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Roxbury presents test gains, board to accept antibullying self‑assessment
Summary
District staff reported year‑over‑year gains on state assessments, highlighted NJ GPA and subgroup progress enabled by a new LinkIt data partnership, and presented an anti‑bullying self‑assessment (district score 73) the board moved to accept as part of education resolutions that later passed.
District staff presented standardized testing results and compliance measures at the Oct. 14 Roxbury Township Board of Education meeting, reporting gains in several grades and describing new data tools for targeted interventions.
Dr. Charles Sipe presented the district’s assessment overview, explaining New Jersey testing programs (NJSLA and NJ GPA) and noting that the district’s eighth‑grade English language arts results rose significantly year‑over‑year (Sipe cited a roughly 16% gain in that grade). He told the board that Roxbury’s NJ GPA figures for eleventh grade were above state averages: Sipe read the district ELA NJ GPA as 88.8% vs. the state average of 81.6%, and cited math performance at about 66% vs. the state’s 55%.
Sipe highlighted the district’s new partnership with LinkIt, a data‑warehousing and analytics platform the district is using to split cohorts and identify students “one or two tasks away” from proficiency so teachers can design targeted interventions. He said LinkIt and recent scheduling changes (a dedicated intervention or “win” period) are intended to avoid pulling students out of novel instruction while providing tailored small‑group support.
On subgroup reporting, Sipe noted that state reporting suppresses numbers for any subgroup of 10 or fewer students to protect privacy; he outlined approaches for English learners, reporting a substantial population increase in students arriving without prior formal English instruction and noting that many have made quick progress on the WIDA ACCESS assessment (Sipe used a 3.5 cutoff in his presentation to highlight students nearing exit from ESL services).
The presentation also described curriculum updates (Reveal math adoption and scope adjustments), expanded screening (DIBELS-8 in elementary schools) and continued professional development. Sipe said ESSER funds that previously supported tutoring have expired but that the district received a high intensity tutoring grant to provide additional supports.
The board was told the self‑assessment for compliance with the Anti‑Bullying Bill of Rights (a required district self‑rating) produced an unofficial district score of 73 for 2023–24. Sipe clarified these are unofficial until approved by the state but said the results indicate largely compliant systems for training and incident reporting. The education committee moved education resolutions 1–14, which included accepting the district’s self‑assessment scores; those resolutions passed on roll call later in the meeting.
What comes next: presentation slides and detailed data will be posted to the district website; administrators and teachers will continue using LinkIt data and the expanded intervention schedule to target instruction moving forward. The board accepted the education package by roll call, which included the self‑assessment as an item for official acceptance.
Attribution: reporting in this item is based on Dr. Charles Sipe’s presentation to the board and the subsequent roll call vote recorded in the meeting minutes.
