
Year 1 Recommendations for New Superintendent Dr. Kim Feltre
Emphasis on listening to all stakeholders and academics needed that was not prevalent in the Varley administration -Written by a non-politically affiliated Educator in the Community On October 29th, 2024, the Berkeley Heights Board of Education (BHBOE) unanimously approved Dr. Kim Feltre as Superintendent of Berkeley Heights Public Schools (BHPS), effective January 1st, 2025. Below are five goals, with two...

Digging Deeper on School Spending in Seven NJ Cities
Second contribution in a series to NJ Education Report on seven urban districts in NJ: Digging Deeper on School Spending in Seven NJ Cities.

Mathematics History and Learning Its Lessons – Part Two
The second in a series that every Parent, Student and Educator Can Read to Better Understand the Current American Math Problem and Concerns about “Flipped Classroom”. Since the turn of the century, though the ‘Math Wars’ may have quieted, there is still a fair amount of debate – in this country, particularly – about how best to teach mathematics to...

Ten Most Read Articles of 2024
NJ21st had another strong year as traffic to the site and subscriptions topped the prior year across all platforms. Here are the ten most-read articles of 2024… (10) No….The Township Does NOT have a CFO, and the Proposed Solution Should Raise Concerns The CFO position for the Township has been a revolving door, with the last former CFO raising numerous...

How to Increase Core-Content Area Instructional Minutes at Columbia Middle School
Increasing minutes and daily practice, especially for math, while sustaining the music program -Written by a non-politically affiliated Educator in the Community For the past few years, the math program at Berkeley Heights Public Schools (BHPS), particularly at Governor Livingston High School (GLHS) and Columbia Middle School (CMS), has underperformed. This article will focus on instructional minutes at CMS and...

Rights and Wrongs of the 2025-26 BHPS Calendar
Tweaks that could have been made for academic benefits and professional development -Written by a non-politically affiliated Educator in the Community At the December 12th, 2024 Berkeley Heights Board of Education (BHBOE) meeting, Acting Superintendent Mr. Richard Nixon presented the 2025-26 school calendar, which was unanimously approved by all Board members. Based on discussion during the meeting and past BHCW...

Analysis: How Are New Jersey Urban Districts Really Holding Up?
I wrote an article comparing seven urban districts for NJ Education Report: [embedpress prefix_nftcreator=’false’ prefix_nftprice=’false’ prefix_nftlastsale=’false’ label_nftbutton=’false’ loadmorelabel=’false’ label_nftrank=’false’ label_nftdetails=’false’ instafeedFollowBtnLabel=’false’ instafeedPostsCountText=’false’ instafeedFollowersCountText=’false’ instafeedPopupFollowBtnLabel=’false’ instafeedLoadmoreLabel=’false’ cPopupButtonText=’false’ adWidth=’false’ adHeight=’false’ adStart=’false’ adSkipButtonAfter=’false’ embedpress_lock_content_error_message=’false’ embedpress_password_placeholder=’false’ embedpress_submit_button_text=’false’ embedpress_submit_Unlocking_text=’false’ embedpress_lock_content_heading=’false’ embedpress_lock_content_sub_heading=’false’ embedpress_lock_content_footer_message=’false’ embedpress_pro_embeded_source=’default’ instafeedFeedType=’false’ instafeedAccountType=’false’ embedpress_pro_embeded_nft_type=’false’ embedpress_embeded_link=’false’ embedpress_audio_video_auto_pause=’false’ spotify_theme=’false’ emberpress_custom_player=’false’ custom_payer_preset=’false’ embedpress_pro_video_start_time=’false’ embedpress_pro_youtube_end_time=’false’ embedpress_player_color=’false’ embedpress_pro_vimeo_auto_play=’false’ embedpress_pro_vimeo_autopause=’false’ embedpress_pro_vimeo_dnt=’false’ embedpress_pro_youtube_auto_play=’false’ embedpress_pro_youtube_display_controls=’false’ embedpress_pro_youtube_enable_fullscreen_button=’false’ embedpress_pro_youtube_display_video_annotations=’false’ embedpress_pro_youtube_progress_bar_color=’false’ embedpress_pro_youtube_force_closed_captions=’false’ embedpress_pro_youtube_modest_branding=’false’ embepress_player_restart=’false’...

Mathematics History and Learning Its Lessons – Part One
The first in a series that every Parent, Student and Educator Can Read to Better Understand the Current American Math Problem and Concerns about “Flipped Classroom”. I was recently sent a link to a comprehensive article about the history of mathematics in the United States. Despite being titled ‘A Brief History of American K-12 Mathematics Education in the 20th Century‘, the...

Spring 2024 NJSLA Scores: How Did the 7-District Dashboard Perform?
Berkeley Heights has some strengths, some weaknesses; moved forward to middle-of-pack with neighboring districts NJ.com recently published an article on the release of spring 2024 New Jersey State Learning Assessment (NJSLA) results. According to the article, math and ELA scores ranged from 650 to 850, with a score of 750, equating to students meeting grade level expectations and a score...

How Berkeley Heights Elementary Schools Fared on the US News & World Report 2025 Rankings
Spoiler Alert: Not Great It’s important to note that these rankings are based on 2021-2022 proficiency scores—a period marked by upheaval due to the previous Board of Education (BOE) and administration’s decision to push through a chaotic reconfiguration of our schools. While US News & World Report relies on year-old data, we have already reported updated proficiency scores for 2022-2023,...