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For Release: February 5, 2003
State Board of Education Adopts New Strategic Plan
The State Board of Education today adopted a new strategic plan. The Strategic Plan for Systemic Improvement in Public Education in the State of New Jersey, designed to cover a five-year period through 2008, will guide efforts by the board and the Department of Education to ensure that all New Jersey students receive a quality public education.
"We adopted our first strategic plan in 1995 to serve as the blueprint to guide state-level initiatives and policy development," said State Board of Education President Maud Dahme. "When we recently reviewed our original plan and its revisions, we decided that most of its stated goals have been accomplished and that it was time to develop a new plan.
"We believe that our new plan and the four areas it emphasizes will create the kind of environment and mobilize the efforts required to help our students become successful contributors to our state, our nation and our world," said Dahme.
Dahme commended the State Boards Strategic Plan Committee for its work in developing the document approved today. The committee consists of board member Arnold Hyndman, who served as chair, and members Debra Casha, Kathleen Dietz and Anne Dillman.
The four areas of emphasis in the new Strategic Plan are:
ASSESSMENT: to ensure that student assessment is integral to the teaching and learning of subject matter as presented in the Core Curriculum Content Standards.
EXEMPLARY EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES: to ensure that student performance at all levels is enhanced through the participation in exceptional educational programs or activities.
LITERACY: to provide effective literacy instruction to all public school students with the objective that all students must meet grade appropriate language arts and mathematics standards as defined in the Core Curriculum Content Standards.
TEACHER PREPARATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: to expand and improve the pool of qualified teachers and administrators; and to prepare teachers to effectively teach both the child and the subject.
The State Board revised the original Strategic Plan in 1996 and again in 2000. Among the changes stimulated by this plan was the adoption of the states academic standards, known as the Core Curriculum Content Standards; an assessment system aligned to academic standards; development of the Comprehensive Educational Improvement and Financing Act (CEIFA), the development of charter schools, and a greater emphasis on early childhood education.
The full text of the Strategic Plan can be accessed from the Department of Educations Web site: