COURT AGREEMENT PROVIDES NEW JERSEY JUNIORS AND SENIORS WITH CLEAR PATHWAYS TO HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION

http://edlawcenter.org/

A Court-approved agreement reached with the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) will provide clear pathways to graduation for all current high school juniors and seniors. The agreement was negotiated by the Education Law Center and the ACLU of New Jersey on behalf of several civil rights and parent advocacy groups, including the Latino Action Network, Latino Coalition of NJ, Paterson Education Fund, and NAACP NJ State Conference, that successfully challenged high school graduation testing requirements imposed by the NJDOE in violation of state law.

On December 31, 2018, the Superior Court, Appellate Division, invalidated the graduation assessment regulations enacted by the NJDOE in 2016, which included the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) end-of-course exams, because they violated statutory requirements for “exit” testing to obtain a high school diploma. In January, the NJDOE filed a motion for partial reconsideration, asking the Court to amend its order to address graduation requirements for current juniors and seniors.

In response, the groups that brought the case sought broader relief and highlighted the fact that the NJDOE’s request would leave thousands of students, who had not yet satisfied the testing mandate, without clear options to fulfill the requirement and earn their diplomas.

The agreement filed today will ensure all high school students in the classes of 2019 and 2020 have clear pathways to achieve a New Jersey diploma. The agreement postpones the effective date of the Court’s decision invalidating the graduation testing regulations and allows all juniors and seniors to use the rules defined in the regulations for the class of 2019—the broadest set of options—to fulfill the graduation testing requirement.

The agreement will also provide the NJDOE with time to propose new graduation testing rules for the classes of 2021 and 2022, current freshman and sophomores, that comply with statutory requirements and provide fair notice to affected students.

“We are pleased to reach an agreement that safeguards the graduation rights of seniors and juniors who relied on the rules invalidated by the Court,” said Jessica Levin, ELC Senior Attorney. “We look forward to working collaboratively with State officials to develop appropriate graduation policies for future classes.”

For more information about the lawsuit challenging the high school graduation regulations, click here.

Latino Action Network Joins Legal Challenge of PARCC Graduation Requirement that Eliminates Alternatives for English Language Learners

The Latino Action Network recently joined with the Education Law Center, the New Jersey ACLU and other advocacy groups to sue the State of New Jersey over the changes the State Board of Education made to graduation requirements which, among other things, eliminates Spanish language alternatives to the PARCC test for English Language Learners (ELL's). 

Please watch the brief segment on our lawsuit below that ran on NJTV this evening. 

Best regards,

Christian Estevez, President

Latino Action Network

http://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/groups-legally-challenge-parcc-graduation-requirement/

Groups Legally Challenge PARCC Graduation Requirement

By Briana Vannozzi
Correspondent

Last February, parents in Paterson received an unwelcome graduation announcement: 700 students wouldn’t be eligible for a diploma come June.

“It was because they hadn’t passed the PARCC, they hadn’t passed any of the other alternate assessments and we started raising the issue in Paterson,” said Paterson Education Fund Executive Director Rosie Grant.

Grant and several other civil rights and advocacy groups have joined a legal challenge against PARCC, claiming the state’s new high school graduation requirements, which include passing the controversial standardized test, violate state law.

“These new rules contradict the law about high school graduation that was put in place by the Legislature and gives important rights to students,” said Education Law Center Staff Attorney Jessica Levin.

That law, passed in 1979, requires an 11th grade English and math test. PARCC is administered in the 10th. It also requires retesting opportunities.

“If they had been fully in effect last year, tens of thousands of students in the class of 2016 wouldn’t have passed. About half the class 50,000 to 60,000 didn’t pass PARCC, putting them at risk of not receiving a high school diploma so there’s also very serious policy issues,” Levin said.

The Education Law Center joined with the ACLU to file the suit on behalf of the advocacy groups.

“Another major problem with the rules is that they use fee-based substitute competency tests as an alternative to the PARCC exam and these tests will limit access for low income students in New Jersey,” Levin said.

“We fear that our kids will be at a disadvantage. They’re already at risk. We’re in an area that’s concentrated poverty and they can’t afford the alternate assessments,” Grant said.

Fee-based tests like the SAT and ACT can be used as a “substitute competency test” but only until 2020. The groups argue it restricts low-income, minority students. Many are English language learners.

“New Jersey has one of the highest graduation rates in the U.S.: 89 percent of students graduate. When you get to Hispanic students, it goes down to 82 percent and when you get down to English language learners — those whose English is not their first language — it goes down to 74 percent so the number drops and it’s that group of people in the 72 to 74 percent that are most vulnerable and the most impacted by this change,” said Latino Action Network President Christian Estevez.

And Estevez says PARCC limits test taking in other languages.

“Our concern is that this English only approach that the state is taking is going to basically throw thousands of Latino students and other English language learners out of the education pipeline,” he said.

The state Department of Education says it doesn’t comment on pending legal cases. Members have said they expect PARCC scores to improve with each year, arguing it’s a better measure of college readiness and skill, especially as the number of students in need of remedial work before beginning college courses continues to grow.