Earlier this summer, the Legislature passed and Governor Murphy signed a law supported by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) that continues the pause on student growth objectives (SGOs) for tenured educators. This pause will remain while the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) works with stakeholder groups, including NJEA, on a pilot program to find a better alternative.
This week, the NJDOE released new evaluation guidance for the upcoming school year. The guidance, titled “Educator Evaluation Guidance: Flexibilities and Best Practices,” emphasizes increased freedom and flexibility for educators compared to the previous SGO model.
“This is another important win for NJEA members, who have long understood that the SGO system was ineffective and far too time-consuming,” stated an NJEA representative. “With this guidance, we can anticipate a much better, more productive evaluation process in the coming year and beyond, while educators finally have a voice in developing the new system.”
The NJEA plans to release its own formal guidance document to help members understand the NJDOE’s new expectations. Mini-courses on the new guidance will be presented at this week’s NJEA Summer Leadership Conference. Additionally, a webinar series open to all interested NJEA members will take place in October.
The NJEA guidance and an invitation to the webinar series will be shared in a future edition of the all-member Advocate’s Update email newsletter.
