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NJ student test scores improve, but math lags in some grades

Mixed Marks

By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Four years after the pandemic emergency ended and K-12 performance plunged nationwide, New Jersey's third through eighth graders are finally edging up to be on par with pre-pandemic levels, although they are yet to match their highest performance in nearly a decade.
..... Eighth grade math performance in 2025, hover, still has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The state said that was because eighth grade data left out a small group of top-performing students, bring down overall numbers.
..... Still, New Jersey's elementary and middle school students are generally improving across grades and course, Jordan Schiff, the state's assistant education commissioner, said of the testing results.
..... The state released data about K-12 students' performance on assessments administered in spring 2025, as part of an annual presentation.
..... Graduation readiness in math for 11th graders r4eamins at just 58.5%. Despite an improvement by three percentage points over the past two years, it means that nearly 42% of all New Jersey's high schoolers are not meeting graduation-ready standards for math.
..... The same group of high schoolers performed well in English language arts, with 81% being graduation-ready.
..... Graduation and college readiness are measured by the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment, a test administered to 11th graders.

Improvements in grades 3 through 8

..... English, math and science scores went up in 2025 in nearly all grade levels form third to eighth.
..... Among students in grade three through eight who took the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments, 53% met or exceeded expectations in English in 2025, compared with 52% in 2016.
..... Nearly 42% of students met expectations in math, compared with 42% in 2016. Nearly 27% were proficient in science in 2025, compared with 25% in 2019, when testing began.

Performance gaps

..... Black and Hispanic students in grades 3 through 8 are still performing far below Asian and White students, but they showed a 1.6% improvement over-all this year, [2025] better than the all-student group average.
..... Math performance gaps are the highest at 55% between Asian students and Black and Hispanic students, but the latter group also improved by 2 percentage points this year. [2025]
..... The performance gap in English was 43.4%.
..... Similar gaps continue to exist for disadvantaged students. Only 19% of the lowers-performing group - students with disabilities - met English language expectations, compared with 54% of all students.
..... Gaps in math and science performance were also significantly high when comparing all students to students with disabilities, non-English speakers and low-income students
..... "We need to remain laser-focused" on addressing these gaps, said Kevin Dehmer, commissioner of the state Education Department.

Only 27% of students proficient in science

..... Performance on science was "well and math, said Schiff, the assistant commissioner, even though 2025 saw the best performance in science over the past four years.
..... Only 27% of New Jersey's lower-to-middle-grade students were proficient in science compared with 40.6% in math and 52% in English language arts in 2025.
.....This was likely due to the state's "major change" in instructional and curricular standards in 2022, shifting from rote-learning to applying "science and engineering practices to further understanding of new and novel phenomenon," Schiff said.
..... Training sickness teachers in the new standards is a priority for the state, Schiff said.

Eight grade math lagging

..... Eighth grade scores on the NJSLA continued to lag in 2025 compared with 2016. Despite claiming for four years, the number of students meeting expectations are still far below pre-pandemic levels.
..... Eight graders enrolled in advanced math showed extremely high performance in 2025; they represent 30% of the total students enrolled in math in grade 8.
..... The remaining 70% of eighth graders are still far behind pre-pandemic levels. The state explained hat it was not accurate to compare eight graders' math performance with other grades because the lower number represent only a "subset" of students.
..... Students meeting or exceeding expectations in algebra 2 and geometry were vastly improved in 2025 compared with nine years ago - 80% met or exceeded expectations in algebra 2 in 2025, compare with just 52% in 2016. However, only 21% of the students who were not in advanced math met exploitations in 2025, compared with 26% in 2016.
..... A 2022 federal requirement to test eighth graders taking advanced mathematics classes in algebra and geometry separately from the students who were not in those classes has differentiated kids in advanced math form those who are not.
..... And by excluding students with the prowess to qualify for high math, the changes brought down overall scores for eighth grade.
..... Grade 8's performance on math "cannot be compared to prior grades' because of this requirement, Schiff pointed out.

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