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Chatham presents 2025 testing results showing strong districtwide performance; board presses on eighth-grade dip and upcoming adaptive test
Summary
District presentation: Chatham outperformed New Jersey averages across ELA, math and science in tested grades; board members raised concerns about an eighth-grade dip and the move to an adaptive NJSLA vendor in Feb. 2026, while one board member called the tests “garbage.”
Doctor Donahue, presenting required data from the New Jersey Department of Education, told the School District of the Chathams Board of Education that Chatham students outperformed state averages across English language arts, mathematics and science in the most recent NJSLA administration. He said district ELA averages exceed the state by roughly 22 percentage points when averaged across tested grades and highlighted low percentages of students in the lowest performance bands and higher concentrations in levels 4 and 5 for many grades.
The report covered four state assessments: NJSLA (ELA, math, science), ACCESS for multilingual learners, the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA, grade 11), and Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Donahue noted that ACCESS was administered to 48 students and gave a distribution across proficiency bands; DLM participation was reported as 14 students for math, 14 for ELA and 8 for science, with achievement-band summaries provided for each administration.
On course-level math outcomes, Donahue said 216 Chatham Middle School students took geometry with 57% earning a level 4 or 5; 75 Chatham High School students took geometry with a 20% pass rate; and 15 Chatham Middle School students who took algebra 1 all received a level 4 or 5. A numerical figure for Chatham High School algebra 1 in the transcript appears garbled and is not presented here as a verified value.
Donahue also reported NJGPA results for grade 11, with 96.3% of students meeting the ELA graduation requirement and 88.2% meeting the math requirement, and summarized AP participation and outcomes: the transcript states 1,367 AP course enrollments and 1,157 AP exams taken (about 85% of AP-enrolled students took exams) and that 97% of exam takers earned scores of 3 or higher. The district also reported 28 students awarded seals of biliteracy (18 Spanish, 5 French, 3 German, 2 American Sign Language) and four seniors named National Merit semifinalists.
Board members asked questions about an observed dip for eighth graders. Donahue and staff said comparisons are complicated because many eighth graders were enrolled in geometry rather than grade-level math, and they are reviewing item-level reports and engaging with the state to investigate anomalies (the presentation noted five unusual test items that appeared to affect results). He reiterated that statewide testing is a single-day snapshot that must be interpreted along with classroom assessments, benchmarks and teacher observation.
Several board members stressed using assessment results to guide instruction and professional development; Donahue described targeted interventions and noted district professional development this year that included AI literacy, world-language proficiency work, a new dyslexia screener (Heggarty/EarlyBird) and efforts to revitalize gifted and talented programming.
An exchange during the public Q&A included a strong critique from a board member (recorded in the transcript as Jill) who called the constantly changing standardized tests “garbage” and said they take time away from instruction. Donahue and other board members acknowledged teachers’ day-to-day knowledge of students and said the tests are only one data point to inform instructional decisions.
The presentation closed with staff offering to follow up with more detailed item-level analysis and a plan to disaggregate results to identify subpopulations needing targeted support.
