Earlier today, it was reported that NJ's schools are now required to self-assess and report back to the State on their scores documenting their efforts to follow procedures in handling bullying incidents.
Sure, it's easy to castigate this scoring system for bullying incidents, considering that the schools are grading themselves (and that's certainly problematic).
But I also think there is a tremendous boon for the students and parent body with this exercise.
First, by forcing the schools to go through the step by step scoring, it reinforces the procedural steps that the schools need to take in handling bullying.
Second - and in my view, here's the best part - the state officials acknowledge that this exercise is not expected to stamp out bullying; rather, it is intended to gauge how well the schools are responding to complaints and incidents involving bullying.
