No statewide student achievement tests will be administered this spring, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) announced on April 14.
Instead, the NJDOE said, the state will administer its “Start Strong” tests in the fall.
“(This) will satisfy the federal statewide assessment requirement to administer general assessments in English language arts, mathematics, and science for the 2020-2021 school year. Therefore, there will be no spring 2021 administration of the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA). This flexibility shall apply only to the 2020-2021 school year,” the NJDOE memo said.
NJSBA Executive Director Dr. Lawrence S. Feinsod said cancellation of the comprehensive NJSLA was a necessary step, and he commended the NJDOE for successfully working out a compromise with the federal government this year.
This is the second year in a row that the standardized achievement tests have been canceled due to the coronavirus.
According to an April 14 NJDOE broadcast memo, the federal department of education approved New Jersey’s request to waive 2021 accountability and school identification requirements, which include:
- Measuring and reporting progress toward long-term goals and measurements of interim progress;
- Calculation of indicator scores and summative ratings;
- Adjusting proficiency rates if participation rates are below 95%;
- Identifying schools for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI), targeted support and improvement for consistently underperforming student groups (TSI), or additional targeted support and improvement for low-performing student groups (ATSI); and
- Reporting on student growth (median student growth percentiles).
Read the full NJDOE broadcast memo here.