Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Assessments topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Toms River posts mixed gains on state tests; district cites big jump in ninth-grade ELA
Summary
District officials reported a modest rise in overall NJSLA proficiency (42% to 45%) and a large gain in ninth-grade ELA (from 41% to 57%), while board members pressed for explanations of school-level disparities and discussed resource constraints and subgroup performance.
Toms River Regional School District officials presented a mixed set of assessment results at the board’s Oct. 2024 curriculum meeting, reporting a modest districtwide increase in NJSLA proficiency and a pronounced gain for ninth-grade English language arts.
Rich Fosnock, who led the NJSLA presentation, said the district’s overall proficiency moved from 42% to 45% year-to-year and highlighted that ninth-grade ELA proficiency rose from 41% to 57%. He framed the results as cohort-driven and emphasized that district staff are analyzing growth and subgroup performance to target instruction: "we're constantly evaluating data and trying to see where there's some positive things happening where there's some things that we need to work on." (Rich Fosnock)
The board also heard a report from John Green on Advanced Placement and SAT results. Green said 715 students took AP exams (1,499 exams administered districtwide) and reported a three-year SAT average of 1,065, with 447 test takers in the class of 2024. He noted participation dipped from 514 to 447 and that AP and SAT participation and scores are broken down by school and academy enrollment.
Board members pressed administrators about uneven school- and grade-level results. One member said some buildings show very low percentages of students "exceeding expectations" in certain grades and asked how the district is addressing concentrated pockets of need. Administrators pointed to multiple levers—core instruction, MTSS, targeted interventions and school-level analyses—and said further sessions will review specific school plans.
The discussion also included comment about state testing and resources. A board member criticized the state testing landscape and funding levels, saying standardized tests are an imperfect measure and arguing that funding constraints limit what the district can do. Fosnock and other administrators urged review of cohort and local assessment data to align supports.
Administrators flagged other assessments used for program decisions: ACCESS (language proficiency) for multilingual learners and the Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) alternate assessment for eligible special-education students. The district reiterated that individual student reports and an accompanying FAQ are available to parents.
The board scheduled follow-up conversations on strategies to move schools forward, including review of local assessments and targeted instructional plans.
