Seitz Addresses NCLB, Student Achievement

Superintendent LeRoy Seitz defended district student achievement in remarks made before the Board of Education last week.

Seitz's comments came hours after the Obama administration announced that 10 states, including New Jersey, were granted waivers from having to adhere to federal No Child Left Behind standardized testing benchmarks.

The waiver comes at a fortunate time for Parsippany. Eleven of the district's 14 schools did not meet federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards as of the end of the last school year.

"With regard to the waiver, it really does not change the fact that we want all of our students performing at the proficient or advanced proficient level, period," Seitz told Patch.  

As such, he said improving student achievement is a necessary goal for Parsippany schools.

The superintendent's Thursday remarks, the first of what he told Patch would be a two-part presentation before the school board, was to clarify what Scholastic Aptitude Test and High School Performance Assessment scores really mean. He also addressed how the district will work toward helping students achieve.

Seitz said that while it is true that 11 schools did not meet AYP standards, "it's not accurate the say the district is failing."

He called the description "unfair to other students who are doing a good job."

Seitz noted that benchmarks—the gradually rising standards schools are expected to meet in language arts and mathematics—took a huge jump in 2010-11. He said that gives an inaccurate impression that schools are not improving at all.

"The state has continually raised the bar, changed the test and, within the test, they weight sections differently from year to year," Seitz explained. "Best of all, they don't let us see the test so we can see how they're testing.

"We're still doing very well."

Using bar graphs, the superintendent presented a picture showing that Parsippany schools generally are on par with nearby districts of similar size and affluence.

"The trouble with statistics and graphs is that often there are misrepresentations," Seitz said. "On average, we're doing pretty good and similar to what our district factor groups are doing."

He also pointed out that while other districts may boast more students achieving "proficiency" as defined by the NCLB, Parsippany's stats show that the district moved many of its students from "proficienct" to "advanced proficienct."

Seitz attributes any growth in the number of students who have not reached "proficient" status to special-needs and non-English-speaking students' standardized test scores being included in that of the general student population.

"The 2014 goal is that 100 percent of kids must be passing, " he said. "That's a great idea and certainly a worthy goal, but the reality is that there are limits as to what we can do in the time period."

Seitz said the district will work to improve student performance by "making appropriate adjustments." 

"The middle schools are using software so students, teachers and parents can work together in school and nights, weekends and all summer long," he said. "The idea is to extend the school day and school year. We need parents and teachers and students working together" to continue teaching and learning even outside of the school setting. 

The superintendent also talked about the possibility of implementing a new math program.

"At the end of the day in an ideal world, every one of our students would be 'advanced proficient," Seitz said. "We're doing fine. We're competitive and we're trending in the right direction. Will we see progress? Absolutely."

At the next Board of Education meeting, slated for Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. at Central Middle School, Seitz said he will continue his presentation with specifics on improving student achievement.