The Jersey City, New Jersey Public School District has been named as a finalist for the 2006 Broad Prize for Urban Education. The District’s leaders are to be commended, not only for developing a vision of quality education, but also for having the fortitude and perseverance they have shown in pursuing that vision and making it come to pass against the great odds that urban educators face.

Our company has been privileged to be directly involved with mathematics instruction in the Jersey City schools since 2001 when the principal of PS#17—Joseph A. Bresenger Elementary, one of the lowest performing schools in the district, invited us to help her and the teachers in that building improve student achievement in mathematics.  In part because of the success of that program, we were awarded a contract to provide a program designed to “change the culture of teaching mathematics” in the district.

While we are confident that our program, Communicator Mathematics™, the board-adopted core mathematics program for grades 3 through 6 and its related special education component, the Content Series, are appropriate to address the educational needs of the Jersey City students, we also know that the LLTeach Inc. cadre of experienced and highly trained teachers who serve as mathematics coaches in the district is also a key factor in the program’s success.

No entity could be more pleased than we are that the results of the New Jersey statewide tests have shown dramatic improvement in students’ mathematics skills and knowledge, and we are especially gratified that African American, bilingual and special education students in particular have shown significant improvement in mathematics performance.

News Release! Jersey City School District Named 2006 Finalist for $1 Million Broad Prize. Read about it here. (PDF)