Northvail Classified a 'Reward School'

In February, the . That means changes in classifications for schools, according to Parsippany Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz—and good news for one local elementary school.

The superintendent announced at Thursday night's meeting that has been classified as a "reward school."

Seitz said Northvail is one of 10 schools in Morris County to earn the designation, which goes to schools that are "high-performing" and have shown significant growth in achievement over the past three years.

"I really want to commend Northvail," he said. "The teachers, students, parents and [Principal Jeffrey] Martens worked collaboratively and focused on student achievement. It's a tremendous accomplishment."

The purpose of the NCLB designations, according to Seitz, is to dictate how federal funding will be distributed.

Most of the resources will be earmarked for "priority schools," the 5 percent lowest performing schools in the state, based on measures including high school graduation rates less than 60 percent or low performance on math and Language Arts tests.

The third designation is "focus schools." These educational institutions, about 10 percent of schools, are those with high numbers of low-income students, racial or ethnic groups, students with disabilities or non-English-speaking students. 

Reward schools are meant to serve as models for other schools to emulate. Northvail Elementary and similarly classified schools will be eligible for federal grants of up to $100,000, from the national Race to the Top program.

Seitz said that most schools will not receive any federal classification at all.

"We will be looking to have other schools in the district become reward schools for either being high-performing or having significant improvement," he said, adding that Northvail's classification "sets a benchmark for other [Parsippany] schools to strive to reach that lofty goal."