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Toms River committee reviews district goals, K–2 curriculum changes and NJDOE guidance pausing new SGOs for tenured teachers
Summary
The district presented its final draft goals and professional development plan, outlined curriculum revisions to align K–2 and elementary ELA/math to 2023 standards (including data literacy and phonics), and relayed NJDOE guidance pausing new SGOs for tenure teachers for 2024–25; board members requested more collaboration on goals.
The Toms River Regional School District’s curriculum committee reviewed a final draft of district goals and the 2024–25 professional development plan and outlined K–2 curriculum updates tied to the state’s 2023 ELA and math standards.
Presenter Rachel, a district curriculum staff member, said the goals center on student achievement, culture and climate, budget and facilities and community partnerships, and that the PDP lists activities and target groups to support those aims. A board member said this was the first time they had seen the goals and requested more collaborative review before formal adoption.
Rachel described several curriculum changes the district incorporated to reflect the new standards: a renewed emphasis on foundational reading and phonics for K–5, clearer distinctions between informational text and literature at the secondary level, added measurement-and-data literacy in math, and visual models for fractions. She said existing instructional materials largely meet the updated standards and that the district produced crosswalk documents comparing 2016 and 2023 standards to guide teachers.
On teacher evaluation, Rachel told the committee the New Jersey Department of Education issued guidance pausing the collection of new Student Growth Objectives (SGOs) for tenured teachers for the 2024–25 school year; SGO scores for tenure teachers will roll over from 2023–24, while only teachers new to the district, teachers without prior SGOs and non-tenure teachers must establish SGOs this year. "The NJDOE released an FAQ designed to address common questions," she said, and the district will distribute a memo to staff the last week of August explaining evaluation changes.
Board members asked how climate change learning objectives were being incorporated. Rachel said the curriculum documents highlight where climate change is addressed across subject areas and supervisors have attended workshops to support teacher implementation; she also noted no whole-district adoptions of new core texts are planned now and that any pilots or adoptions would come forward to the board for review.
The committee also reviewed the annual 'option two' course approvals for 2023–24—18 student approvals across three high schools with 13 unique course requests, primarily for credit recovery or course advancement—and received the district’s guidance and counseling program plan outlining counselors’ roles in academic, career and social development.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the district goals at the meeting; members asked staff to provide additional time for board review and indicated they would return with feedback at a future meeting.
