Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically disrupted K–12 education. School staff across the country were faced with the unprecedented task of delivering high-quality instruction amidst a global health crisis. In New Jersey, approximately 15% of K–12 public schools managed to improve proficiency rates in math and/or English language arts (ELA) on the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment […]

Chiamaka Nwede is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science degree in Public Affairs and Community Development at Rutgers-Camden.   In today’s technology-driven world, the role of cell phones in education has become a subject of heated debate. While mobile devices offer numerous benefits, their unrestricted classroom use has been linked to academic decline, […]

Chiamaka Nwede is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science degree in Public Affairs and Community Development at Rutgers-Camden.   The consistent teacher shortage in many states, including New Jersey, has been exacerbated by many factors, including low salary payment, high stress levels, and challenging working conditions. As of today, New Jersey is still […]

Chiamaka Nwede is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science degree in Public Affairs and Community Development at Rutgers-Camden. I met a girl sitting inside her high school’s underfunded laboratory, staring at a robotic kit that had seen better days. She had always been fascinated by how machines worked, often tinkering with household gadgets […]

Of utmost importance in endorsing, selecting, or designing assessments to evaluate teaching quality is that the assessments are valid for their intended purposes. In the context of teacher education, assessments have been used for the purpose of demonstrating that those aspiring to be teachers are able to engage in key aspects of teaching, including designing […]

New Jersey’s state higher education plan, “Where Opportunity Meets Innovation – A Student-Centered Vision for New Jersey Higher Education” (the Plan), was introduced in 2019. It envisions an ecosystem where every resident can attain high-quality credentials regardless of their circumstances. This report aims to assess how New Jersey has progressed toward the goals of this […]

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has just released its annual final estimates of higher education enrollment for the 2024 fall term[1]. According to this report, total postsecondary enrollment in New Jersey for Fall 2024 was over 365,000, a 5.6% increase compared to the previous year. However, this figure remains slightly lower than the pre-pandemic […]

In December 2024, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released a report on credential attainment among college students nationwide[1]. The six-year completion rate in New Jersey continued its upward trajectory, with the 2018 cohort achieving a completion rate of 61%, representing a 0.9 percentage point gain from the previous cohort (Figure 1). This outcome mirrors […]

It has almost been one year since educator preparation programs (EPPs) across New Jersey have been released from using edTPA as a state-mandated teacher performance assessment. We interviewed EPPs at the onset of this change to see what performance assessments they planned to use instead, and we conducted a second round of interviews this fall […]

Introduction New Jersey is home to one of the largest populations of students with disabilities (SWDs) in the United States. Almost one-fifth of our public school students aged 3 to 21 (18%) are served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). School closures and virtual classrooms necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic posed unique challenges […]

Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to take college courses, helping them explore college options and get a jump start on their postsecondary education. In New Jersey, these programs are one of the key measures in providing pathways to college and supporting the state’s vision of high-quality postgraduate credentials for all residents[1]. In October […]

Introduction New Jersey is home to one the largest populations of students with disabilities (SWDs) in the United States. Almost one-fifth of our public school students aged 3 to 21 are served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The need to accommodate this significant portion of the student population posed unique challenges in […]