New Jersey’s Adaptive Testing: A Field Test Without Federal Guardrails?
Last week, NJ21st reached out directly to the U.S. Department of Education to flag major concerns about New Jersey’s plan to roll out “NJSLA-Adaptive” testing this fall. We also shared the email with Commissioner Dehmer, Governor Murphy and the NJ BOE through Director Shoener, asking for clarity on whether this shift complies with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)....
NJ Education Report Amplifies Call for Clarity on Adaptive Testing
Laura Waters of New Jersey Education Report adds to the questions surrounding New Jersey’s planned adaptive testing rollout. You can Read It Here.
Open Letter to Commissioner Dehmer Regarding Concerns About NJSLA-Adaptive Rollout
Last week, the New Jersey Department of Education announced plans to move to a new kind of state testing called NJSLA-Adaptive. Starting in the 2025–26 school year, students will take computer-based tests that adjust in difficulty as they go. On the surface, this sounds like progress. But as an organization that’s spent years tracking how schools report student outcomes, we...
The Early Start Advantage: Seven Local Schools Beginning Before Labor Day in 2025
Starting school before Labor Day allows for more instructional days when it matters –Written by an Educator in our District School is in session for students as soon as Monday, August 25th in one nearby town, and six others have students begin in August (before Labor Day). The first seven districts listed in the chart at the bottom of this...
Chatham, Millburn, and New Providence Schools Lead on NJGPA ….others Struggle
Recent NJGPA Results Highlight Gaps Between Top-Tier Districts and Those Falling Behind –Written by an Educator in our District At the July 24th, 2025 New Providence Board of Education meeting, the district presented their assessment report that included New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA) results from spring 2024. High school students sit for the separate English Language Arts (ELA) and...
State Mandates Full-Day Kindergarten by 2029 … What Local Districts Are Doing Now
From Pre-K rollouts to school reconfiguration, Chatham and New Providence face the growing pains of a changing New Jersey – with Berkeley Heights as a cautionary tale. NJ schools are undergoing some makeovers, but not the infrastructure upgrades so many public schools desperately need. While some districts are rolling out phased approaches to manage the inevitable influx of students, many...
Assigning the Right Person to the Right Role: Rethinking the Library Liaison
Assigning the role to an administrator would be more helpful for student literacy and summer reading assignments. -Written by an Educator in our District At the June 5th, 2025 Berkeley Heights Board of Education (BHBOE) meeting, Personnel agenda item M titled “Approve re-appointment of school district liaison to the library board,” which would have appointed the Berkeley Heights Public Schools...
Too Many Bosses, Not Enough Students – A Case for School District Unification in Union County
Consolidating two school districts would save on administrative costs, create curriculum alignment, and keep Mountainside students at Governor Livingston High School. -Written by an Educator in our District School district consolidation is an issue that has been studied at the state level in recent years. Currently, New Jersey has 590 school districts, which is more than the number of municipalities...
BHPSNJ District Acknowledges GPA Concerns, Leaves Students Vulnerable to College Recalculation
Closed Door Presentation obtained through OPRA Confirms GPA Concerns — But Offers No Solution For months, parents in Berkeley Heights have raised concerns that Governor Livingston High School’s GPA system might be quietly putting students at a disadvantage when applying to college. The debate centers on how colleges recalculate GPAs, and whether the way Berkeley Heights weights and scales grades...
Seven-District Dashboard for Academic Proficiency Shows Mixed Results by Grade Band
Elementary schools continue to rank highly while middle schools and high schools struggle. -Written by an Educator in our District Earlier this month, NJ.com published a data table for school districts grouped by county in all 21 counties. The article can be found here. This below data lists and summarizes data from NJ21’s traditional seven-district data dashboard: Berkeley Heights,...
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