Contact: Nat Bender, 908-377-0393, nbender [at] aftnj.org
AFT New Jersey President Donna M. Chiera said, “Today, Governor Murphy took the first step in returning students to classrooms where the focus is on teaching—not just testing. These proposals will allow students to be engaged in a rich, rigorous, broad curriculum rather than one narrowed down to where attention is only focused on tested subjects. AFT New Jersey thanks Governor Murphy and Commissioner Repollet for listening to students, parents and educators, and hearing our concerns loud and clear.” Donna M. Chiera is a retired classroom teacher. Learn more about Chiera.
AFT New Jersey Executive Vice President for Pre-Kindergarten through 12 Robert Barbier said, “This move away from an overreliance on PARCC results for students and teachers is definitely headed in the right direction. As a high school English teacher in Garfield, I have been directly involved with PARCC testing and articulated the need to minimize the emphasis on testing as a graduation requirement for students and percentage of teacher evaluations. It looks like we are headed beyond the mindset of compliance into an area of really seeing what can we accomplish when we work together to have the best education system possible.” Robert Barbier is a high school English teacher in Garfield. Learn more about Barbier.