Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger León, Newark Public Library Director Jeffrey Trzeciak, Panasonic Foundation Executive Director Alejandra Ceja, United Way of Essex and West Hudson CEO Catherine Wilson, and Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) Executive Director Reginald Lewis launched #NewarkReads on Tuesday, June 4, 2019.
#NewarkReads is a comprehensive literacy initiative that will begin this summer with the Mayor’s Book Club. The first phase, a sixth to eighth grade pilot, will be followed by a high school to adult segment in September. The literacy coalition will provide residents of all ages with approaches to improve reading, writing, listening, and thinking skills, focusing on adult literacy and birth to third-grade interventions.
As of 2003, the latest year for which statistics are available, 47,000 Newark adults lacked basic prose literacy skills, and 56 percent of Newark youth scored partially proficient on NJ ASK and HSPA standardized literacy tests. Almost 90 percent of the students who scored partially proficient on these tests came from economically disadvantaged families. These literacy statistics place Newark in the bottom six percent of all New Jersey districts. This gap ties directly to a lifelong economic opportunity gap and has financial, social, and civic consequences for individuals as well as Newark as a whole.
NCLC, a citywide initiative working to build Newark’s college-going culture, jumped at the opportunity to be part of the Coalition.
“The bulk of NCLC’s work entails building and sustaining a college-going culture to ensure that our kids are on track to graduate high school on time and prepared to succeed at the college level. Research has shown that these things are really out of reach for students who are not proficient readers,” said NCLC Executive Director Reginald Lewis. “NCLC reallocated $30,000 of a state grant being shared with the Newark Public Library to the launch of the Mayor’s Book Club. Literacy is clearly at the heart of our work.”
Click here for more information about #NewarkReads.
NCLC hosted Lead New Jersey for an education seminar on the Rutgers-Newark campus on Thursday, May 16, 2019.
Currently in its 33rd class of Fellows, Lead New Jersey is a year-long opportunity for New Jersey’s public, private, and nonprofit leaders to engage in monthly seminars on a range of public policy topics. Lead New Jersey’s goal is to educate and empower talented leaders to create systemic change around New Jersey’s most challenging issues.
The education seminar began with introductions from Rutgers-Newark Assistant Chancellor LaToya Battle-Brown and Executive Vice Chancellor Sherri-Ann Butterfield on the role Rutgers-Newark plays as an anchor institution and increasing opportunities for Newark students to enter college and complete their degrees. Following were three panel discussions in which key education leaders from Newark participated.
The first panel, titled “The State of Public Education in Newark: A Cross-Sector Perspective,” was moderated by NCLC Executive Director Reginald Lewis and featured Superintendent of Newark Public Schools Roger León, Superintendent of Essex County Schools of Technology Dr. James Pedersen, Chief External Officer of KIPP New Jersey Ben Cope, and Headmaster of St. Benedict’s Prep Father Ed Leahy.
The second panel, “Examining Newark School Reform: Lessons and Strategies,” was moderated by Mary Bennet of the Alliance for Newark Public Schools and featured former Chief Education Officer for the City of Newark Dr. Lauren Wells, Principal of Barringer High School Angela Mincy, Chief Education Officer for the City of Newark Toni Richardson, and Assistant Superintendent of High Schools Dr. Mario Santos.
The final panel, “Building Newark’s College-Going Culture,” featured NCLC staff members: Executive Director Reginald Lewis, Associate Director of Strategic Planning and Development Barry Ford, Senior Manager of Communications and Development Chanel Donaldson, Postdoctoral Associate in Education Research and Policy Dr. Kristi Donaldson, and Special Assistant to the Executive Director and Special Projects Manager Danielle Cohen.
Following the panel discussions, Lead New Jersey Fellows were able to visit East Side High School and meet with Principal Michael West, teachers, and students.
Founding NCLC member Bloomfield College announced in February that Dr. Marcheta P. Evans will become the College’s 17th president beginning on June 1, 2019. She will succeed Richard A. Levao.
Dr. Evans is both the first woman and African American to lead the College in its 150-year history. She was unanimously selected by the College’s Board of Trustees after a nationwide search by Academic Search, an executive search firm dedicated to serving higher education institutions.
Dr. Evans has served in transformational leadership roles in higher education for twenty-five years at both public and private institutions, with twenty of those years at Minority Serving Institutions (MSI’s) in the seventh largest city in the U.S., San Antonio, Texas. Bloomfield College holds the designations of a Predominately Black Institution (PBI) and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).
“I am so humbled and honored to be selected as the 17th President of Bloomfield College. This is truly the fulfillment of a dream that was inspired by my grandparents as they raised me as a child during the civil rights movement of the 1960’s,” expressed Dr. Evans. “My heart is overflowing with this blessing and privilege. You will not find anyone more dedicated to the mission, vision, and goals of Bloomfield College as we move this great college forward with our commitment for diverse students to have access to an affordable education. We will become a national leader and role model for inclusive excellence.”
