The Fourth of Seven Reports on our 7-District Dashboard
We’ll start with the housekeeping and go over the same spiel we covered in our first three reports in the series.
We’re handling the 2024-25 NJ School Performance Reports differently this year by integrating the 7-District Comparisons into each District’s profile.
As a reminder, the Districts on our Dashboard include Berkeley Heights, Chatham, Madison, Millburn, New Providence, Summit and Westfield.
It’s important to remember that NJ moved to adaptive testing this year for Math and ELA, and in a recent email to NJ21st, NJDOE said much of what NJ21st requested regarding technical reporting, validation, comparability, psychometric analysis, and TAC-related materials was still in development.
This report focuses on Westfield.
ELA, Math and Science
ELA declined overall from the prior year but as we’ve been seeing there’s more to the story underneath that top line number. Grades 3, 6 and 8 improved while Grades 4, 5, 7 and 9 declined with Grade 9 showing the biggest drop.
| Grade / Level | 2023-24 ELA Proficiency | 2024-25 ELA Proficiency | Change | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall District | 77.4% | 75.7% | -1.7 points | Districtwide ELA proficiency declined from the prior year. |
| Grade 3 | 73.1% | 76.2% | +3.1 points | Improved from the prior year. |
| Grade 4 | 82.6% | 80.8% | -1.8 points | Declined from the prior year. |
| Grade 5 | 81.9% | 79.7% | -2.2 points | Declined from the prior year. |
| Grade 6 | 68.4% | 75.2% | +6.8 points | Largest ELA improvement in this table. |
| Grade 7 | 77.5% | 71.1% | -6.4 points | One of the larger ELA declines in the table. |
| Grade 8 | 75.9% | 79.2% | +3.3 points | Improved from the prior year. |
| Grade 9 | 82.0% | 69.2% | -12.8 points | Largest ELA decline in this table. |
The ELA Rate for ’24-’25 is above the ’21-’22 post COVID rate (72.4%) but under the ’18-’19 pre-COVID number (79.4) and its ’23-24 rate (77.4%)
Math was better overall with good movements in 4th and 6th grade along with an improvement in Geometry. 8th grade and Algebra 1 slipped from the year before.
| Grade / Level | 2023-24 Math Proficiency | 2024-25 Math Proficiency | Change | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall District | 71.0% | 73.6% | +2.6 points | Districtwide math proficiency improved from the prior year. |
| Grade 3 | 78.9% | 78.3% | -0.6 points | Essentially flat, with a slight decline. |
| Grade 4 | 76.0% | 83.0% | +7.0 points | Improved meaningfully from the prior year. |
| Grade 5 | 76.0% | 76.0% | 0.0 points | Flat from the prior year. |
| Grade 6 | 65.0% | 72.9% | +7.9 points | Largest math improvement in this table. |
| Grade 7 | 70.4% | 73.2% | +2.8 points | Improved from the prior year. |
| Grade 8 | 37.0% | 36.0% | -1.0 points | Declined slightly, though Grade 8 math can be affected by Algebra I participation. |
| Algebra I | 73.5% | 69.0% | -4.5 points | Declined from the prior year. |
| Geometry | 75.3% | 81.0% | +5.7 points | Improved from the prior year. |
| Algebra II | * | * | Not reported | Data was suppressed or not reportable in the district chart. |
Westfield’s ’24-’25 Math proficiency rate of 73.6% is ahead of its 2018-19 pre-COVID ( 73.1%), post-COVID 2021-22 rate (70.3%) and its 2023-24 rate (71.0%).
Student Growth
Student growth was Typical in both ELA and Math despite the decline in ELA growth from the year before – Math improved from the prior year.
| Measure | 2018-19 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Rating | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall ELA mSGP | 49 | 54 | 49 | 43 | Typical | ELA growth declined from the prior year and was below the 2018-19 pre-COVID benchmark. |
| Overall Math mSGP | 55 | 53 | 50 | 52 | Typical | Math growth improved from 2023-24, but remained below the 2018-19 and 2022-23 levels. |
Note: mSGP stands for median Student Growth Percentile. It measures student growth compared with academically similar students, not the percentage of students who met proficiency.
Westfield’s 2024-25 ELA mSGP was 43, down from 49 in both 2018-19 and 2023-24 putting below both its pre-COVID mark and last years numbers. Westfield’s 2024-25. For Math mSGP – the District hit 52, up two points from 23-24, but down from 2018-19’s pre-COVID benchmark of 55 and below 2022-23 (53)
Going to Science, NJDOE’s 2024-25 report displays an overall science figure directly and the table below uses the percentage meeting or exceeding expectations. For grade-level Science, that means combining Level 3 and Level 4 where data was available. Overall Science improved, Grade 5 and Grade 11 improved, while Grade 8 declined.
| Measure | 2023-24 Science Proficiency | 2024-25 Science Proficiency | Change | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall District | 50.6% | 54.9% | +4.3 points | Overall science proficiency improved from the prior year. |
| Grade 5 | 51.7% | 61.4% | +9.7 points | Improved meaningfully from the prior year. |
| Grade 8 | 39.5% | 35.9% | -3.6 points | Declined from the prior year. |
| Grade 11 | 64.3% | 68.1% | +3.8 points | Improved from the prior year. |
Westfield’s 2024-25 Science (54.9%) is above its 18-19 pre-COVID rate of 51.6%, its post-COVID 21-22 rate of 51.3% and its 23-24 rate of 50.6%.
