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Vernon Township posts gains on NJGPA; district outlines supports for students who fall short
Summary
District presenters reported an increase in students meeting NJGPA graduation-readiness benchmarks in English and math and described retake, alternate-assessment and targeted-support plans for students who do not meet the cut scores.
Vernon Township School District officials reported improved results on the spring 2025 New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA) and presented program-level supports for students who have not yet met the state’s graduation-readiness cut scores.
District presenters said 211 eleventh-grade students took the English component and 89.1% met the NJGPA English readiness threshold; in math, 210 students took the assessment and 65.2% met the math readiness threshold. Presenters said both figures are above the most recent statewide comparisons and represent year-over-year gains for the district.
The district described the pathway for students who do not meet the cut scores: a fall retake of the NJGPA, a menu of approved substitute assessments (SAT, PSAT, ASVAB, ACCUPLACER and others) and, if necessary, a portfolio review and appeal process. Presenters said high-school staff and guidance teams coordinate targeted interventions, including math labs and content-specific interventions, and that teachers and instructional coaches provide tiered supports.
Officials highlighted subgroup and program-level detail during the presentation. Where subgroup counts were fewer than 10 students, state reporting rules required suppression of percentages; for groups large enough to report, presenters said the district saw upward trends across race and gender cohorts while noting gaps remain to close. The district flagged multilingual learners (ML) and some special education cohorts as priorities for deeper review.
District leaders said the math gains this year reflect curricular work, strengthened Tier 2/3 interventions and greater emphasis on reading comprehension of math problems. They said the district developed refreshed college-preparatory math curriculum and review materials and expanded student-facing supports over the past year.
Officials described operational steps to increase on-time graduation: early-warning data dashboards to identify at-risk seniors, summer credit-retrieval offerings, and dedicated teacher support for portfolio appeals. The district also plans to offer the NJGPA again in the fall for eligible students.
Superintendent Russell Rogers and district staff fielded questions about subgroup trends, transfer students and the role of language acquisition in numeric results; they said some subgroup differences reflect the composition of the eleventh-grade cohort and the presence of recently arrived multilingual learners. Officials said more detailed disaggregated analyses will be shared with the board and will inform targeted interventions.
The district also presented 2025 New Jersey ACCESS (WIDA) results for multilingual learners. Presenters said 66 students were assessed this spring and that the majority scored in developing-to-expanding bands; the elementary-band ML cohort showed a majority scoring at the expanding band (level 4). Officials emphasized that ACCESS results are one input among several the district uses to plan instruction and monitor longitudinal ML growth.
Officials said they will post the full slide deck and detailed subgroup tables on the district website and will follow up in committee meetings with more detailed item- and question-type analyses to guide instruction and supports.
