The Board of Education approved on August 21, 2024, the temporary extension of the “Paterson - A Promising Tomorrow, 2019-2024 Strategic Plan” through December 31, 2024, to complete development of the new Strategic Plan with the Board of Education and Hazzard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA), and allowing Sufficient time to incorporate the results of the work being done by HYA.

Paterson is a city of transformation. At its center is the natural wonder of The Great Falls which is itself a symbol of transformation. It is where the potential energy that lies within the Passaic River’s waters dramatically transforms into kinetic energy. It is where Alexander Hamilton envisioned harnessing that energy to transform the city into an industrial powerhouse.

It should not be surprising that in this same city, the Paterson Public School district has gone through a transformation of its own.

Nearly three decades ago, the school district was taken over by the State of New Jersey. The act was in response to mismanagement of public resources and failure to properly educate the children of Paterson. A significant number of educators and families who can remember when the state takeover began are still living and working in Paterson today.

When the state authorities took over Paterson Public Schools, cost-cutting was a top priority, and many programs were discontinued. Most notably, art and music programs were removed from many of the district’s elementary schools. The emphasis was on a back-to basics return to the core curriculum, leaving the students with an education that was not thorough and efficient.

A succession of state-appointed district superintendents, many of whom were from out of state, provided a brand of educational leadership that was more connected to bureaucrats in Trenton than the people of Paterson. However, it was during the later years of the state takeover when the seeds were sown that would lead to the transformation of Paterson Public Schools.

In 2009, the people of Paterson and the professionals working for the school district developed their own vision for a better school district. Keeping their focus on Paterson students, they wrote a five-year strategic plan called Bright Futures. At the time, the district’s graduation rate was 46 percent. Five years later, a second strategic plan was unveiled to build on the groundwork of the first. It was simply dubbed, Brighter Futures.

After 10 years of concerted planning, Paterson Public Schools has achieved remarkable transformations. The graduation rate is 84.8 percent, nearly double what it was in 2009. More Paterson graduates are going to college and more elementary school students are reading on grade level. Chronic absenteeism is down throughout the district with the latest district-wide student attendance rate being 92 percent.

Meanwhile, test scores have been increasing. Of the nine grades that took the PARCC exam in the 2017-2018 school year, six showed higher scores in math and eight showed higher scores in English Language Arts.

But what is perhaps even more striking about the Paterson Public School District today is the academic opportunities that are now available to Paterson students.

In June, the district graduated its first International Baccalaureate (IB) students from International High School, the only school in Passaic County and one of only 15 schools in the State of New Jersey that has the highly competitive, world-renowned program.

In September, the district will launch the new Pathways in Technology and Early College High School (P-TECH) at PANTHER Academy with the help of partnerships with the N.J. Department of Education, Passaic County Community College and the IBM Corporation. Students will graduate with a high school diploma, an Associate of Applied Science Degree, and skills to either complete a bachelor’s degree or begin working in a STEM industry.

Throughout the Paterson Public School District, students have a variety of career pathways to choose from through its growing Career and Technical Education programs.

Other groundbreaking initiatives to provide more opportunities for students to achieve academic excellence include:

• Enrolling more high school students in Advanced Placement (AP) and dual enrollment classes to earn college credits  
• Preparing more high school seniors to attain the state’s Seal of Biliteracy, certifying that they are highly proficient in two languages  
• Participating in Students-2-Science, a program that encourages elementary and high school students to pursue STEM careers through hands-on laboratory experiences  
• Co-hosting a High School Science Symposium with Ramapo College where students interact with higher education partners and district alumni currently working in STEM fields  
• Launching seven Career Technical Education (CTE) programs in 2017-2018, with five more to be launched in September  
• Establishing seven federally-funded Full Service Community Schools (FSCS) that provide academic support and intervention opportunities, in addition to other health services  
• Instituting a campaign to combat chronic absenteeism  
• Launching an aggressive K-5 reading program that includes students maintaining home reading logs, and a contest for students to read 50 books in a school year  
• Promoting positive school cultures through restorative justice techniques, and deputizing elementary and middle school students in a Junior School Safety Patrol

While no Paterson Public Schools educator would presume that the job of improving the district is complete, it cannot be denied that the district has been transformed. The district is providing better education and services. Students are improving and realizing the brighter futures that were envisioned during the past 10 years.

The new strategic plan in this report is an integral part of a very significant transformation for Paterson Public Schools: the transformation of a district that has been run by the state for nearly three decades to one that is locally controlled. The development of a new five-year strategic plan approved by the Paterson Board of Education is one of the core requirements in the transition plan for the restoration of local control to the district in 2020. The strategic plan in this report was approved by the Board of Education on June 20, 2019.

The strategic plan contained in these pages is unique from the two previous plans. Not only does it provide ways to continue the district’s efforts to prepare every Paterson Public Schools student for college and career, but it also is a major step forward in restoring the voices of Paterson families in the decisions made about the education of the young people in the City of Paterson.  

Guided by the principle of “Preparing All Children for College and Career,” the Paterson Public School District is working to draw out the true potential within every student to become lifelong learners and 21st century leaders in their communities, their nation, and the world. With more than 40 languages spoken in its classrooms, the Paterson Public School District is among the most diverse in the state. The 2018-2019 total district enrollment was 24,987 students, which includes 24,151 students in kindergarten to 12th grade plus 683 pre-kindergarten students and 153 adult school students. An additional 2,888 pre-K students are educated through partnerships with pre-K community providers.

The Paterson Public School District has been under state control since 1991. On May 2, 2018, the New Jersey Board of Education approved a resolution to put the district on a path to local control. This followed the restoration of local control in specific aspects of the district including operations, personnel and fiscal management. Prior to the state board’s decision, a Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) review noted that improvements had been made in the areas of instruction & program and governance. All five QSAC areas achieved a score of 80 percent or above.

With the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) in place, all Paterson students are eligible to receive breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack at no cost to them. The district provides special education services for 3,925 students and bilingual/ESL services for 4,827 English Language Learners (ELL).

The student population in Paterson Public Schools mirrors the trend of urban communities across the nation and in New Jersey. About 66.9 percent of its students are of Hispanic origin, 22.2 percent are African American, 5.6 percent are of Asian descent, and 5.0 percent are Caucasian. Nearly 57 percent of all students in Paterson speak a primary language other than English. The rich diversity in the district is an educational asset. It enables students to learn firsthand about other cultures and develop an appreciation for cultural similarities and differences as they prepare for success in a multicultural world.