Educators in New Jersey are wondering where to go from here after disappointing standardized test scores.
Eighth grade reading scores have not recovered since 2019, and Paula White of the education nonprofit JerseyCAN says 4th grade scores were nothing to celebrate either.
“Our 4th grade reading scores show that 38% of the students in the state of New Jersey, the sample, the representative sample, 38% are proficient, and that’s just far from good enough,” she said.
White said that among socioeconomically disadvantaged students, 21% of 4th graders are reading at grade level compared to 38% overall. She said the situation in math is similar, with 23% of disadvantaged 4th graders performing at grade level, while the figure for all 4th graders was double that.
“From a socioeconomic standpoint our math scores are not where they need to be so when we parse it out by students who are economically disadvantaged we are not seeing good results at all and we’re very concerned about that,” she said.
In Newark, different test results released in December show very few students performing at grade level.
“The reality of the situation is we’re not seeing scores where they need to be and the chronic absenteeism leaves a lot to be desired, in fact I’m surprised that it’s that low, I’m looking at what is indicated here, about 12%,” she said.
Those tests showed 70% of students in grades 3 to 9 in Newark failed to meet reading standards and 82% didn’t meet math benchmarks.