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Dover reports lower NJGPA pass rates than state; board discusses targeted interventions and graduation pathways
Summary
District presenters told the board that 65% of Dover 11th-graders passed the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA), compared with 80% statewide. Board members pressed staff on use of interim measures, impacts on graduation, and interventions for students near the cut score.
Patrick Pandolfo, the district's director of student intervention and district testing, told the Dover Public School District Board of Education that 65% of the district's 11th-grade students passed the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA) this spring, compared with an 80% statewide pass rate.
Pandolfo said the NJGPA is a binary, end-of-course measure: students either meet the state's cut score (725) and are considered —graduation ready,— or they do not. Students who do not pass in spring may retake the exam in October; alternate pathways include additional state-approved assessments and, if eligible, a portfolio review organized by guidance counselors and teachers. Pandolfo emphasized that students must sit for the NJGPA at least once before being considered for alternate pathways.
The presentation noted subgroup differences and student residency in the district: general-education students with 10 or more years in Dover posted higher mean scores (Pandolfo cited a mean of 767 in language arts for long-term students), while students with fewer years in the district tended to cluster near or below the cut score. In mathematics the district improved from 34% to 39% passing; statewide math pass rates rose from 50% to 58%.
Board members asked how the district blends state testing results with more frequent local diagnostics. Dr. Sainer asked how the district uses LinkIt and i-Ready data to provide year-to-year growth tracking. Pandolfo and other administrators said the district uses LinkIt and other formative tools in professional learning communities (PLCs) to group students for targeted instruction and small-group interventions, and to identify students near the threshold who might be pushed over the cut score before an October retake.
When asked whether any students fail to graduate solely for not meeting the NJGPA requirement, an administrator said that, based on available information, students who ultimately fail to graduate do so for loss of credit or attendance rather than solely for testing requirements; Pandolfo committed to researching and reporting back with precise counts.
Pandolfo summarized immediate instructional priorities: concentrated math work on problem solving and multi-step items, small-group instruction for students close to the cut score, targeted NJGPA practice using released items, and continued PLC collaboration for both math and language arts. He said the district will continue monitoring subgroup scores and the October retake window and expects a fuller data set with NJSLA results later in the fall.
Board members thanked staff for the presentation and requested follow-up comparisons to demographically similar districts and a clearer count of any students impacted in graduation outcomes specifically because of the NJGPA.
The board's discussion of the NJGPA took place during the academic reports portion of the agenda and did not include a formal board motion or vote.
