The Harrison Township School Disctrict Board of Education reviewed the township’s New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) at the latest board of education meeting on October 26.
At the start of the meeting, the township’s chief academic officer, Lisa Heenan, shared a presentation with the board and public attendees reviewing the results of the township, county and state. The results were individually measured and compared to previous years.
The assessments were conducted virtually statewide in Spring 2026. Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, the English language arts (ELA) and math assessments shifted to be administered in an adaptive format, meaning the questions online will either produce increasingly more difficult or easier questions based on how a student performs on previous questions. This is intended to measure student proficiency with each grade’s skills and concepts.
Harrison Township’s data includes ELA and math results from grades 3 through 6 and science results from grade 5. Science testing did not switch to an adaptive format.
For ELA and math, proficiency levels were measured on a scale of Level 1, being Did Not Meet Expectations, to Level 5, being Exceeded Expectations. Heenan said in her presentation, Level 4 (Met Expectations) and Level 5 were represented as a combined percentage of students whose scores were considered proficient.
For science, performance levels were measured on a scale of Level 1, being Below Proficient, to Level 4, being Advanced Proficiency. Level 1 represents scores of 100-149 and Level 4 represents scores of 243-300.
In ELA, the 2026 proficiency scores were 63% in grade 3, 64% in grade 4 and 74% in grades 5 and 6. Grade 3 made a net gain of 4%, grade 4 lost 10%, grade 5 gained 2% and grade 6 gained 1%, leaving the overall district with a drop of 1% from the previous year. The gain and drop is compared to the same grade each year, not the cohort or graduating class as it moves through each grade.
“Obviously, an area of concern is that drop 10% (from grade 4). But I also want to note that they’re different students. So that same group of students is at 64% proficient. It was 59% last year. So although the grade level dropped, the students increased,” Heenan said. “Students who are in the cohort are either stable or moving up.”
Heenan said she was concerned with the 10% decrease. However, she noted that 80% of the school districts in New Jersey saw a decline in grade 4 ELA, so it is an issue beyond Harrison Township.
In math, students exhibited higher growth than they did in ELA.
The 2026 proficiency scores were 75% in grade 3, 74% in grade 4, 78% in grade 5 and 74% in grade 6. Grade 3 increased by 5%, grade 4 remained stable with no increase or decrease, grade 5 increased by 7% and grade 6 increased “most significantly” by 15%.
“I actually talked to our county peers, (and I asked), ‘Hey, was the test a little easier? Did you see growth in sixth grade?’ (But) it is unique to Harrison Township, which means we were doing something,” Heenan said. “We did put in a lot of work all over mathematics, but specifically in grade 6, because our proficiency level has been pretty low, and that’s a state trend. As kids get higher in mathematics, the proficiency goes down.”
The overall district increased in math by 7%, landing with an average score of 75%.
For science, which only tested Harrison Township students in grade 5, the proficiency score was 39%, and there was a 4% decrease from last year’s grade 5 class.
“These scores are a lot lower (than ELA and math),” Heenan said. “We are still trying to figure out (the reason for the decline) as a state, including with the state and county representatives. There are a few reasons why they believe science is so low.”
“First of all, they are not standards in grade levels or grade bands (for science). So you can pick anything in the grade band from 5 to 8 to teach students, for example, so you don’t really know what they’re going to get on the test in grade 5. So districts are not consistent,” Heenan said.
Superintendent Missy Peretti said after Heenan’s presentation that the district is “more than proud of the performance of the students, the works of the students, and the improvement the students are seeing again.”
Peretti said the district supported its teachers and curriculum development, which has had positive influence on the students and their performances.
The students will take the NJSLA again this spring.
Towards the end of the meeting, the board rediscussed the facilities referendum that was voted against at the August board of education meeting.
The $56 million facilities referendum and its bond proposal were voted on how the proposal would be worded and placed on the ballot for the upcoming November 3 election. The board’s vote on how the proposal will be worded and placed on the fall ballot ended in a tie, as one board member, Janette Coslop, was absent and left the board with only eight voting members. Because of the board’s decision, the referendum will not be part of this fall’s election. It will likely be pushed to the fall 2027 election or a special election.
After discussion on where each of the board members feel they are at with the status of the referendum and additional information they would like to see before moving forward on another plan, the board said it can begin to dedicate time at each future board of education meeting to specifically discuss the referendum in front of the public.
The next Harrison Township School District Board of Education meeting will be on November 23 at 7 p.m. in the Pleasant Valley School music room.
