Jonathan Keaney, director of curriculum for the New Providence School District, presented the district's second assessment report of the year to the Board of Education, saying combined NJSLA scores have risen from 77, 78 and 81 in prior years to 82.5 this year.

Keaney said the district uses cohort and year-over-year "mobility" analyses to direct resources. He pointed to steady cohort gains in elementary grades (for example, a fourth-grade cohort moved from about 81 to 92 over successive years) and highlighted improvements in eighth-grade math after targeted work with middle-school teachers.

The presentation also identified recurring areas of concern: transitions into seventh and ninth grade in English language arts and a set of middle-grade math transition points (grade 6→7 and grade 7→algebra) where some students decline in performance. Keaney said the district is already piloting supports such as summer transition programs, executive-functioning workshops and a middle-school initiative called Pioneer Pathways aimed at those transition years.

Keaney gave several program-level data points the board can use to guide spending and staffing. He said i-Ready diagnostic results across K'6th grade showed growth: the share of students at or above grade level rose from roughly 58% at the start of the year to about 89% by the end of the measured period; students one or more grade levels below fell from about 42% to 11%. In math, he highlighted domain-level analysis that signaled geometry as a repeatedly weaker area in some K'66 sequences and said the district is considering sequence changes so geometry is not always left to the end of the year.

Keaney reported the district's PSAT and SAT trends: PSAT performance has remained consistently above state and national averages over the past four years; National Merit commended scholar numbers rose to their highest level since 2017 under revised criteria; the district saw a roughly 42-point increase in the SAT compared with the previous reporting period but noted some differences in scores between tests taken at New Providence High School and off-site venues.

He described Project Lead The Way enrollment and outcomes, noting steady or increasing scores in aerospace engineering and a notable gain in environmental sustainability where the district now runs the course biennially. Keaney said the program's breakdown by skill clusters allows finer-grained curriculum adjustments.

Keaney also reviewed subgroup performance. He said students with individualized education programs (IEPs) and 504 plans showed flat or improved results in both ELA and math; former multilingual learners generally demonstrated strong growth after exiting the multilingual program; economically disadvantaged learners showed mixed results in math and are an area for continued attention.

"It's always good to look at the big picture to start with," Keaney said as he introduced the combined-score trend, and he repeatedly emphasized that the district is using linked data tools to dig into problem areas and allocate resources.

The presentation concluded with Keaney noting the assessment work is part of the district's five-year plan and intersects with mental-health and social-emotional goals. Keaney said he was "happy to take any questions," and no substantive questions were recorded during the public portion that followed.