Hunterdon Central shows cohort growth on NJGPA; ACCESS gains lag for multilingual learners

Hunterdon Central Regional High School administrators reported July 21 that cohort tracking of state and federal assessments shows substantial gains for the district's current 11th-grade cohort on the NJGPA in English language arts and mathematics, but that English‑language proficiency growth measured by the ACCESS test fell short of state targets for many multilingual learners.

The presentation, led by Dr. Matt Hall, director of curriculum and instruction, put the district's spring NJGPA results into context with new longitudinal data enabled by the district's student information system. "This is the test that really is the opportunity for students to demonstrate that they're, quote, 'graduation ready,'" Hall said, describing NJGPA as a primary graduation pathway in English language arts and mathematics.

Hall reported that roughly 88 percent of the district's 11th graders met the NJGPA standard in English language arts and about 69 percent met it in mathematics. Using cohort tracking, he said about 54.7 percent of the current 11th-grade cohort were performing at or above grade level in English in eighth grade; that same cohort reached about 86.1 percent proficiency by 11th grade. For a subgroup who took Algebra I as ninth graders (about 342 students), Hall said performance rose from roughly 16 percent at or above grade level in eighth grade to about 73.4 percent by 11th grade.

Hall cautioned that a higher participation rate can depress aggregate percentages and noted Hunterdon Central achieved a participation rate above 99 percent. He also explained multiple graduation pathways remain available for students who do not meet the NJGPA threshold, including retaking state assessments, SAT or Accuplacer scores, and a portfolio option. "No one is getting left behind," he said, adding that the portfolio pathway had been "super successful" this past year, with close to 100 students passing through that route.

On the ACCESS test, administered annually to multilingual learners and scored on WIDA standards from 1 to 6, administrators reported about 125 multilingual learners districtwide. Hall and members of the administration said sample‑size issues and student churn complicate year‑to‑year comparisons: only about 70 students in the 2025 spring cohort had prior ACCESS scores for within‑student growth comparisons. The district's internal target for mean growth on ACCESS is about 0.5 scale points year to year; staff said the mean did not reach that target for 2025 and that the state expects about 60 percent of students to meet 0.5 growth in accountability years.

Administrators cited absenteeism and interrupted or disrupted prior schooling as two of several factors that make growth for multilingual learners difficult to measure and to accelerate. They described ongoing work to improve outreach and family engagement, and a registrar‑led and administrator‑led task force to address attendance and welcome new families. The administration also noted federal support for multilingual programs may change and said the district will need to plan for potential funding reductions.

Why it matters: the NJGPA and ACCESS results are used for graduation decisions, program placement and state and federal accountability. The board heard that cohort tracking gives the district more context to evaluate program effectiveness and to target supports where students enter high school below grade level.

What happened next: board members thanked staff for the analysis and asked that the district continue to use cohort methods to monitor program impact. Superintendent Jessica Candelosi Haight said the leadership team will continue to refine goals and provide additional information at future meetings, and she plans to begin strategic planning with a professional services provider in October.

Ending: administrators recommended deeper curriculum and program reviews where subgroups lag, continued attention to absenteeism, and monitoring of federal funding for multilingual services.