BY CATHERINE CARRERA
NJ Spotlight
One-quarter of New Jersey’s rising high school seniors did not meet proficiency levels in reading, and roughly 40% did not in mathematics, according to preliminary results from the spring’s state-mandated Class of 2027 graduation exams.
Those rates show a decline in reading proficiency and an increase in math from last year, when 11th graders took the former version of the exam that was used since 2022. New Jersey has required students to pass such tests since 1979.
State education leaders warned against comparing results from prior years due to a revamp of the statewide assessments and standards. It is a warning that signals tracking changes in reading and math proficiency after the pandemic could get misrepresented.
In the spring, 11th graders took the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment-Adaptive.
Though the assessment kept a name similar to its prior version, it was overhauled and modernized. It marked a shift to “adaptive” testing, where the questions’ difficulty adjusts based on a student’s answers. Formerly the format was fixed-form testing, which gives each student the same set of questions.
If a student answers correctly, the software, from testing company Cambium Assessment, provides more challenging questions. If a student answers incorrectly, the questions adjust to an easier level. Both adjustments are a way to keep students engaged, state education leaders have said.
The adaptive approach more precisely measures a student’s achievement level, said Lisa Haberl, executive director of teaching and learning at the New Jersey Department of Education.
“Because several changes occurred simultaneously, differences in graduation-ready rates should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that student achievement has improved or declined,” Haberl said at the state Board of Education meeting on Aug. 5. “Some of the differences may reflect changes in how student performance is measured and evaluated.”
Ready or not
The state school board last week adopted new minimum scores to indicate graduation readiness on the NJGPA-A, the acronym for the new version of the required exit exam.
Students’ scores can fall into one of two performance levels: not yet graduation-ready or graduation-ready. The numerical score ranges from 300-650 for English and math.
For both components, the board adopted a “cut” score of 450, the minimum to indicate that a student shows knowledge, skills and abilities that reflect graduation readiness based on the state Student Learning Standards in English Language Arts and Math, which were updated in 2023.
The 450 cut score was based on a recommendation from a panel of 30 educators who over a month worked over multiple sessions with the state Education Department on a standard-setting process, Haberl said.
The educators on the panel represented every region of the state and came from a mix of urban, suburban and rural school districts with varied areas of expertise and backgrounds.
‘New baseline’
Based on the newly adopted cut scores, 75.1% of students who took the NJGPA-A English language arts component in the spring achieved graduation readiness, said John Boczany, director of assessments at the New Jersey Department of Education.
In the English language arts part of last year’s exam administered to the Class of 2026 last spring, 81.3% achieved graduation readiness.
While the 75.1% this year is lower than 81.3% last year, “these results are not directly comparable due to the substantial changes to the assessment, standards and performance level descriptors,” Boczany said.
Last year’s version of the high school exit test used outdated standards to practice graduation readiness, as did prior ones administered since 2022, Boczany said at the board meeting last week. Those tests were using standards from the era of Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, which the state stopped using in 2018.
The same goes for the math component.
On that test, 60.3% of students met graduation-ready proficiency, according to the preliminary results the state Education Department provided last week. About 58.5% of students from the Class of 2026 achieved graduation readiness in spring 2025.
“Because this is a new assessment aligned to updated standards and administered using an adaptive testing model, the resulting graduation-ready rate should be viewed as establishing a new baseline for future years,” Boczany said.
Alternative pathways
The state Education Department released a specific timeline for schools and families to expect individual student results for the test.
Districts received digital results on Aug. 17 and paper hard copies by Sept. 4. Districts then have until Oct. 5 to send a copy of those results to students’ families.
For the students who did not meet readiness in the assessment, which is a requirement to graduate, the state has three alternative pathways to meet that mandate.
Students can retake the test during the fall administration of the exam, which is scheduled for Oct. 13-28.
In prior years, results for this exam were distributed to school districts in June, giving students more time to decide what other pathway they would take if they did not meet the minimum proficiency score.
Students could also instead take other assessments to replace the NJGPA-A, which includes the ACT, PSAT and SAT reading and math sections, among other options.
There is also a portfolio pathway, which starts in January and asks students to submit work that meets specific criteria in English language arts and math that shows they are ready to graduate.
New Jersey has required a high school exit exam since 1979, and it remains one of just 11 states that continue to do so.
Lawmakers have tried to end the requirement year after year, without traction. Proponents of the exam say it’s a key data point to measure how proficient students are in reading and math prior to leaving the public school system, while critics argue, among other reasons, that it becomes another hurdle to graduation.
