New Jersey Association of School Administrators and
School Boards Association
Annual Spring Conference
Prepared Remarks
Commissioner of Education William L. Librera
Atlantic City, NJ
May 16, 2003
-Teacher and administrator quality;
-Raising student achievement;
-Diverse and multiple paths for student success;
-Innovative and outstanding practices/programs; and
-Public engagement and communication and public accountability.
- Requiring certificate holders to obtain any licensure or certification that may be mandated by state or federal law or by a licensing board to hold their position.
- Eliminating emergency certificates for all instructional certificates and establishing an alternate route for special education and bilingual/bicultural education teachers;
- Providing for one year of mentoring for novice teachers;
- Introducing a subject matter specialization to teach in grades six through eight to assure that all teachers are content prepared. This also aligns the state with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act as it relates to new middle school teachers;
- Requiring national accreditation for college teacher preparation programs;
- Proposing requirements for a distance learning instructor;
- Requiring a masters degree for school business administrators;
- Eliminating the assessment requirement for principals and superintendents;
- Including a masters degree in curriculum and instruction for principal and superintendent certification
- Adding a noninstructional school nurse certificate to allow a person to perform school nursing services but not be able to teach in areas related to health;
- Renaming the pupil personnel services certificate "School Counselor," and eliminating the teaching requirement; and
- Adding a new subchapter on professional development for school leaders.
- Distance Learning;
- Preparation needed for teaching middle school students;
- No Child Left Behind and the states high uniform standards for already certified teachers;
- The vocational-technical certificates; and
- Technology and the teaching of technology.