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The New York Times
N.Y. / Region
Mixed Results for New
Jersey Students
on Statewide Tests
By WINNIE HU,
nytimes.com on the Web, February 7, 2008
New Jersey public school students
performed better on last year’s statewide math tests than they did the previous
year at elementary and middle schools, but slightly worse at high schools,
according to results released Wednesday by the state’s Education Department.
The most notable improvement was in middle schools, where scores have
traditionally lagged. The single largest gain was in sixth-grade math,
with 79 percent of students passing in 2007 compared with 70.8 percent in 2006.
Seventh- and eighth-grade students also improved in math: 66.3 percent of
seventh-graders passed, up from 64.2 percent in 2006, and 68.4 percent of
eighth-graders passed, compared with 64.5 percent in 2006.
But middle school students made little, if any, progress in language arts:
75.8 percent of sixth-graders and 80.1 percent of seventh-graders passed, with
both numbers virtually unchanged from the year before. The percentage of
eighth-graders who passed dipped slightly to 73.6 percent from 74.3 percent in
2006.
Each test is scored from 100 to 300, with scores of 200 considered proficient,
or passing, and 250 considered advanced proficient.
As a group, far fewer middle school students passed than elementary students,
who performed the best over all. At least 80 percent of students tested in
third, fourth, and fifth grades passed in both math and language arts,
continuing an upward trend in recent years with steady gains of 1 to 3
percentage points.
The highest passing rates for any test were 88.8 percent in fifth-grade language
arts, followed by 87.3 percent in third-grade math.
Meanwhile, students in 11th grade — the only high school grade tested — were the
only ones to perform worse on the math test in 2007 (73.4 percent passed) than
in 2006 (75.9 percent).
During a telephone news briefing Wednesday, Education Commissioner Lucille E.
Davy singled out the high school test results, noting that 11th-graders’
performance, unlike others, had remained relatively flat over time and failed to
meet the state’s expectations.
“Working with high school students who are well below grade level is a much more
difficult path,” she said, but added that last year’s gains in middle school
math scores showed that “what we’re seeing is progress moving up the grades.”
She added that state education officials were developing a plan to improve the
performance of in both high school and middle school.
The test results come as New Jersey education officials are working to put a new
school financing formula into effect. The formula, approved by Gov. Jon S.
Corzine and the Legislature last month, will expand free preschool programs and
shift more resources to poor and minority students outside of the 31 so-called
Abbott districts, which are historically poor inner-cities districts that have
received the largest share of state aid in recent years as the result of a
landmark school equity case.
A New York Times analysis showed that a majority of the Abbott districts made
progress in language arts and math scores in the lower grades last year, though
the passing rates remained below the statewide average in many cases. In
22 of the 31 Abbott districts, high school students performed worse in math.
Statewide, a total of 618 schools — or more than one-quarter of the state’s
2,430 public schools — were cited in August because too few of their students
passed the statewide tests in 2007 under benchmarks established by the federal
No Child Left Behind law. There were 643 schools cited the year before.
Test results have become increasingly important because schools that repeatedly
fail to meet federal benchmarks face discipline, including limits on how they
can spend federal money and steps they must take to improve student performance.
In some cases, schools have been completely restructured, with the principal,
administrators and teachers replaced.
In Union City, the 10,000-student Abbott district has shifted more attention and
resources to its middle school students and expanded initiatives that have
already proved successful in its well-regarded elementary schools. In
2007, the district’s passing rate in sixth-grade math jumped to 83.9 percent
—well above the statewide average, 79 percent — from 63.6 percent the year
before.
Stanley M. Sanger, the superintendent, said that the district had been revising
its curriculum to better cover skills required on the tests.
In 2006, the district also started giving its own assessments in math and
language arts to every student every eight weeks to monitor their progress and
identify areas for additional instruction. “It’s very rewarding, and it’s
a lot of hard work,” Mr. Sanger said.
Griffin Palmer contributed research.
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