On Friday, the New Jersey Department of Education made the long-awaited decision to release school-by-school results of the spring standardized tests. Supporters hailed this decision as being essential for formulating the best strategies to make up for learning losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Along with Vermont and Maine, New Jersey was one of the final three states to publish its results on its public dashboards, according to the Collaborative for Student Success, which keeps track of when such statistics are made public.
The government had previously been urged to share school-by-school data by a number of activists, lawmakers, and state board of education members. The department announced grade-level results this week after releasing scores to districts and families earlier in the autumn. These results revealed a loss of seven years' worth of academic advancement.
The New Jersey Student Learning Assessments in English/Language Arts for grades 3–9, Math for grades 3–8 plus Geometry and Algebra I and II, and Science for grades 5, 8, and 11 produced the most complete results.
There are five proficiency levels based on the scores. The first three are "approaching expectations," "partially meeting requirements," and "not yet meeting requirements." Levels 4 and 5 have been attained by students who are deemed proficient, "meeting expectations" or "exceeding expectations."
Along with being broken down by gender, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groupings, as well as by special needs and English language learner status, the results are also shown by school, district, and state.
For instance, 52.7% of all pupils scored proficiently in English/Language Arts in the seventh grade. Between students who were economically challenged and those who weren't, there was a 26.4-point difference.
To preserve each student's privacy, the statistics were altered.
The largest teachers organization in the state of New Jersey, the New Jersey Education Association, said that while it's necessary to understand what happened the previous year, deciding on the appropriate course of action is far more crucial.
As the pandemic is ending, a significant educator deficit is threatening to thwart our efforts to recover, he said.
Approximately 100 districts are represented by the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which is led by Betsy Ginsburg. Ginsburg believed that the findings would assist districts focus their efforts on addressing the social and emotional repercussions of delayed learning.
She stated that the test results "should not be exploited in a derogatory or political manner to further demoralize educators and pupils." It's important to keep in mind that test results are, at best, snapshots in time and do not completely capture where our pupils are or will be in the future.
Paula White, the executive director of JerseyCAN, an organization that advocates for public education, described it as a "sobering day for the status of education" in the state, adding that knowledge and transparency are still crucial to guiding the following actions.
Facts still matter, she insisted. "One might be able to slow down the sharing of information, even dump information the Friday before the holiday season." "And while this discussion ought to have begun months ago, the actual job starts tomorrow," the speaker continued.
She said that she and other advocates would work to make education the top priority for the state and "do everything in our power to contribute to the development of a truly all-hands-on-deck plan to address New Jersey's learning crisis."
Results for the ACCESS test for English language learners, the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment tests, which are being evaluated as potential graduation requirements, and the Dynamic Learning Map tests for children with special needs were also made public by the state.
