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The Board of Education shall complete a Comprehensive Equity Plan (CEP) that includes a cohesive set of policies, programs, and practices that ensure high expectations and positive achievement patterns and equitable access to educational opportunities for all learners, including students and teachers, in accordance with the provisions of N.J.A.C. 6A:7-1.8.
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 recreational organization, club, athletic association, or other league or organizing group.
Pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:7-1.4(c), the district shall develop, once every three years, a CEP that shall identify and correct all discriminatory and inequitable educational policies, patterns, programs, and practices affecting its facilities, programs, students, and staff.
1. Prior to developing the CEP, the district shall assess its needs for achieving equity in educational activities and programs pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:7-1.4(c)1. The needs assessment shall identify discriminatory practices and other barriers to achieving equity in educational activities and programs, if applicable.
2. The CEP shall address:
a. Professional development, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:7-1.6; and
b. Equity in school and classroom practices, educational activities, and programs pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:7-1.7.
3. The CEP shall include measurable and actionable goals, objectives, timelines, and benchmarks for measuring progress.
4. The Board shall submit the CEP to the Executive County Superintendent for confirmation of completion.
a. If the Executive County Superintendent determines that the CEP is not complete, the Board shall revise the plan in accordance with the Executive County Superintendent's instructions and shall submit to the Executive County Superintendent the revised plan within thirty days of the notification of incompletion.
Pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:7-1.8(c), the CEP shall include the following:
1. An assessment of the school district’s needs for achieving equity in educational activities and programs. The assessment shall include staffing practices; quality-of-program data; stakeholder-satisfaction data; and student assessment data disaggregated by gender; race; ethnicity; multilingual learner status; homeless status; 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; attendance data; and re-examination and re-evaluation of classification and placement process of students in special education programs if there is disproportionality within certain groups;
2. A description of how other Federal, State, and district policies, programs, and practices are aligned to the CEP;
3. Progress targets for closing the achievement and opportunity gaps;
4. Professional development targets regarding the knowledge and skills needed to provide a thorough and efficient education as defined by the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS), differentiated instruction and formative assessments aligned to the NJSLS, and professional standards for teachers and school leaders; and
5. Annual targets that address district needs in equity in school and classroom practices and are aligned to professional development targets.
The Board shall implement the CEP within sixty days of the Executive County Superintendent’s certification of completion.
If the Board does not implement the CEP within sixty days of the Executive County Superintendent’s certification of completion date, or fails to report its progress annually, sanctions deemed to be appropriate by the Commissioner of Education or 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:7-1.1; 6A:7-1.3; 6A:7-1.4; 6A:7-1.7; 6A:7-1.8
Adopted: 28 June 2012
Revised: 30 June 2016
Revised: April 25, 2024