Metuchen High outperforms state on March 2025 NJGPA; district outlines targeted supports

Metuchen Public School District staff told the board on Aug. 12 that Metuchen High School students outperformed the state on the March 2025 New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA): 96.9% of MHS students met the graduation-ready standard in English language arts compared with the statewide 80.7% rate, and 83.8% met the math graduation-ready standard compared with the statewide 58% rate.

Why it matters: these results determine whether members of the Class of 2026 will have met state graduation-readiness requirements in ELA and mathematics. District leaders said the scores show overall gains while identifying specific instructional areas and subgroup needs that will receive targeted support before the next administration.

Mr. Praske, a district staff presenter, opened the report by recounting his statutory responsibility to confirm students’ graduation readiness and summarizing the assessment’s alignment with grade-10 ELA standards and algebra/geometry math standards. “I must always confirm that they are ready for graduation,” Praske said. He and Dr. Herzog presented multi-year trends showing steady growth at the high school and a notable gap-closing relative to the state curve.

The presentation highlighted subject-level strengths and next steps. On ELA, the district reported that students scored “significantly higher” than the state across assessed reading and writing standards, including written expression and literary analysis, and that all students met or exceeded writing conventions. Staff recommended continuing to strengthen instruction on analyzing interactions between text elements and close reading strategies.

In mathematics, presenters said MHS outperformed the state by 25.8 percentage points on the NJGPA. District staff identified geometry and more advanced algebra standards as focus areas and described plans to use assessment evidence statements to refine instruction, increase math discourse, and provide targeted small-group interventions. The district plans a book study (Building Thinking Classrooms) and a full-day workshop with the author to support classroom practice.

District staff described the fall retest pathway and portfolio alternatives for students who do not meet the NJGPA threshold: a fall administration of the NJGPA, the PSAT/SAT/ACT pathway, or a portfolio assessment supported by teachers. Dr. Herzog and Praske said the district has found the portfolio process more manageable than working with the Accuplacer vendor; when Board member Mr. Suss asked, “Are we using the — we're not using Accuplacer at all?” the presenter replied that Accuplacer had been difficult to coordinate and the portfolio route has proved “much more effective and efficient for our kids.”

Board members asked about subgroup results and earlier-grade preparation. Mr. Lipton and others pressed staff to examine middle-school math preparation (pre-algebra/algebra in grades 7–8) as a possible leverage point for improving later high-school math outcomes. Dr. Herzog acknowledged the need to analyze subgroup patterns further and to align interventions vertically and horizontally across grades.

The district said it will continue to use assessment data to drive instruction, deploy Title I and other intervention periods for small-group supports during the school day, and offer additional administrations or alternative assessments for students who have not yet met the cut score.

Staff, including Dr. Herzog, emphasized that results will be used to refine instruction rather than to assign judgment to individual teachers, and they recommended continued monitoring of subgroup performance and targeted supports in the coming year.