Graduation
Going to make the same note here I’ve made in the last three reports- three years ago the NJDOE lowered the cut score needed to pass the NJGPA so keep that in mind when going over this.
ELA dipped slightly from 23-24 while Math was essentially flat – both are generally high.
| NJGPA Measure | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of 11th Graders Graduation Ready: ELA | 94.3% | 96.9% | 96.3% | Down slightly from 2023-24, but above 2022-23. |
| Percentage of 11th Graders Graduation Ready: Math | 85.9% | 87.6% | 87.7% | Essentially flat from the prior year and above 2022-23. |
The dashboard continues to show high graduation rates for Westfield.
| Graduation Measure | Westfield Rate | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|
| Cohort 2025 4-year | 97.4% | Current 4-year graduation rate shown in the dashboard. |
| Cohort 2024 5-year | 97.7% | Five-year rate for the prior cohort. |
| Cohort 2023 6-year | 99.0% | Six-year rate for the cohort with available six-year data. |
Environment
Another note – the NJDOE changed the inclusion rule by moving the minimum days present or absent from 45 days to 90 days – so better numbers in this area should be read with that change in mind.
Westfield’s chronic absenteeism rate increased from 2.3% in 2023-24 to 3.5% in 2024-25. That puts the district back at its 2018-19 pre-COVID level of 3.5%, below its 2021-22 rate of 4.2%, but above last year’s low point. One school was required to develop a corrective action plan.
| School Year | Westfield Chronic Absenteeism Rate | Change / Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 3.5% | Pre-COVID benchmark from NJ21st tracking. |
| 2021-22 | 4.2% | Highest rate in the listed period. |
| 2022-23 | 3.5% | Returned to the 2018-19 level. |
| 2023-24 | 2.3% | Lowest rate in the listed period. |
| 2024-25 | 3.5% | Increased from 2023-24, matched the 2018-19 pre-COVID benchmark, and remained below the 2021-22 rate. |
| Schools Required to Develop Corrective Action Plan | 1 | One school was reported as requiring a chronic absenteeism corrective action plan. |
Disciplinary Data
Westfield had 88 total unique incidents in 2024-25, coming to 1.50 incidents per 100 students.
| School Year | Westfield Violence, Vandalism, HIB and Substance Incidents Per 100 Students | Change / Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 0.72 | Pre-COVID benchmark. |
| 2021-22 | 0.62 | Lower than the 2018-19 rate. |
| 2022-23 | 1.50 | Increased from 2021-22. |
| 2023-24 | 1.76 | Highest rate in the listed period. |
| 2024-25 | 1.50 | Improved from 2023-24, but remained above the 2018-19 and 2021-22 levels. |
While lower than the 23-24 rate (1.76 per 100) the 24-25 number is still higher than the 18-19 pre-COVID rate of 0.72 and the 21-22 rate of 0.62.
HIB was the largest slice of the pie followed by Violence, Vandalism and Substances.
| Incident Category | 2024-25 Incidents | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|
| Total Unique Incidents | 88 | Overall count reported in the discipline dashboard. |
| HIB | 61 | Largest listed incident category. |
| Violence | 24 | Second-largest listed category. |
| Vandalism | 2 | Listed below HIB and violence. |
| Substances | 1 | Lower than HIB, violence and vandalism. |
| Weapons | 0 | No weapons incidents were listed. |
Note: The discipline dashboard cautions that incident categories should not be added together because a single incident may be counted under multiple incident types.
7-District Comparison
In ELA, Westfield is 5th out of 7 Districts and below the 7-District average.
ELA Proficiency: Westfield vs. 7-District Average
Westfield: 75.7% | 7-District Average: 79.2% | Rank: 5th of 7
The District also ranks 4th in Math and is below the average.
Math Proficiency: Westfield vs. 7-District Average
Westfield: 73.6% | 7-District Average: 74.5% | Rank: 4th of 7
Science sees the District at 4th out of 7 but still below the 7-District average.
Science Proficiency: Westfield vs. 7-District Average
Westfield: 54.9% | 7-District Average: 55.6% | Rank: 4th of 7
In ELA growth, Westfield ranks 6th out of 7 and is below the set’s average.
ELA Student Growth: Westfield vs. 7-District Average
Westfield: 43 | 7-District Average: 51.0 | Rank: 6th of 7
The District is 5th in Math and below the 7-District average
Math Student Growth: Westfield vs. 7-District Average
Westfield: 52 | 7-District Average: 54.1 | Rank: 5th of 7
Westfield ranked best of the Dashboard on Chronic Absenteeism
Chronic Absenteeism: Westfield vs. 7-District Average
Westfield: 3.5% | 7-District Average: 6.2% | Rank: 1st lowest of 7
Lower is better.
But it didn’t do as well when it came to incidents, ranking 5th.
Discipline Incidents Per 100 Students: Westfield vs. 7-District Average
Westfield: 1.50 | 7-District Average: 1.43 | Rank: 5th of 7, where lower is better
Lower is better.
|
Related Articles
Chatham by the Numbers:Part 5 of Our 7-District Performance Comparison
Summit by the Numbers: Part 3 of Our 7-District Performance Comparison
