Majority Of Teachers In Lacey Township Schools Are 'Highly Effective' State Report Finds

LACEY TOWNSHIP, NJ - The state Department of Education has some good news for parents with students in the K-12 Lacey school district.

More than half of the district's 340 teachers received "highly effective" ratings, according to the state Department of Education's staff evaluations based on the 2015-2016 school year.

Teachers and staff across the state are graded and categorized as “highly effective,” “effective," "partially effective" and "ineffective." Results were released last week.

Out of Lacey's 340 teachers, 175 were found to be "highly effective." The other 165 teachers were rated "effective."'

The district’s ratio came out to just over 4.2, and it was ranked 228 out of 503 districts on Patch’s list, which is based on number of teachers per 100 students. (See the full list here.)

State law requires each district to use a standardized system to evaluate teacher performance based on classroom observation and a form of student performance. It has been in effect since the State Legislature passed a tenure system five years ago to determine the strongest and weakest teachers in the state.

The evaluation system began after the state legislature passed a teacher tenure system five years ago that ultimately sought to identify the weakest and the best teachers. State law now requires every district to use a standardized evaluation system based on observed classroom practices and some measure of student performance.

The state’s data from the 2015-2016 school year, according to a report from NJ Spotlight, shows nearly two-thirds of the state’s 112,000 teachers were found to be “effective” and another third were “highly effective” in the four-tier ratings used in the new system.

Photo: Patch file photo