Mr. Andrew Coban
Director of Planning, Research, Evaluation-Coordinator of Educational Technology and Data
Andrew Coban currently serves as Director of Planning, Research, Evaluation-Coordinator of Educational Technology and Data. In previous years, Mr. Coban has served as assistant director, supervisor, vice principal, data coach, teacher leader, and school teacher. Some of his past accomplishments include consecutively ranking among the Top 10 schools in the City of Newark for student growth in mathematics and English language arts as measured by PARCC, leading district-based adoption of curricula, programming, and pedagogical best practices, and coordinating school and district-wide events to foster academic engagement and parental involvement.
In collaboration with the skillful staff and administration, Mr. Coban works incredibly hard to ensure the children of Belleville are receiving a top-notch education by leading strategic and operational initiatives across the district, fostering a learning community among staff in their understanding and application of best practices, and providing inter-departmental supports toward accomplishing a collaborative spirit among administration.
A strong believer in transparency, Mr. Coban ever strives to determine “what works best” within the current trends of teaching, learning, and assessment. At present, some of his beliefs include an emphasis on intentional lesson planning, meaningful data collection, analysis, and usage to drive classroom instruction and decision-making, and the building of authentic relationships between staff and students. He has also begun exploring the role of artificial intelligence in education, which has grown in popularity with the origination of ChatGPT.
Mr. Coban earned his bachelor’s degree and Master of Arts from Rutgers University, and completed his Master of Education at the Teachers College of Columbia University. He continues his education by participating in formal professional development opportunities and also through self-study. Mr. Coban has been published in Childhood Education: Innovations (Routledge) and selected to present at various conferences including NJPSA, FEA, and AMTNJ. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and time outdoors with his wife and two sons.