The New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning (NJCTL) is an independent nonprofit organization focused on expanding access to science, mathematics, and computer science. Founded by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) in 2007 and licensed as a New Jersey Graduate School of Education in 2020, their goal is to reduce teacher stress, help improve student outcomes, and create a scalable solution to remedy the STEM crisis.

In 1999, NJCTL’s Executive Director, Robert Goodman left a successful business career to start a pre-engineering program at a full-time vocational school. Here, he implemented a new pedagogy consisting of direct instruction and social constructivism, leading to his students finding a new love for science and mathematics. In 2005, the school was ranked #1 in the state for taking and passing AP Physics. NJCTL began in 2006 when Goodman became a founding board member after the New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) and NJEA asked him to extend his work to students and teachers everywhere in New Jersey.

NJCTL expanded with Goodman’s innovative pedagogy, leading to the development of courses and materials for teachers in chemistry, biology, mathematics, science, and computer science. By eliminating the need for traditional textbooks, lesson plans, and exam writing, this approach significantly reduced the workload on teachers, allowing them to concentrate fully on educating the students.

In 2009, recognizing a shortage of physics teachers, NJCTL launched a one-year program to train current teachers in high school and AP-level Physics. This initiative intended to address the imbalance by equipping teachers with the skills needed to become physics instructors. The success of this program later led to its expansion into other subject areas.

While NJCTL’s endorsement programs were more effective and efficient than traditional higher education, teachers still had to dedicate many hours in a classroom. Goodman mentioned in an interview that “a lot of people who wanted to be teachers in physics or chemistry or mathematics and so forth couldn’t do it because of the face-to-face model we were using.”

By 2014, it was clear that the only way to make their courses available for teachers with careers and busy lives was to move them online, but they needed a way to ensure academic integrity and honesty. Goodman pondered, “‘How are we going to assess students?’ and ‘How do we know who’s taking the test?’”

This is where Proctorio came in. Since using Proctorio, “assessments are completely valid. You can adjust your settings to the needs of your classroom or course for the online work,” said NJCTL Program Manager, Maria Surace.

In 2017, NJCTL courses were fully online and asynchronous, leading to a spread of their programs across twenty-one New Jersey counties. Masters Student, Emily Mamunes loves that “it’s completely online, which is great for me as a teacher because I also coach and have other jobs... Being able to take classes and tests from wherever, as long as I have a camera and a microphone, has been amazing.” With videos, formative assessments, virtual labs, discussion prompts, and proctored module exams among other things, 83% of NJCTL students completed their online courses in under two years, 90% passed their praxis exams, and 93% would recommend the program.

"[A] student we have in our courses right now… is a mom with a son who is just of age to go to pre-K, so instead of staying home with him…, she can now do her online courses, or be a substitute teacher, and sometimes both. When she's taking the proctored tests, she can do it from the comfort of her home while her son's at pre-K or even when he's home! Sometimes she even sends me an email like 'Hey, I just finished the test, but unfortunately [my son] yelled for something partway in the middle... I hope that's okay.' I'm like, 'Sure, it's fine. We're all parents here, we get it!'" - Audra Crist, NJCTL Program Manager

In March 2020, NJCTL received approval as a Graduate School of Education to offer master's degree programs in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. By March 2023, they expanded their offerings to include additional master's degrees in Biology, Elementary Mathematics, and Computer Science. Dean of Faculty at NJCTL, Susan Olszewski noted "People are really happy with being able to take their tests whenever they want. Education is so expensive... We’re able to keep our tuition incredibly low and part of that is because we’re able to do things all online."

Back in 2014, NJCTL worked to bring its face-to-face training to The Gambia in Western Africa, eventually leading to the implementation of these same programs in other African countries (Rwanda, Nigeria, and Niger) wanting to replicate the incredibly positive results.

In 2016, Lesotho launched a new asynchronous online program, which resulted in exam scores that were equal to or higher than those from traditional face-to-face courses. Following the stabilization of the COVID-19 outbreak, Malawi implemented a similar online project. Understanding that bandwidth and internet connectivity are an issue in many parts of Africa, NJCTL pivoted to adjust Proctorio settings, leaving exams open for longer than in U.S. courses and allowing exam re-entry without the assistance of a Proctorio agent, helping those who often lost power or internet during exams.

NJCTL now aims to broaden its impact by offering an expanded range of K-12 and graduate courses, programs, and degrees to teachers across the U.S. They are committed to providing students who lack access to high-quality STEM education with valuable learning opportunities. They’ve learned from mistakes, built upon successes, and were able to expand their impact from just one county in New Jersey to a global scale.