, and household income levels) found in the extant literature to influence student achievement on high-stakes standardized…

Background: On August 6, 2012, the TEACH NJ Act (Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey) was signed into law, defining requirements for more rigorous evaluation systems (http://www.nj.gov/education/AchieveNJ/). With these changes to the evaluation process, Finnegan (2013) questioned whether teachers' perceptions of…

The observation and supervision of New Jersey educators stand as a critical professional component to ensure that school staff is provided with timely feedback about their performance and recommendations and support for continual improvement. As a result of the TeachNJ Act (2012), efforts were made to formalize this process across New Jersey's…

Led by Advocates for Children of New Jersey and the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition, the NJ Food For Thought School Breakfast Campaign is driven by a statewide steering committee that includes the New Jersey Departments of Agriculture, Education and Health, anti-hunger and health groups and New Jersey's major education associations. The…

This doctoral research study examined the lived experiences of eight highly-effective teachers in New Jersey who have voluntarily chosen to remain working in their challenging school contexts, defined as schools scoring 60 or fewer points on the 2017-2018 NJ School Report Card summative rating. Data from semi-structured interviews was analyzed…

In this study, the researcher examined the strength and direction of relationships between New Jersey School Report Card Variables, in particular Faculty Mobility, and 2009-2010 New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) Math and Language Arts Literacy test scores. Variables found to have an influence on standardized test scores in the…