Newark Students Fall Short of Proficiency on New State Tests, With Signs of Growth, District Results Show
Fewer than 30 percent of Newark students in grades 3-8 were considered proficient in math on New Jersey's new state tests this past spring, according to results presented at Thursday's school board meeting and reported by Chalkbeat Newark.
Most Newark Public Schools students fell short of grade-level expectations in math and English language arts on New Jersey's new state tests this past spring, according to results presented at Thursday's school board meeting and reported by Chalkbeat Newark on Oct. 30. In math, fewer than 30 percent of students in grades 3-8 were considered proficient, with rates ranging from 13.7 percent among eighth graders to 29.1 percent among third graders.
In English language arts, proficiency rates ranged from 22 percent among fourth graders to 35 percent among seventh graders, Chalkbeat reported. The results offer an early look at performance under the state's new adaptive assessments, administered annually to students in grades 3-9, which adjust the difficulty of questions based on students' answers.
District officials cautioned that changes to the tests' content and scoring mean the results cannot be directly compared with those of previous years, and the figures are preliminary: New Jersey has not yet publicly released its full statewide results, including breakdowns by subgroup, Chalkbeat reported.
The district has expanded tutoring, summer and Saturday-school programs and introduced a new English language arts curriculum to support students' academic recovery, according to the report. Superintendent Roger León said the district has begun working with teachers to adjust classroom instruction based on the new results, Chalkbeat reported.