Currently the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU), Dr. Evans sequentially served as Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean at OLLU and Associate Dean and Department Chair at University of Texas at San Antonio. She has served as a faculty member for over 23 years and has the rank of Full Professor. Dr. Evans is a past President and Fellow of the American Counseling Association, past President of the Association for Creativity in Counseling, and is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. A small sampling of these recognitions includes the Outstanding Multicultural Leadership Award, Yellow Rose of Texas Lifetime Educator Award, and Counselors for Social Justice Ohana Award.
Dr. Evans has authored numerous articles and book chapters, focusing on issues of diversity, multiculturalism, women’s issues, and leadership. She has presented over one hundred times at the state, regional, national, and international levels addressing topics such as empowerment, multiculturalism, diversity, and leadership. In her international work, Dr. Evans has traveled extensively, including a length of time in the African country of Malawi where she worked with educators and counselors on literacy initiatives sponsored by USAID.
Dr. Evans graduated from the University of Alabama with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Counselor Education and Supervision, specializing in Student Affairs, Administration in Higher Education, and Human Resource Management. Additionally, she has a Master of Arts degree in Education in Elementary Education from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, a Master of Arts degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Alabama.
“Dr. Evans’ tenure at her previous institutions has been nothing short of transformative,” said William H. Turner, Chairman of the Board. “Her leadership qualities represent the academic and mission-based values of Bloomfield College, and we are delighted to welcome her to our community and campus.”
Some of her career highlights include optimization of class sizes, which resulted in over $300,000 in revenue and cost-saving strategies; development of academic centers to enhance student success, which saw freshman retention rates rise from 56.2% to 68.2%; and modified the advising model through collaborative advising, cohort scheduling, student success initiatives, and strengths-based peer mentor/teaching that resulted in a 23% increase in first-year students who earned a 3.0 GPA or higher.
President Richard A. Levao, who will retire after serving the College for 16 years, is excited for Bloomfield College’s next chapter with Dr. Evans at the helm.
“The Bloomfield College community is extremely pleased to have Dr. Evans assume the leadership of this wonderful institution in its 150th year,” said President Levao. “Her experience, dedication to our College’s mission, as well as her personal warmth, energy, and compassion bodes well for the future of this College that so many of us love so well.”
Dr. Evans and her husband, Edgar, are exceedingly proud parents of six children with five of whom graduated from minority-serving institutions. She and her husband are looking forward to moving to New Jersey.
NCLC Associate Director, Barry Ford, was selected to serve on the NJ Office of the Secretary of Higher Education’s On-ramps to College Working Group in support of the state’s new higher education plan.
The On-ramps to College working group will work to increase post-secondary access for all students in the state by developing innovative solutions for addressing the equity gaps in college attendance by race and socioeconomic status. This group has two major charges to study and make recommendations to the Governor: (1) Creating a coordinated approach to offering fee-free dual enrollment and piloting other models for demonstrating college-level mastery, such as the Modern States Educational Alliance, which prepares students for College Level Examination Program exams. (2) Exploring, and then working to address, the factors affecting New Jersey student decisions to attend higher education institutions outside of the state.
Read the news release announcing all working group members here.
The University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi Campus has been involved in a range of community engagement activities in Mamelodi since 2008. The range of projects in the community is indicative of the University’s commitment to the social and economic development of the local community, the greater Tshwane area, and the country as a whole. In 2017, the Kresge Foundation awarded the University of Pretoria and Rutgers University-Newark a planning grant towards their anchor institution strategies in their respective communities in Newark and Mamelodi, called the Mamelodi Collaborative.
As part of the planning phase of the Mamelodi Collaborative, the UP Mamelodi Campus hosted a workshop on 5 February 2019 in which it engaged in the reciprocal exchange of ideas with 43 stakeholders, as well as its international partner, Rutgers University-Newark, to develop a model to enhance the post-secondary opportunities for the residents of the Mamelodi Township. The Executive Director of the Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC), Reginald Lewis, together with Dr. Kristi Donaldson, Postdoctoral Associate in Education Research and Policy, and Danielle Cohen, Special Assistant to the Executive Director and Special Projects Manager, presented the model of the NCLC to the stakeholders. The workshop, a first of its kind in the Mamelodi community, endorsed the lessons learnt from the NCLC. A decision to formalise and strengthen a network of all key role players working in the Mamelodi education ecosystem, provisionally called the Mamelodi Community of Learning Collaborative (MCLC), was adopted.
The MCLC enables the UP Mamelodi Campus to collaborate with the Department of Basic Education’s Tshwane South District and a network of stakeholders to achieve the goal of broadening educational pathways by providing academic enrichment programmes and alternative academic pathways to other tertiary institutions in the Mamelodi Precinct such as the universities of technology and training and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges. A Steering Committee to drive the adoption, translation and development of this model for the Mamelodi community was established.
