New Jersey – Amendment to Accountability Plan – NCLB Policy Letters to States

August 17, 2006

The Honorable Lucille E. Davy
Acting Commissioner
New Jersey Department of Education
100 River View Plaza
P.O. Box 500
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0500

Dear Commissioner Davy:

I am writing in response to New Jersey’s request to amend its State accountability plan under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Following our discussions with your staff, the change that is aligned with NCLB is now included in an amended State accountability plan that New Jersey submitted to the Department on August 16, 2006. A summary of the approved amendment is attached to this letter. I am pleased to fully approve New Jersey’s amended plan, which we will post on the Department’s website.

As you know, if New Jersey makes changes to the accountability plan that has been approved, New Jersey must submit information about those changes to the Department for review and approval, as required by section 1111(f)(2) of Title I. Please know that approval of New Jersey’s accountability plan is not an approval of New Jersey’s standards and assessment system.

Please also be aware that approval of New Jersey’s accountability plan for Title I, including the amendments approved above, does not indicate that the plan complies with Federal civil rights requirements, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

I am confident that New Jersey will continue to hold schools and school districts accountable for the achievement of all students. I wish you well in your school improvement efforts. If you need any additional assistance in implementing the standards, assessment and accountability provisions of NCLB, please do not hesitate to contact Abigail Potts (abigail.potts@ed.go) or Sue Rigney (sue.rigney@ed.gov) of my staff.

Sincerely,

Henry L. Johnson

Enclosure

cc: Governor Jon Corzine
Suzanne Osche

Amendment to New Jersey’s Accountability Plan

This is a summary of the amendment. For complete details, please refer to the New Jersey accountability plan on the Department’s website: www.ed.govhttps://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html.

AYP Determinations (Element 3.2)

Revision: New Jersey will use a confidence interval of 95 percent around proficiency determinations and a confidence interval of 75 percent around safe harbor determinations. The confidence interval will replace New Jersey’s 5 percent error rate applied to proficiency and safe harbor determinations.

Decision Letters on State Accountability Plans