District reports strong NJGPA results; board urged to track subgroup trends

Dr. Mark Russo, the Pascack Valley Regional School District supervisor of curriculum, instruction and assessment, told the board on July 16 that the spring administration of the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA) showed the majority of juniors met the state's graduation-ready cut scores but that some subgroup results merit further monitoring.

The NJGPA "is designed to measure the extent to which students are graduation ready in ELA and mathematics," Russo said, adding that the ELA component is aligned to grade-10 standards and the mathematics component is aligned to Algebra I and Geometry standards. He told the board the assessment has been a graduation requirement for the last three graduating classes and that the district is awaiting official state guidance for the class of 2026 and beyond.

The nut of Russo's presentation was the district's reported rates of juniors meeting the district's established cut score (reported as 725): Pascack Hills: 81.7 percent in mathematics and 90.6 percent in ELA; Pascack Valley: 88.4 percent in mathematics and 91.4 percent in ELA. Russo said those headline percentages are "consistent with students' performance in the past and ... above state averages." He emphasized the district reports subgroup results only for groups of 10 or more students to protect anonymity.

Board members asked for clarity on subgroup definitions and on the meaning of year-to-year changes. When asked whether students identified as having disabilities in the presentation meant those on an individualized education program (IEP) or a 504 plan, Russo replied that, "students with disabilities are classified in this context as students with an IEP or a 504, or in some cases both." He cautioned against labeling year-to-year movement "statistically significant" for small subgroups because small counts can cause volatility, and said he prefers to look for multi-year trends.

Board members also asked whether curricular changes such as the district's move to a "Geometry First" sequence could explain the jump in mathematics performance at Pascack Valley. Russo said Geometry First is one of several concurrent changes and supports that could affect results and that it is difficult to isolate a single cause from a single year's NJGPA data. He said more clarity will come when the district can compare cohorts on Algebra I results on the NJSLA next year.

Russo said the district will provide a more comprehensive testing presentation later this summer or early fall that will include NJSLA, AP, and other standardized-test results and that he and the new math supervisor, Dr. Jessica Nuzzi, will analyze the data and plan supports.

The presentation noted several observations: subgroup performance generally tracked with prior years, there was a dip among Hispanic/Latino students at one school that district staff will monitor, and small subgroups show higher volatility. Russo thanked teachers and cited district supports such as the Math Center and Writing Center.

The district did not take any final policy action on the NJGPA at the meeting; Russo said staff would return with additional analysis and recommendations.

","sections":{"lede":"Dr. Mark Russo, the Pascack Valley Regional School District supervisor of curriculum, instruction and assessment, told the board on July 16 that the spring NJGPA results show most juniors met the state graduation-ready cut scores but that several subgroup outcomes warrant further monitoring.","nut_graf":"Russo presented headline rates and subgroup notes for Pascack Hills and Pascack Valley high schools and said the district will provide a fuller testing report later this summer or early fall; board members pressed for subgroup clarifications and asked whether curricular changes such as a switch to Geometry First could explain year-to-year movement.","ending":"Russo said staff will return with a comprehensive testing presentation that includes NJSLA and AP results and recommended next steps; no formal board decision on testing policy was made at the July 16 meeting."},