In her opening remarks at the workshop, the Director of the Gauteng Department of Basic Education’s Tshwane South District reported that her district, which includes the schools in Mamelodi and surrounding areas, was the best-performing district in the entire Gauteng province, based on the matric pass rate of 2018. It also performed the second best nationally. These achievements are, in part, the result of the partnership between the Department and Mamelodi Campus in its pre-university interventions. This observation underscored the significant success achieved by the efforts of the campus and its community partners in assisting the local school system to improve access and success in Mamelodi’s schools.
As part of enhancing the post-secondary school-going culture, the campus, together with its partners, plan to focus on awareness and readiness. Initiatives to promote career awareness include career interest tests, a career fair, career advising, parental education, placement and a credit transfer system through the formulation of articulation agreements and a credit transfer system with TVET colleges and universities of technology. A career hub that will serve as an information centre for residents and learners will be launched in 2019, while a post-secondary readiness programme consisting of academic curricular support and soft skills will commence in July 2019.
Pictured from left to right: Donald A. Borden, President of Camden County College; Laura Overdeck, Founder of the Overdeck Family Foundation; Reginald Lewis Executive Director of NCLC; and Harvey Kesselman, President of Stockton University.
Executive Director of the Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) Reginald Lewis was named co-chair of one of five working groups to help the state implement its new higher education plan.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Secretary of Higher Education Zakiya Smith Ellis unveiled the expansive statewide higher education plan at Rutgers University-Newark on March 26, 2019. Known as “Where Opportunity Meets Innovation: A Student-Centered Vision for New Jersey Higher Education,” the plan will ensure higher education meets student needs and galvanizes New Jersey’s innovation economy.
“My Administration has committed to growing New Jersey from the middle out and lifting communities from the bottom up. There’s no better way to achieve those goals than strengthening our state’s institutions of higher education. In a knowledge-based global economy, what New Jerseyans know will matter a lot more than who they know,” said Governor Murphy.
“New Jersey is the state of innovation. And higher education is where opportunity meets innovation,” said Secretary of Higher Education Zakiya Smith Ellis. “The plan we release today seeks to ensure that every student, no matter their life circumstances, has the opportunity to obtain a high quality education that prepares them for life after college.”
Lewis will co-chair the working group on Student Success along with Stockton University President Harvey Kesselman.
“I am truly honored to be part of such a historic moment for New Jersey. It has always been our firm belief at NCLC that every student should have the adequate preparation, information, and resources needed to succeed in college or another post-high school option. I am excited to bring the expertise of NCLC and its partners to this important statewide initiative,” said Lewis.
The other four working groups are focused on (1) Creating On-ramps to College, (2) Safe and Inclusive Learning Environments, (3) Research, Innovation, and Talent, and (4) Making College Affordable, which will be co-chaired by Rutgers University-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor.
(Newark, NJ) The Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) is pleased to provide free SAT preparation for Newark high school students for the fourth consecutive year. Done in partnership with the Abbott Leadership Institute (ALI) and East Side High School, and with support from the Rutgers University–Newark Chancellor’s Office, this course offers an intensive eight-week preparation for the May 4, 2019 SAT exam.
Included in the course are 15 hours of instruction on test-taking strategies from experts at The Princeton Review, practice workbooks, in-person and online practice exams that simulate the real SAT, and an interactive online student portal with SAT, ACT, and other college resources. Valued at more than $1,000 per student, this type of rigorous preparation is often out of reach for low-income prospective college students.
Eliminating the cost barrier associated with SAT preparation could help to expand Newark students’ college-going options. A recent report released by NCLC and the Rutgers-Newark School of Public Affairs and Administration finds that after high school, fewer than 10 percent of Newark students attend highly or very competitive colleges, like Rutgers-New Brunswick or NJIT, and only 1 percent attend the most competitive colleges, like Harvard or NYU. Newark students are often staying close to home after high school and attending less selective institutions even if they are qualified for highly selective institutions, a phenomenon known as “undermatching.”
“The SAT is one of the most widely used measures for college admission, but when it comes down to it, a student’s score is really reflective of preparedness to take the exam,” said NCLC Executive Director Reginald Lewis. “By helping students prepare for the SAT and achieve higher scores, we’re actually helping to strengthen their applications and to increase college access.”
Beyond simply preparing students for the exam, the partnership with ALI ensures that students will have all the support they need to successfully transition to college. ALI works through its College Success Center to help students and families as they prepare to enter college and the workforce. In addition to collaborating with NCLC to coordinate the SAT Prep Course on the Rutgers-Newark campus, ALI is also providing ongoing support to students as they complete their applications, look for scholarships, and otherwise prepare for the transition to college.
