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Freehold Township reports mostly stronger ELA and math results, flags drop in science
Summary
District presenter told the board that spring 2024 NJSLA results show 63.7% of grades 3–8 meeting or exceeding expectations in ELA and 56.7% in math, with both up slightly year over year; science proficiency for grades 5 and 8 fell to about 24.6%, prompting discussion of multi-year interventions.
At a board meeting of the Freehold Township School District, a district presenter reviewed spring 2024 NJSLA results and said 63.7% of students in grades 3–8 met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, a 1.2 percentage-point increase from 2023, while 56.7% met or exceeded expectations in math, a 0.6-point increase. The presenter said those results place the district notably above the statewide proficiency averages in both ELA and math.
The presenter described science as the primary concern: "this year, I'm here to tell you that we've lost though that same 4%," the presenter said, reporting that 24.6% of the district's tested students in grades 5 and 8 met or exceeded science expectations, a decline from the prior year. Board members asked whether the district or the state should reassess the test; the presenter noted the state is still adjusting the assessment and that one district staff member serves on the state's test-development committee to provide classroom perspective.
The presentation included disaggregated data. The presenter highlighted gains among Hispanic students (ELA rising from 47.2% in 2022 to 50.5% in 2024; math from 31.3% to 40.4% over the same period) and reported growth in several at-risk groups: economically disadvantaged students' ELA proficiency increased from 38.5% (2022) to 40.7% (2024); students receiving 504 services and certain special-education cohorts showed year-over-year gains in ELA and math. Presenter comments said multilingual/ELL reporting was suppressed on some slides because small subgroup sizes make data identifiable.
To address gaps and trends, the presenter outlined district actions already under way or planned: adoption of a foundational reading program (K–1 this year, grade 2 next year), alignment of curriculum to the 2023 New Jersey Student Learning Standards, district-wide implementation of I-Ready personalized pathways for K–8, adoption of Envision Math for grades 3–5 and updated middle-school materials, standards-aligned common assessments, continued professional development, and expansion of MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support) interventions and high-impact tutoring targeted to multilingual learners. The presenter said Mystery Science resources will be rolled out K–5 and stressed that some changes will take multiple years to show in statewide assessments.
Board members asked targeted questions about apparent drops between 5th and 6th grade; the presenter said she had not yet disaggregated that specific transition in detail but pointed to curriculum alignment and planned analyses as next steps. The presenter also asked that the slide deck be posted on the district website for public access.
The board did not take formal action on the assessments at the meeting; district staff framed the report as informational and as the basis for continuing curriculum and intervention work.
