Ed. Note: This is an update from John Migueis, administrator of the municipal and state platform NJ21st.com, regarding the New Jersey Department of Education’s decision in August to change the state’s standardized assessments from one vendor’s summative testing to another vendor’s adaptive testing.  (The Center for Assessment explains summative assessments “give every student a predetermined set of items, whereas adaptive assessments give students different items by adjusting difficulty based on whether they answer correctly or incorrectly.”) This change from summative to adaptive felt rushed to many NJ school leaders; said one, “The problem is it’s just so fast and a surprise.”

A number of questions remain unanswered and this past November Migueis asked then-Commissioner Kevin Dehmer to release the documentation that explains how schools will now be measured and how results will remain comparable to previous years. This is important: One of the primary roles of the DOE is to track student performance outcomes over time and it is unclear to many whether results from the new tests will be comparable to the old tests. According to Migueis, the DOE has not yet responded to his questions about this, even though he has made his requests to the Open Public Records custodian. Today he notes, “the DOE responded they were no longer going to respond to me.”

He then replied to the DOE by citing this regulation: “h. Any officer or employee of a public agency who receives a request for access to a government record shall forward the request to the custodian of the record or direct the requestor to the custodian of the record. The request shall not be considered submitted until it is received by the custodian of records.”
https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-47/section-47-1a-5/

Here is his most recent update (full series here) on how and/or whether NJ will be able to track student proficiency levels over time, as well as additional questions that remain unanswered.

After more than two months of emails and records requests between NJ21st and the NJ DOE, the New Jersey Department of Education says the specific technical records we requested explaining how adaptive test scores are calculated, checked for accuracy, or compared to prior tests in connection with the State’s transition to adaptive testing are not made or maintained by the DOE or its contractors.

While the back and forth with the DOE started last summer, our exchange on specific records began in December 2025 and triggered multiple responses, clarifications, and modifications through this February.

The Department’s position is narrow: the specific records requested by NJ21st are not made or maintained by the Department or its contractors at this time. We wrote back to the DOE asking them to forward the request to the appropriate custodian.

If the “secure platform for housing and sharing all project documents” required by Appendix L has been active since April 2025, it’s difficult to understand the DOE’s claim that the records we asked for were not made or maintained.

What We Asked For

In our OPRA request – and many subsequent clarifications – we asked for records that would show us how the adaptive test scores would be calculated and verified along with any evidence connected to ESSA accountability compliance. Some examples of what we asked for included…

-Technical manuals that would show us how the adaptive testing system works
-Studies that address comparability with prior tests
-Records addressing ESSA compliance and accountability use

These would help explain how assessment scores are generated, how results are checked for accuracy and how statewide accountability results are interpreted.

To be absolutely certain that I was reading this correctly I sent the following email:

“To ensure I understand the Department’s position correctly, your letter states that the technical validation records requested “have not yet been developed.”

Given that NJDOE has already implemented the adaptive testing model and previously procured and funded technical validation services, I would like to clarify:

Is the Department stating that the statewide assessment and accountability framework is currently in operation before the Department has received the completed technical validation work it commissioned, including the technical report and related validation analyses?

If that is not the Department’s position, please clarify:

Whether any interim, draft, preliminary, or partial validation materials exist;

Whether any Technical Advisory Committee materials, memoranda, or presentations have been provided to NJDOE;

Whether NJDOE has relied on any such materials in implementing or certifying the system for ESSA accountability.

This would be easier if Mr. Dehmer simply responded with the materials I asked him for.

Thank you for your clarification.”

In other words, we gave the DOE yet another opportunity to answer a set of questions we’ve been asking since August.

What We Got

Documents produced through the same OPRA request include procurement records for the statewide testing program that included a technical score analysis, research activities, standard‑setting panels, statistical item review and technical reporting related to test performance and scoring.

Essentially, they described the structure of the testing program, the work the vendor proposed to perform, and the types of analysis and reporting the system is designed to generate. They did not include studies, manuals, score comparison studies or documents that explained how the adaptive scoring system is calculated and verified.

In response to my last attempt to verify that the DOE was not in possession of these items, the response I received back from the state:

“Mr. Migueis,

The Department’s response to OPRA requests address only the records sought in those requests and should not be considered a statement of the Department’s position on any particular matter.  Your email requesting that the Department explain its response to your request seeks only information, rather than records, and is therefore beyond the scope of OPRA.  The original response to request C244214, denying your request for “adaptive testing technical materials,” remains the Department’s response, as the specific records identified in that portion of your request (technical manuals for adaptive ELA and Math, item-selection specifications, scale-score construction details, standard errors, linking or equating studies, documentation showing how adaptive scores remain comparable to fixed-form NJSLA tests, and any ESSA compliance materials) are not made or maintained by either the DOE or any contractor or vendor.  Please note that if such documents were maintained in draft form, the response would have indicated that.

As the development of assessments and related materials is an ongoing process, please feel free to file a new request at any time, and we will respond based on any records that may exist at that time.”

Why Should You Care?

When a state changes its testing system the public normally expects documentation showing that the new scores still mean the same thing as the old ones so they can understand whether…

–The scores from the new test be compared to prior years
-That schools are evaluated using the same standards
-That subgroup results still measure progress the same way as before

The response we got from the DOE indicates they paid for this work and the housing for it was built a year ago but…….the Department and the folks they’re paying don’t have them?

So this leaves us with an important question –

How can a state-funded high-stakes testing system transformation have a contractor, a psychometric team, and a secure platform, but – according to the DOE-not a single responsive record of the kind we asked for in the agency’s possession nearly a year into the work?

So the questions really point to one or more conclusions out of a concerning list…

1. They don’t exist at all.
2. They exist but the DOE is not being open about where they are or who has custody of them.
3. NJ21st does not have the necessary archaeological or forensic expertise necessary to locate them.

In one final attempt I sent another email asking the DOE to forward the request to the appropriate custodian in the event the records were being held somewhere else – because the Department’s response is that hard to believe.

Since our first report on these issues the DOE has put out more schedules, FAQs, training materials and information about the new assessments, but we couldn’t find an update that answers our questions about comparability, score verification, or shows how the new results connect to prior statewide tests.

Link to DOE Documents Obtained Through OPRA (zip)