Comprehensive Equity Plan
The Board of Education shall submit a Comprehensive Equity Plan based on an assessment of the district's needs for achieving equity in educational programs that includes a cohesive set of policies, programs, and practices that ensure high expectations and positive achievement patterns and equal access to education opportunity for all learners, including students and teachers.
The Board’s obligation to be accountable for the requirements in N.J.A.C. 6A:7 is not precluded or alleviated by any rule or regulation of any organization, club, athletic association, or other league or group.
1. An assessment of the school district’s needs for achieving equity in educational programs. The assessment shall include staffing practices, quality-of-program data, stakeholder-satisfaction data, and student assessment and behavioral data disaggregated by gender, race, ethnicity, limited English proficiency, special education, migrant, date of enrollment, student suspension, expulsion, Child Study Team referrals, preschool through grade twelve promotion/retention data, preschool through grade twelve completion rates, and re-examination and re- evaluation of classification and placement of students in special education programs if there is overrepresentation within a certain group;
2. A description of how other Federal, State, and district policies, programs, and practices are aligned to the Comprehensive Equity Plan;
3. Progress targets for closing the achievement gap;
4. Professional development targets regarding the knowledge and skills needed to provide a thorough and efficient education as defined by the Core Curriculum Content Standards; differentiated instruction and formative assessments aligned to Core Curriculum Content Standards; and high expectations for teaching and learning; and
5. Annual targets addressing district needs in equity in school and classroom practices that are aligned to professional development targets.
A Comprehensive Equity Plan shall be written every three years and the Board of Education shall initiate the Comprehensive Equity Plan within sixty days of its approval and shall implement the plan in accordance with the timelines approved by the New Jersey Department of Education.
In the event the Board of Education does not implement the Comprehensive Equity Plan within one hundred eighty days of its approval date, or fails to report its progress annually, sanctions deemed to be appropriate by the Commissioner of Education or his/her designee shall be imposed, and may include action to suspend, terminate, or refuse to award continued Federal or State financial assistance, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:55-2.
N.J.A.C. 6A:7-1.9
Adopted: 26 July 2005
Revised: 27 January 2011
Revised: 29 September 2016