District will use MAP Growth assessments while state testing transitions to adaptive NJSLA
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Summary
Superintendent Diane Digi Zepi said the district will administer MAP Growth in fall, winter and spring to preserve valid year-to-year growth measures while New Jersey transitions the NJSLA to an adaptive format.
Superintendent Diane Digi Zepi told the Verona Board of Education on Oct. 14 that the district will use MAP Growth interim assessments during the 2025–26 school year to maintain consistent, comparable measures of student growth while the state shifts the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) to an adaptive vendor and format.
“MAP Growth provides consistent norm reference data that allows for valid measurements of each individual and cohort growth over time regardless of changes in state testing formats,” Digi Zepi said. “This approach ensures that the district will continue to make data driven decisions grounded in reliable evidence of student learning and growth.”
Why it matters: the New Jersey Department of Education is changing the NJSLA vendor and adopting an adaptive assessment format for 2026. Digi Zepi said the state has not guaranteed that 2025 results can be validly compared to 2026 adaptive results, which could limit longitudinal trend analysis.
What the superintendent described: students’ MAP Growth results will establish baseline performance levels, inform instruction, and allow the district to monitor growth across fall, winter and spring administrations. The district will continue setting school and district goals and will present a district goal for approval at the next board meeting.
No change to state policy was announced at the meeting; the district’s action is an administrative approach to preserve local continuity in measuring student performance while the statewide testing program changes.
