Newark Superintendent Sets AP Growth, New Programs

Superintendent Roger León has set goals for Newark Public Schools' 2026-2027 academic year, focusing on improving student achievement, literacy, and enrollment in advanced classes. He shared these plans during the annual school board retreat on Saturday, two weeks before students return.

This school year marks the seventh year of León's ten-year strategy, "The Next Decade: 2020-2030." The district reports improvements in graduation rates and enrollment, but reading and math scores continue to lag behind statewide averages. The strategic plan has six priorities with specific actions and benchmarks, assessed at five checkpoints over the decade.

Key Initiatives for the Coming Year

The district will expand several key programs. The "B4K" or before kindergarten initiative prepares pre-K students for kindergarten and will continue on Saturdays with volunteer high schoolers mentoring 3- and 4-year-olds in ballet, soccer, basketball, and STEM. León said the program is based on research that children learn to read before third grade so they can read to learn afterward.

A major push will increase enrollment in AP Seminar, an English course for sophomores. León stated that 97% of sophomores who take the course pass the state's English language arts test the following year. The district will also add new college-level courses and a public safety program.

Integrating Writing and Speaking

Writing is already part of every subject, and fourth graders take a writing assessment. This year, the district will introduce public speaking practices as early as third grade and build it into curriculum reviews across all grades. Students in grades six through twelve will get more writing and speaking opportunities in all subjects, with a new speaking assessment introduced in eighth grade.

León emphasized that these efforts are part of integrating AI into classrooms and ensuring students have strong communication skills.

A Model for Other Districts

Newark is working with the John C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at Rutgers University Newark to study its ten-year plan. The goal, according to León, is for larger districts to draw intervention strategies from Newark's approach and for smaller districts to see "how you can actually improve your district."He said Newark's wards are comparable to other New Jersey districts, like Camden and Union City, making its strategies potentially useful elsewhere."uniformity of message." He argued the superintendent's goals can lose precision moving down the chain of command.

Abeigon said the current structure "hinders effective communication" with teachers, comparing the information flow to a game of telephone where each leadership layer interprets it differently. "In 60 different schools, you get 60 different messages,"he stated. The union's priorities include continuing teacher-led collaboration through the School Leadership Council, established in the 2024 collective bargaining agreement."resource providers" for teachers rather than just giving orders.

The district's latest push includes programs like Saturday school and before- and after-school tutoring, which leaders say have helped Newark students recover academically faster than most. However, the latest state test scores indicate ongoing support is needed, according to the source report from Chalkbeat Newark.