NJ Department of Education: Regional Achievement Center # 4

The NJ Department of Education has significantly reorganized how we engage with schools and districts. As outlined in New Jersey's No Child Left Behind waiver, the NJDOE launched seven field-based Regional Achievement Centers (RACs), charged with driving improvement in New Jersey's most struggling schools.

The Department has shifted significant resources to directly support "Priority" and "Focus" schools, those schools that are the lowest performing in the state or that have significant achievement gaps.

Although the RACs will focus on schools as the main unit of change, significant collaboration and communication will take place with school districts to ensure cohesive, sustained improvement.

If interventions are implemented faithfully, the Department believes that each Priority and Focus School should achieve sustained, positive growth in student achievement that dramatically narrows the achievement gap and sets schools on a trajectory for preparing all students for college and career.