TQE-R

In collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Education, The New Jersey Teacher Quality Enhancement Recruitment (TQE-R) grant was awarded.  This $3.3 million initiative addresses the need to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers in high poverty, low achieving schools, particularly in the hard to staff areas of math and science. Research indicates that to deal with teacher shortages in at risk schools, strategies are needed across the continuum of professional practice -from pre-service through ongoing professional learning in order to retain teachers once recruited into high risk schools. New Jersey’s TQE-R grant proposal implements strategies across this continuum in its three strands: Recruitment for High Need Districts; Preparation for High Need District Teaching; and Induction and Professional Learning in High Need Districts.  Working in partnership with The College of New Jersey and three high-poverty, low performing school districts (Trenton Public Schools, Pemberton Public Schools and Vineland Public Schools), the New Jersey Department of Education builds on its strong teacher quality reform platform and the positive historical relationships of all partners involved in the project. In Strand One, the project implements targeted, high-impact recruitment strategies for high need districts including web based recruitment services for urban districts; incentives for high-need district placement; and new technology based practices to reverse slow-moving hiring and credentialing processes. Strand Two tailors pre-service program offerings in traditional and alternate routes to the needs of candidates who will teach in high-need districts. In the third strand, strategies promote strong induction and professional learning in all three high need districts. This grant project helps New Jersey to integrate powerful new recruitment and retention strategies for high need districts into its overall educational reform effort to improve education of all of New Jersey’s students.

NJ Hire

The New Jersey Department of Education has a newly designed recruitment web site that is part of NJHire.com. This site features a new set of media marketing and recruitment software piloted in four school districts: Ewing, Pemberton, Trenton, and Vineland. NJHire’s new look and added dimension are the result of a $3.3 million grant project, Teacher Quality Enhancement-Recruitment (TQE-R), funded by the U.S. Department of Education in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Education and The College of New Jersey’s School of Education. USteach, Inc., a national Web-based system for the recruitment and placement of educators, developed the new software and was the original developer of NJHire. This software allows the four pilot districts to display videos with greetings from their superintendents along with school district and local community highlights to capture the interests of job applicants. Podcasts from the pilot districts provide information about instructional programs, staff benefits, and interactive maps unique to each district. Each district can easily insert, update, or remove its videos, podcasts, banners and texts by using the simple but powerful software tools. The software contains a large set of personalized, web-based tools for job candidates.  An applicant can create one profile and use it for multiple portfolios and applications.

New Jersey Future Educators Association

NJFEA Video

The first New Jersey Future Educators Association (FEA) Conference was held at the College of New Jersey on May 23, 2008. Three hundred high school students who aspire to become teachers attended this program. Students attended a panel discussion with three distinguished, award-winning New Jersey teachers. The keynote address focused on the Urban Calling: Saving Americas Most Important Schools. Students had an opportunity to attend three break-out sessions from over thirty selections that were offered as part of this conference. Emphasis was placed on attracting students to urban education and/or high shortage subject areas such as math, science, special education, and world languages. A special workshop for NJFEA advisors was offered. Funding for the NJFEA Conference was provided by a Teacher Quality Enhancement-Recruitment (TQE-R) Grant and the New Jersey Department of Education in cooperation with the College of New Jersey’s School of Education.

Tomorrow’s Teachers

In June 2008, teachers from forty-five New Jersey high schools participated in three days of training at the College of New Jersey to implement an exciting elective course, Tomorrow’s Teachers. This course, developed by the Center for Education, Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA) in South Carolina is currently used in twenty-three states to attract talented high school students to pursue rewarding teaching careers. This course is taught for a minimum of one class period a day for a year or the equivalent amount of time in contact hours. It includes three themes: Experiencing the Learner, Experiencing the Profession, and Experiencing the Classroom. A variety of hands-on activities and strong focus on observations and field experiences are provided. Emphasis is placed in critical shortage subject areas such as math, science, and special education. Additional trainings are being planned in June of 2009. Funding for Tomorrow’s Teachers is provided by a Teacher Quality Enhancement-Recruitment (TQE-R) Grant in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Education and the College of New Jersey’s School of Education.

Urban Teacher Academy

The College of New Jersey’s Urban Teacher Academy (UTA) is a two week intensive summer program offered to high school juniors interested in pursuing careers in urban education and/or high shortage subject areas such as math, science, special education, world languages, bilingual, and English as a Second Language (ESL). This program recruits and encourages today’s students to become tomorrow’s teachers as a strategy toward resolving current and anticipated teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools. Over one hundred and twenty students from twenty-six high schools have participated in the UTA since July of 2006. Students attend lectures with distinguished TCNJ faculty and area educators, engage in thought provoking discussions, experience exciting field trips to urban schools and community agencies, undertake an urban community service project, and try their hands at teaching a math, science, and physical education lesson to area elementary summer campers. UTA student recruitment begins in the late fall where the UTA coordinator makes presentations and works with guidance counselors, teachers, and administrators to identify students who aspire to become teachers. Student admission to the UTA is based on grades, writing samples, recommendations, and interviews upon request. The UTA provides support and financial aid information to students who seek admission to collegiate teacher preparation programs. Funding for the UTA has been provided by a Teacher Quality Enhancement-Recruitment (TQE-R) Grant in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Education and the College of New Jersey’s School of Education.

TIES Magazine

TIES Magazine is a free on-line magazine that supports elementary, middle school and high school teachers with information on design, technology, mathematics, pre-engineering and science. TIES is supported solely through advertising.

Family Tools and Technology

The FTT program is a gender equity, award winning after-school parental involvement program that focuses on technological design and problem solving while supporting the application of mathematics and scientific principles.  FTT activities are especially appropriate for girls and boys in grades 3-7 and include their parents/guardians who participate in the after-school program with their children.

E-Mentoring

Mentoring is an important ingredient in retaining new teachers.  In New Jersey, state education code requires that all first year teachers receive face to face mentoring to promote personal and professional growth.  Policymakers recently enacted the New Jersey Mentoring for Quality Initiative to enhance the quality of mentoring programs, better support novice teachers, and increase retention.  In cooperation with NJ Department of Education, we developed and tested a blended mentoring model, extending traditional mentoring by adding electronic communication.  Use of controlled experimentation blended mentoring was introduced to pre-service teachers enrolled in a junior practicum.  Online communication of this type produced many benefits.  Pre-service teachers who received supplemental online mentoring wrote better science and math lessons, and scored significantly higher in efficacy than their peers who did not. Results of the study will be used to inform state educational policymakers about multiple mentoring options.

IJIMS

Faculty from Computer Science and Journalism/Professional Writing collaborate with a gender/equity specialist on a demonstration project at our institution to broaden participation in computing through students’ exposure to the emerging field of interactive journalism.