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Jackson Township reports mixed NJGPA results; district expands summer supports for students
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Godleski told the board the district27s 2024-25 NJGPA graduation-ready rates were 80% in English language arts and 52% in math; the district is running a grant-funded intensive summer program and fall course options to help students who did not meet proficiency cut scores.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Godleski presented the Jackson Township School District27s 2024-25 New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA) and ACCESS results to the board, saying the district27s overall graduation-ready rate on the NJGPA was 80 percent in English language arts and 52 percent in mathematics.
Dr. Godleski emphasized that the NJGPA is administered in 11th grade and is aligned to earlier standards, and that year-to-year results compare different cohorts. "Graduation ready for 24-25 for our district was 80%," he said, and noted the two high schools showed different trends: Jackson Liberty rose (a 14-point increase) while Jackson Memorial fell (a 7-point decline).
The presentation flagged subgroup-reporting rules: any subgroup with 20 or fewer students is not reported to protect student privacy. Dr. Godleski said the district is examining subgroup gaps and using multiple assessment sources (NJSLA, LinkIt benchmarks and local measures) to identify "bubble" students close to proficiency. He reported 18 percent of students were within five points of passing in math and 10 percent were within five points in ELA.
To respond to the results, the district is using targeted-assistance grant funding for an intensive summer program at Jackson Township High School aimed at students who did not meet NJGPA proficiency. "This program was instituted last year. It was deemed successful because all the students that attended completed a pathway enabling high school graduation," Dr. Godleski said; he also described a fall-semester course option to support at-risk students and plans to continue professional development for teachers.
Dr. Godleski also reviewed ACCESS testing for multilingual learners, explaining the WIDA framework and exit criteria. He said ACCESS uses a 1-to-6 scale across four domains and that a composite score of 4.5 or higher typically indicates a student may exit EL services; he noted midyear exits using multiple measures are also possible.
Board members and a parent asked about classroom balance and whether LinkIt benchmarking leads to overtesting. District staff said LinkIt is a data warehouse and benchmark platform that correlates closely with the state assessment and that administrators are monitoring assessment schedules to avoid excessive testing.
The board did not take a formal vote on program expansion at the meeting; staff said additional details and ongoing results will be reported at future meetings.
