Today the New Jersey Department of Education publicly disclosed results from the 2024-2025 assessments called NJ Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA), nine months after we measured student proficiency in math, English Language Arts (reading), and science. DOE staffers also presented results from the 11th grade test called NJGPA that signifies “high school graduation readiness,” as well as two additional assessments: ACCESS for ELLs and Dynamic Learning Maps.

Commissioner Kevin Dehmer described the results as a “critical tool for guiding next steps where additional support is needed” and a “valuable datapoint for continuous improvement…Together we will use this information to ensure all students in NJ are prepared for school and life.”

Big picture: students showed marginal improvements from last year but we’re still below pre-pandemic levels. That’s despite an infusion of $2.6 billion in Covid relief funds from the federal government. 

Here is a summary of the results from today’s meeting, which were presented on a timeline from 2016-2025 (exception: 2020-2021 due to Covid closures) that allows us to spot trends. After that are a few take-aways. Note of caution: Over this last decade, NJ has changed tests as well as cut scores for “proficiency.” Additionally, we’re switching to new tests this year which may or may not make comparability difficult. However, we can still spot both positive and negative shifts in how well the state as a whole is educating students, especially in the wake of  pandemic school closures.

ELA: 3rd-9th Grade:

We peaked in 2019 when 57% of students achieved proficiency.  Last spring 53% were labeled “proficient,” up one percentage point from last year.

Math: 3rd-8th Grade and Algebra 1:

We peaked in 2018 when 45.6% of students achieved proficiency. Last spring 40.6% of students met the benchmark, about 2 points higher than last year.

In other words, we have yet to regain ground lost from school closures in both reading and math.

Proficiency levels from 2024-2025 in ELA compared to 2023-2024:

• Grade 3: 45%, up one point
• Grade 4: 54%, up two points
• Grade 5: 53%, up one point
• Grade 6: 56%, up three points
• Grade 7: 57%, up three points
• Grade 8: 57%, up four points
• Grade 9: 50%, down eight points

Proficiency levels from 2024-2025 in math compared to 2023-2024:

• Grade 3: 50%, up two points
• Grade 4: 47%, up two points
• Grade 5: 44%, up four points
• Grade 6: 40%, up four points
• Grade 7: 39%, up one point
• Grade 8: 21%, up two points 
• Algebra 1: 38%, down two points

*Note: math scores in 8th and 9th grade tend to be wonky because students take different courses and tests.

Science scores are low. 30% of 5th graders, 19% of 8th graders, and 31% of 11th graders reached proficiency. (These tests are given in three grades.) The DOE pointed out students are now tested on “next-generation science standards” that require less rote memorization and more critical thinking.

Achievement Gaps:

In ELA, our achievement gap between our highest and lowest performing students is 43.4 points. Over eighty percent of Asian students reached proficiency in reading; only 37% of Black students did. The gap is two points lower than the previous year, perhaps because Asian student scores were the same, compared to a marginal increase for Black students. Sixty-three percent of white students were proficient in ELA; just under 39% of Hispanic students were proficient and slightly fewer low-income students reached that level. 

In math, the achievement gap is a disconcerting 55.2% between our highest and lowest performers, a half point larger than last year.

On the 11th grade test called NJGPA, which assesses student proficiency in 10th grade reading and math, 81% of students passed in reading (down one point from last year) and 55.8% passed in math (up three points from last year). Students who don’t pass can submit other tests or portfolios. Everyone gets a diploma signifying “high school graduation readiness.” Previously, before the State Board lowered its definition of proficiency, NJ high school diplomas signified “college and career readiness.” 

Assistant Commissioner Jordan Schiff acknowledged during the presentation, “all groups [divided by ethnicity, income, multilingual learners, students with disabilities, etc.] demonstrated a decrease in proficiency in ELA.” Board members expressed concern.

Takeaways: 

These are just numbers. What do they mean? With small variations, about half of NJ students can read at grade level. Less than half have learned the math skills they need to be successful in the following grade and, given the achievement gaps, the burden on our most disenfranchised students is daunting. Big picture, four years after school closures our children have yet to regain lost ground.

Let’s make this real: 45% of NJ third-graders achieved proficiency in reading. Statistically, only 5% of them will ever catch up. What is the DOE’s plan? It’s great that we passed literacy legislation but without oversight the laws slump to word salad.

Of course, we’re not alone: Many states show similar patterns. And each state has its own test, which makes it very difficult to parse which state’s interventions make a difference. Yet we do have NAEP, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, considered the most accurate tests given to representative groups of students in each state, where specific states are making more progress than NJ, despite lower spending per pupil and more poverty. For instance, Louisiana leads all 50 states in reading recovery, with Tennessee and Mississippi close behind. Alabama is showing (to blue state snobs) surprising progress in raising learning levels. 

How can we emulate this progress? That’s a subject for a longer piece but let’s leave it here: Students of all ethnicities and income levels showed steady progress when the federal government had a robust role in requiring states to be honest with parents about student learning and when Democratic leaders paid less obeisance to labor unions. In the absence of a strong federal role, state education agencies that exercise authority — mandating high-quality curricula, requiring elementary teachers to pass a foundational reading test, sending out literacy coaches to improve instruction — produce stronger gains for children.  Does Governor-Elect Mikie Sherrill have the political courage to put students ahead of grown-ups? Stay tuned.

Hey @WakeUpCallNJ! @laurawaters pic.twitter.com/EeNuuxWl8o

— Laura McKenna, PhD (@laura11D) November 1, 2025