The Orange public school district recently announced it was one of 211 schools to gain accreditation.
ORANGE -- While many New Jersey school districts are struggling to meet new testing requirements and Common Core standards, the schools in Orange have opted to take part in an accreditation program that is not mandated by the state. And, officials say, it may be indicative of a trend among urban public schools in New Jersey.
The Orange school district announced earlier this month that it has received accreditation from the Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Previously, only the high school had received accreditation, but thanks to a new Middle States program that allows for the accreditation of entire districts instead of just individual schools, Orange added its 10 other schools to the list.
In order to become accredited, districts must perform a self-evaluation of its practices (that generally takes about a year or longer to complete); demonstrate that it is meeting the association's 12 standards in areas like finance, educational program, and facilities; and complete a school improvement plan with action plans that lay out how the district will implement changes.
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According to Hank Cram, the association's president, the improvement plan is the key component that has allowed for a higher number of urban and other low-performing districts to seek and obtain accreditation.
"We are seeing more of it," Cram said of public schools in New Jersey's cities seeking accreditation. In addition to Orange, Middle States, which often works with private and parochial schools, accredited the Pemberton school district in 2012, and is now in talks with Paterson schools, Cram said.
Accreditation "is not so much a performance assessment, as it is (a look at) a district's decision-making process," Cram said.
"The accreditation process examines schools and school systems in a holistic way, supplementing student testing data to provide a more complete measure of performance and chart a strategic and realistic course for continuous school improvement," he said.
Each year, Cram said Middle States, an independent organization, accredits 80 to 90 new schools in its region, which includes five states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. About one-third of the schools in N.J. are accredited, Cram said.
Many struggling districts have opted to seek accreditation as a way to reform because its cost - about $5 to $6,000 initially and a $5 to $600 annual membership fee after that - is lower than what consultation firms and other reform efforts may cost, he said.
Orange has been identified as a lagging district by the state's report card system, reporting lower test scores and graduation rates than many of its peer school districts across the state. Superintendent Ronald Lee said the accreditation process allowed school administration to both highlight the current initiatives happening to improve the school system, and outline its plans for the future.
"We basically developed a roadmap for what we are going to do for the next several years," Lee said of the accreditation, which will last seven years.
The main focus, Lee said, will be to expose students of all ages to experiences they may not have had otherwise. The district, he said, has been working to create vocational training for students, as well as opportunities to work in college environments and visit major corporations.
"Especially in urban areas, we want to expose our students to as much as we can," he said.
"We want them to be able to make a choice when they leave high school, and realize that (those choices include) more than just what they may see in the community around them."
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
