HOWELL – The academic proficiency of the students in the Freehold Regional High School District, based on their scores on the NJSLA Exam, was presented during a Board of Education meeting.
According to NJ.gov, the NJSLA is a statewide assessment of students’ progress toward the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in English Language Arts (ELA), mathematics, and science.
According to the Director of Student Services, Dr. Bruce Henecker, the NJSLA is tested at different levels throughout high school. The science variant of the NJSLA is administered to 11th grade students; 9th grade students take the ELA variant of the test, and math is assessed for every student taking Algebra 1. However, this test must be taken in high school. If a student took Algebra 1 in middle school, they must take one of the other variants of the math test that are available.
There are five levels of performance on the NJSLA. Proficiency is typically set at levels four and five, which are described as meeting grade level expectations and exceeding grade level expectations. The levels that were presented by the Board are the average of those students who scored at level four.
The percentages discussed by Henecker discuss a student’s proficiency. 51.7 percent of the Freehold Regional High School District’s grade 9 students who took the ELA portion showed proficiency, compared to the state average of 49.9 percent.
The Freehold Regional High School District’s track record of placing above the state average in student proficiency continued through the Algebra 1 portions of the NJSLA, as students from across the district averaged 75.3 percent proficiency, compared to the state average of just 58 percent. Those who had to take the geometry and algebra 2 variants of the test also scored above the state average. This trend continued in the science variant of the test, where 51.7 percent of students from across the district were considered proficient, compared to the state average of 31.3 percent.
Henecker credits the district’s intervention strategies for the good test scores, and he thinks they could be even better in the future. He mentioned how the district uses these tests to target students in need and how they use proven strategies to lift up students who are not quite testing at the proficient level.
These intervention strategies include adjustments to what goes on during the students’ school day, after-school/before-school tutoring, and the summer jumpstart program, which is very similar to a pre-college program.
