Introduction
The New Jersey Department of Education offers certification programs as a means of assisting individual schools, teachers, and school districts to ensure that students have equal access to education. Student Achievement is evaluated based on Student Growth Objectives, and in addition, Student Growth Percentiles are calculated for teachers whose pupils participate in state examinations. This paper will evaluate components of the New Jersey educator certification program, improving low teacher retention rates and recommendations to enhance its utilization.
Evaluation of the Program’s Components
The curriculum consists of three essential components, and in order to become certified as a teacher, one must first demonstrate eligibility. It shows that the prospective teacher has received a degree in the subject area they intend to teach. The second component of the program is the legalization of work. Individuals working in New Jersey are eligible to get a provisional certificate. Lastly, New Jersey enables instructors who have met all requirements to become permanent teachers with the possibility of receiving standard certification.
Improving Low Teacher Retention Rate
One method that can be employed to improve the low teacher retention rate is establishing a culture of collaboration. When educators are discouraged from forming collaborative relationships, one in every five decides to leave the profession. However, when schools provided opportunities for teachers to collaborate on projects, the percentage of instructors who remained in their roles increased. The most effective technique for keeping teachers is offering them high-quality induction and mentoring programs that provide them with the skills necessary for professional success. Providing teachers with the opportunity to participate in online learning opportunities, such as webinars, e-learning courses, and conferences is an excellent method for enhancing their teaching skills and boosting self-assurance.
Giving teachers the impression that their work is supported can significantly affect how they feel about their careers. Allowing teachers to have monthly one-on-one meetings with administrators is a terrific method for creating these chances. By enhancing working conditions, one can ensure that teachers have the best possible working conditions. Fostering a healthy school culture ensures that both students and teachers have a feeling of safety, trust, and mutual respect. Informing the teaching staff and the students on essential safety principles, such as how to respond to emergencies such as earthquakes and fires develops a safety culture. Respect between instructors and students can be fostered by holding group decision-making exercises and other team-building activities at least once a month and requiring all students to participate.
Relation to Staff Development
The New Jersey educator’s program makes some valuable contributions to the professional growth of staff members. The program helps improve New Jersey’s historically poor rates of teacher retention. A school district will ask for a provisional two-year teaching certificate from the candidate after making an offer of employment. It ensures that educators do not leave the school at any moment they desire, requiring them to sign a contract that binds them to remain there for two years (Bowling & Ball 2018). A trained educator can provide students with high-quality educational information in their respective fields of expertise within the constraints of this time limit. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the United States Department of Labor, as of May 2010, the New Jersey school system offered kindergarten and middle school teachers the fifth highest salary of all public school teachers in the country (Lie et al., 2021). This was the case for both elementary school teachers and high school teachers.
Recommendations
New Jersey lacks a rigorous evaluation system on a statewide level that can effectively quantify the efficacy of educators, although the effectiveness of teachers is the single most significant factor in the classroom for the achievement of students. For teachers and principals to enhance their teaching, they require timely and meaningful feedback, and learners deserve teachers and principals who are both highly effective and continually improving. Districts can identify each educator’s professional development requirements and assist their progress if they have access to a high-quality evaluation system. It is respectful of educators and fair to their profession to differentiate between them based on their performance rather than treating them like interchangeable widgets (Elias et al., 2018). Educators are the ones who do the actual work. Additionally, school districts and individual schools can enhance their personnel selection methods with an effective evaluation system.
Conclusion
The Department of Education needed to issue certification rules and regulations in order for it to fulfill its mission of seeing to it that children attending public schools receive an education that is adequate for their needs. The program equips the teacher with the relevant skills to ensure they deliver content effectively to the learners. The department effectively accomplishes this objective due to the requirement that all prospective teachers complete all relevant coursework related to their areas of expertise. The certification program ensures that students receive assistance at a high level and provides opportunities for the staff members to advance their professional development. In addition, the program works to increase the percentage of teachers who stay in their positions, allowing them to provide adequate service to the schools in New Jersey. With these tactics, New Jersey can achieve significant academic success on the interstate level. Therefore, to accomplish this goal, every educator should obtain certification.
References
Bowling, A. M., & Ball, A. L. (2018). Alternative certification: A solution or an alternative problem? Journal of Agricultural Education, 59(2), 109-122.
Department of education. (n.d.). New Jersey Department of Education. The Official Web Site for The State of New Jersey. Web.
Elias, M. J., Nayman, S. J., & Duffell, J. C. (2018). Scaling up high-quality social-emotional and character development in all schools: A set of policy recommendations to the US secretary of Education. The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality, 321–350. Web.
Lie, D., Dharma, E., & Sudirman, A. (2021). Measurement of Teacher Performance in Pematangsiantar City Middle School Through Teacher Certification, Motivation, and Job Satisfaction. In 2nd Annual Conference on blended learning, educational technology and Innovation (ACBLETI 2020) (pp. 396-401). Atlantis Press. Web.