Although New Jersey has some of the best pre-schools, elementary schools, high schools and colleges in America it will fall woefully short of meeting its economic needs in the national and global economy if current trends continue. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce projects that by 2018, 63 percent of all jobs will require some college education. In 2088, only 45 percent of all New Jersey residents had earned an associate’s degree of higher.
In order to reach the 63 percent level in the next six years and beyond, New Jersey must rethink the way that is prepares students for college and careers. The state is prepared to engage in an urgent effort to identify and invest in the policies that ensure student success in New Jersey’s diverse school communities. Investments made through the SLDS grant competition are critically needed to create a seamless P-30W education system that will efficiently and effectively increase degree attainment and job training opportunities.
Despite excellent relationships across state agency lines among the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), New Jersey Higher Education (NJHE) and the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJLWD), the lack of a unified data warehouse, linking data at a student individual level, has prevented the agencies from easily and efficiently sharing data. Thus, the following five key deliverables will be pursued under this grant:
- Establish a P-20W Data Advisory Council
- Partition and expand SLDS to house new postsecondary and workforce data collections.
- Create a shared data resource
- Expand NJHE’s data collections
- Development of data use deliverables
Examples of data use deliverables can be found in the Appendices. Such deliverables will be used to drive system-wide improvement and include the following:
Academic Performance of 2-year College Transfer Student- This report shows the academic performance of students who completed 2 years of college education and transferred to a 4-year college/university. The report illustrates the differences in performance between students who took remedial course work prior to their transfer and those who didn’t request remediation at that time.
Remedial Course Report- A sample report that illustrates the percentage and actual numbers of high school graduates and enrolled college student who required remedial coursework once enrolled in NJ’s public IHEs. It also quantifies the total amount of remedial coursework students required (by course or credit).
State Level College and Career Readiness High School Feedback Report- This is a sample narrative report that can be created based on the data that will be available in the intended for broader consumption.
