Newark Schools Are ‘High Performing,’ BOE Prez Cheers ‘Overwhelming’ QSAC Milestone

NEWARK, NJ — New Jersey has certified its largest public school district as “high performing,” administrators recently announced.

Last week, Newark Public School District officials said the New Jersey Department of Education has informed them that the district has satisfied the weighted indicators for each of the five areas of the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) review process. The State Board of Education’s decision was unanimous, administrators noted.

The result? Newark’s public schools are now considered “high performing” in the eyes of the state.

The QSAC process includes a self-evaluation by local school administrators, which is overseen by the county education office. If a district scores less than 80 percent on any section, it must develop an improvement plan – and egregious failures may eventually lead to a state takeover.

Some education experts have said the process can cause huge labor and time demands on a district’s staff. Others have accused QSAC of favoring wealthy school districts, with some educators calling the process “broken.”

Newark didn’t top 80 percent for the “instruction” component of the QSAC in 2022-2023, although administrators gave the district high marks as part of their self-evaluation.

Despite some recent challenges – including troublingly low reading scores – students in the Newark Public School District are gradually improving their performances on state tests, administrators say.

Board of Education President Hasani Council said the latest QSAC milestone was “overwhelming.”

“We have been working so hard for this moment, and it has arrived,” Council said.

“As the superintendent of New Jersey’s largest school district, I will always be the first to proclaim that we still have so much to do,” Superintendent Roger León said.

“But make no mistake about it, we have accomplished so much with our historic 10-year strategic plan, and we’re going to ‘Keep On Moving!’” León added.

“This accomplishment is credited to the principals, school leaders, teachers, and the instructional staff at the schools and in the central office,” León added. “We are indebted to the parents, guardians, advocates, and children of the Newark Public Schools who believe in us as we believe in them.”

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