At Wake Up Call NJ, we’re lifelong learners. That’s why we’re excited to join you all in our “Summer School” Series, where we’ll hear from notable advocates for New Jersey students. In this guest essay Dr. Elizabeth C. Giacobbe, principal and superintendent, provides a lens into all that district leaders do during summer “break” - and what the slow return of NJSLA scores prevents them from accomplishing. Happy reading and remember your sunscreen.
Summer time typically involves BBQs, swimming, and in New Jersey, heading “down to the shore.” While this is typical for many teachers, it is not true for everyone who works in education.
As a district leader, I work 12 months a year. July is my opportunity to re-write curriculum, order supplies, update handbooks, interview and hire staff and faculty, provide professional development, complete countless required reports for the Department of Education, and most importantly, work on student placement.
What does that entail? I have to decide which students go into which class and then schedule the teachers and interventionists to teach and support the students, all while ensuring class sizes stay low and heterogeneously balanced, special education schedules align to general education peers, and our local teachers’ union contract requirements are met.
Scheduling is the most challenging summer task district leaders have to complete. I equate it to being a physician. Imagine going to a doctor for pain in your abdomen. You’d be alarmed if the doctor’s first solution was to just cut you open to determine the nature of the pain. You would expect a physician to run a series of diagnostic tests, such as bloodwork, ultrasound, MRI, and an X-Ray, to determine the cause. Scheduling a student requires the same amount of diagnostic data to determine strengths and weaknesses and then to decide the best fit to best serve their needs. This is especially true for those students who are significantly behind academically.
However, when it comes time to schedule, I am missing one key piece of data: students’ scores on the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment. The NJSLA assesses the students on where they fall in mastering the state mandated learning standards for each grade level. Though this exam is administered in May, schools still don’t have the scores by the end of August, or even September.
Without this vital component, we are sometimes taking our best guess based on the diagnostic information we do have. Would you be okay with a physician cutting you open with only some of the information and no MRI? No, you absolutely would not. Educators and their students deserve the same common sense.
Elizabeth C. Giacobbe, Ed.D., has been an educator in New Jersey for over 31 years and is a current, and award winning superintendent and principal in a New Jersey public school.
