District curriculum staff presented results from the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA) and explained how the district uses the assessment to guide instruction.

A staff member (Curriculum) told the board that the NJGPA measures whether students who have not previously demonstrated proficiency are graduation-ready in English language arts and mathematics. The staff member said the ELA component aligns to 10th-grade standards and the math component aligns to Algebra I and geometry. “Students are required to score a minimum of 725 on each of those components,” the staff member said.

The presenter said students who are not deemed graduation-ready can retest after the spring administration; the district also uses a portfolio appeal process. The staff member reported that the district achieved 90.2% in English language arts and 75% in math this administration and provided a multi-year performance comparison beginning with 2023.

Staff emphasized that the NJGPA is one of multiple pathways to demonstrating proficiency for graduation and that the assessment is developmental rather than strictly grade-level aligned; test clusters, the presenter said, group students by language-proficiency clusters starting in second grade rather than by single grade levels.

The curriculum staff noted a positive trend in mathematics: math proficiency rose to 75%, described in the presentation as an increase from 68 (figure cited in the presentation). The staff member said teachers use NJGPA results to make instructional decisions and to support students’ continued academic language development.

Board members asked whether additional outreach to state officials, the state Department of Education or school boards could raise awareness of the assessment’s local impact; the transcript records at least one board member urging more outreach to state senators and the governor’s office to communicate how assessment policies affect individual districts.

No formal actions or policy changes regarding curriculum or assessment were recorded in the provided transcript; the presentation was informational and focused on results, retesting windows and instructional use of data.