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Toms River reports midyear gains in student growth, drop in chronic absenteeism
Summary
Curriculum staff told the board midyear diagnostics show improvements across grade levels—elementary chronic absenteeism fell markedly from 2022–23 levels and most grades meet or exceed i-Ready growth benchmarks; staff credited school-level attendance teams and targeted instructional interventions.
Curriculum leaders for the Toms River Regional School District reported midyear improvements in student growth and a notable decline in chronic absenteeism during the board's Feb. 18 curriculum committee meeting.
A presenter identified in the record as Rich said the district's chronic absenteeism metric (students missing roughly 10% or more of the school year) has dropped substantially in many elementary grades, citing kindergarten declines from about 38% in 2022'23 to roughly 21% in the current year. The presenter and other staff attributed recent localized upticks to an early-season illness and described school-based attendance committees that analyze and intervene with students at risk of reaching the year-end chronic threshold.
District staff reminded the board that New Jersey requires a corrective action plan for schools with chronic absenteeism above 10%, and they reported the state's 2023'24 chronic absenteeism rate was about 14.9%. Staff also noted average daily attendance has in some cases risen about one percentage point even while chronic absenteeism measures can change at midyear, reflecting the difference between point-in-time percentages and cumulative year-long counts.
On academics, the district reported midyear i-Ready diagnostic results showing most elementary grades at or above a 52% benchmark for typical math growth and above a 55% benchmark for reading growth. High-school diagnostic measures—scored in program-specific "points" where 100 points equals a year of growth—showed grade 9 averaging 103 points of midyear math growth and grades 10 and 11 making substantial gains as well. Staff said those midyear diagnostics align closely with projected proficiency on the state NJSLA when students sustain similar growth through the end of the year.
Curriculum staff described several targeted strategies: explicit Tier 2 vocabulary and morphology instruction in ELA, domain-focused math work (geometry, algebraic thinking, numbers and operations), and small-group math interventions for students three or more grade levels behind.
Board members asked clarifying questions about how chronic absenteeism is calculated at midyear (staff said midyear counts approximate nine absences toward the typical 18-day annual threshold) and whether i-Ready correlates with state test outcomes (staff said it does and that the diagnostic includes projected proficiency analytics). Staff described safeguards restricting external AI tools during in-school diagnostics and proctoring recommendations for test integrity.
The district said it will continue attendance outreach and targeted instruction and will present the tentative budget and related public hearings after state aid notices arrive in mid-March.
