New Jersey Student Proficiency Scores Still Below Numbers Pre-COVID

Ever since New Jersey started requiring students to pass a Proficiency Test for Graduation in 1989, there has been controversy. For decades, there have been arguments about how these test scores impact teachers and if the process is fair to students.

The High School Proficiency Test was first administered in 1989 but was not required for High School Graduation until 2001. Renamed the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), this 3-day test measures the development of High School Juniors in Reading and Math before graduating.

Today, the controversial New Jersey Proficiency Exam is administered by The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. Many parents and teachers have taken issue with these standardized tests over the years because they claim the results are an unfair reflection of the students and the education they receive.

The New Jersey State Board of Education has released the latest Student Proficiency Scores from earlier this year showing moderate progress in two out of three academic categories.

Are the 2024 New Jersey Standardized Test Scores Good Enough?

The two subjects that saw a moderate improvement from last year with students meeting or exceeding expectations were Math and English/Language. The number of NJ Students that qualify as Proficient in Math grew by 2 percent (37.6% in 2023 to 39.6% in 2024) while their English/Language Proficiency Scores increased by 0.9 percent (51.3% to 52.2%).

The third subject, Science, saw the number of Students that are Proficient drop from 24.9 percent in 2023 to 24.8 percent in 2024. Only 7.5% of 11th Grade Students in New Jersey qualified as "Advanced" in Science Proficiency and 48.2% are still at Level 1 in Science.

All of these Proficiency Scores are below the numbers from 2019. The percentage of New Jersey Students that were Proficient in English/Language was 57.6 percent five years ago (52.2% in 2024) and 44.7 percent of students were proficient in Math in 2019 (now 39.6% in 2024).

These numbers give ammunition to the critics of how New Jersey handled education during the COVID-19 Lockdowns in 2020. There have already been 20-plus years of citicism for New Jersey's education system and the debate of what these Proficiency Test Scores means will continue.

On the list of the Top 200 Public High Schools in New Jersey, there are 17 located in South Jersey. Did your favorite school make the list?