“There is no better preparation for the SAT than The Princeton Review [model], but for many Newark families it is not affordable,” said ALI Director Kaleena Berryman. “Students in Newark are brilliant and capable. What they often lack is access to game-changing opportunities that will empower them to truly compete. We are proud to serve as a partner with NCLC in this initiative.”
In total, 100 high school juniors are participating in this year’s course, split between the Rutgers-Newark campus and East Side High School. Each site receives the same intensive resources from The Princeton Review.
“This opportunity and educational experience is a game changer for my students (and their families) as they ready themselves for the SAT exam. It is gratifying to partner with such an innovative and dedicated organization committed to the success of our amazing students,” said East Side High School Principal Michael West.
NCLC’s goal is to ensure that Newark students have the opportunity, information, and access to go to college, afford college, complete college, and ultimately obtain good jobs. Through SAT Prep and other initiatives that equip Newarkers to succeed, NCLC helps Newark build and sustain a college-going culture.
Superintendent Roger León, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Gerald Fitzhugh and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Shakirah Harrington were joined by more than 450 students and nearly 60 teachers for the 2019 NJIT Stem Day, held at NJIT on March 14th.
The Stem Day was led by Ivory Williams, Special Assistant of Science Teaching and Learning, and her staff; Bethany Davis, Demiana Awad and Melissa McLain of the Science Team. NJIT hosts were Jacqueline L. Cusack, Ed.D, Executive Director for The Center for Pre-College Programs, Division of Academic Support and Student Affairs and Levelle Burr-Alexander, PhD, Director of Special Projects at NJIT.
Senator Ronald L. Rice sits down with Executive Director of the Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC), Reginald Lewis, to discuss how NCLC is working to build a college-going culture in Newark. View the episode here: https://vimeo.com/317060607
Newark, NJ — With the start of the spring semester this week, nearly 40 Newark high school students also began classes on the Rutgers University–Newark campus. The result of the first-ever dual enrollment memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Newark Public Schools (NPS) and Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences–Newark (SASN), students are participating in such course offerings as Introduction to Psychology and Introduction to Caribbean Studies. Students are able to earn three college credits for each course.
“The opportunity for our high school students to realize now that college is possible is embodied in dual enrollment,” said Superintendent Roger León. “This experience is beyond realizing that our students can complete college courses [but that they can] compete at the very highest levels.”
Added Mario Santos, Assistant Superintendent of High Schools, “As a former principal…I know first-hand the advantage of providing resources to our students. I want to thank Rutgers University and encourage our students to take advantage of everything this awesome opportunity provides as they begin their journey through college.”
The MOU, approved by the Board of Education in December 2018, is in line with NPS’s increasing emphasis on college readiness. A recent report released by the Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) and Rutgers–Newark School of Public Affairs and Administration found that while 54 percent of 2011-2016 Newark high school graduates immediately enrolled in college, only 23 percent earned any type of degree or credential within six years. NCLC brokered the dual enrollment partnership as a direct follow up on the report’s recommendations to improve college matriculation and completion for Newark students.
“Our goal at NCLC is to help as many Newark residents as possible to get into and through college, which is why we are excited to provide this opportunity for students to earn college credit while still in high school,” said NCLC Executive Director Reginald Lewis. “By expanding access to more rigorous course options, like dual enrollment, we ensure that more of our students are on track to graduate high school on time, as well as graduate ready to do college-level work.”
Notable about the agreement is that high school students attend classes on campus alongside current Rutgers undergraduate students, rather than taking online courses or courses offered on high school premises.
It is “not only an opportunity for high school students to enroll and experience the rigors of a college course, but to also get a glimpse into the college student experience. They will engage with our faculty [and] have academic and social exchanges with college students in and outside of the classroom,” said Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education at SASN, LaToya Battle-Brown.
Angela Mincy, Principal of Barringer High School, said, “This dual enrollment opportunity…will undoubtedly be a game changer for students. What better gift can we give our youth than exposure and access to high quality opportunities to push their intellectual and physical boundaries beyond the traditional high school walls?”
Indeed, physically being on a college campus is a key element for high school students to envision themselves as college students in the future. As Barringer High School student Yellybeth Diaz said about the Introduction to Psychology course she is taking on campus this semester, “Taking this class will give me a first-hand experience of what college life will be like…[and] will teach me how to be even more responsible academically and most importantly how to manage my time.”
Plans to expand the current dual enrollment agreement are already underway to include more NPS students and additional higher education institutions, including NCLC’s nine other higher education partners from the Greater Newark area. Increased dual enrollment opportunities provide pathways for more Newark students to successfully transition to college and ultimately earn their desired degrees.
Remarked Mr. Lewis, “The city has a lot of momentum; it’s more than just getting young people through high school, we’re building Newark’s emerging college-going culture.”
