Page 69 - MMP-N-NJ CCN 21st Century School Nurse Leadership Book

Why is this important?

The New Jersey Department of Education supports the position that all individuals providing
services for students should be highly qualified to ensure that all students have the best teachers
possible (State of New Jersey Department of Education, 2014a). To ensure that the knowledge
and skills needed by the school nurse to provide the highest quality and safe care possible to
the school community, clinical supervision is essential. Many school nurses report that they
are not evaluated or supervised by an individual who can ensure the highest level of clinical
and professional competency (Mangena & Maughan, 2015). It is the position of the National
Association of School Nurses (NASN, 2013) that school nurses “. . . be clinically supervised
and evaluated by a registered nurse knowledgeable of the scope and standards of practice for
school nursing.”

Competence must first be evaluated using a self-evaluation process. Next nurse colleagues and
nurses in the role of supervisor, coach, mentor or preceptor assess the clinical competence. Other
aspects such as interpersonal and communication skills, team collaboration and networking and
classroom teaching may be evaluated by professional colleagues, administrators and others.
Evaluation should then guide future professional development (adapted from ANA & NASN,
2017, p. 16).

U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Education. (2017). Teacher evaluation. Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov/
labor-management-collaboration/conference/teacher-evaluation

NJ Department of Education
State of New Jersey Department of Education. (n.d.). Student growth objectives (SGOs).
Retrieved from http://www.state.nj.us/education/AchieveNJ/teacher/objectives.shtml

State of New Jersey Department of Education. (n.d.). Evaluation of other educators. Retrieved
from http://www.state.nj.us/education/AchieveNJ/other/

State of New Jersey Department of Education. (n.d.). N.J.A.C. 6A:9, Professional Standards.
Retrieved from http://www.state.nj.us/education/code/current/title6a/chap9.pdf

State of New Jersey Department of Education. (n.d.). School health services. Retrieved from
http://www.nj.gov/education/students/safety/health/services/

State of New Jersey Department of Education. (n.d.). Keeping our kids safe, healthy and in
school: Student support services. Retrieved from http://www.nj.gov/education/students/
safety/behavior/support/

64