New N.J. graduation test should be waived for Class of 2023, lawmakers say. Top senator wants a broader plan. – NJ.com

Though New Jersey this spring installed a new exam that high school juniors must pass to graduate, a group of lawmakers want to waive the requirement for this year’s group of 11th graders, citing the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

But one of the state’s leading legislators says she is working on an even broader solution to longstanding arguments over standardized testing in the Garden State.

The state Assembly last week overwhelmingly passed a bill that would remove the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment from the graduation prerequisites for the the state’s current juniors — the Class of 2023 — and have it treated as a “field test” instead.

Sponsors of the proposal (A3196) say the move is needed because of the damage the COVID-19 crisis has had on students’ education the last two years, as well as mental health concerns among children that have gotten worse during the pandemic. Adding a new test, sponsors say, would add to students’ anxiety and stress.

“The amount of learning loss has been huge since we’ve been in this pandemic,” state Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, D-Essex, a main sponsor, said. “Even after these kids have returned to school, they’re still facing a lot of challenges.”

“It’s a good idea to raise the standards,” Caputo added. “But the timing is not good. They need help more than any testing.”

The Assembly passed the bill 73-1 last Thursday. The state Senate would now have to pass the measure before Gov. Phil Murphy could decide whether to sign it into law.

Still, Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, told NJ Advance Media she is instead “considering a longterm solution” that will “once and for all abate this issue.”

“One that will take some components of the Assembly bill, one that will change the statute to remedy this so we’re not here every year or couple of years to figure out what that (test) will look like, and one that will help students, teachers, and departments have a broader view on that child as they’re graduating,” Ruiz said. “I’m not sure what that looks like yet.”

She also said she’s forming a working group to examine the “best strategy” for students to graduate.

Arguments over standardized testing in general in New Jersey have gone on for years. State law has long required students to pass an exit exam to graduate high school, despite most states moving away from such tests.

The issue got even more complicated in recent years, as controversial PARCC test requirements were installed in 2016 and then a state appellate court struck them down in 2018, saying state law required students to pass just a single test in 11th grade.

Ruiz introduced a bill in 2019 that would have changed the court’s requirement for that exam, but while it passed the Senate, it stalled in the Assembly.

The coronavirus delayed the issue for two years. Murphy waived exams for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years because of the pandemic, but they returned this school year as in-person classes resumed statewide.

The state Board of Education last year approved the computer-based Graduation Proficiency Assessment to test 11th graders in English and math for at least the Classes of 2023 through 2025.

Those who fail will be allowed to meet the graduation requirement through alternative assessments or a portfolio appeals process, according to the state.

The board also voted last month to require a passing grade of 750, instead of the 725 recommended by the state Department of Education. Some board members expressed worry the low scores would allow more students to pass who would then need remedial classes before college.

Ruiz at the time said that because the exam is required by the courts, officials should at least aim high on the score because 725 is “way too low.”

She also noted officials “missed an opportunity to create a more robust and creative summative assessment that would help districts and instead came up with a response to the court mandate and didn’t use the opportunity to engage ourselves in a different manner.”

Caputo called the board’s decision to implement the higher score “educational malpractice.”

Under this bill, the exam would be a field test for the Class of 2023 and used only to help the state develop graduation tests in the future.

“The test should be used to see how much learning loss there is,” Caputo said. “Those that don’t do well, we can understand what level they’re on.”

The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, and many education advocates are also against the exam, saying students should be able to prove their ability through coursework.

Union spokesman Steve Baker said the test is “a new, untested assessment, being implemented in the wake of a disruptive global pandemic in a way that will create stress, anxiety and chaos for tens of thousands of families after two already stressful and anxious years.”

Leonard Pugliese, executive director of the City Association of Supervisors and Administrators in Newark and executive vice president of the American Federation of School Administrators, said New Jersey remains one of only 11 states the require testing for graduation.

“Why do we want to put another high-stakes stressor on kids like this test?” Pugliese asked. “Let’s relieve the stress.”

Jennifer, the mother of a special education student who is a junior at a Hunterdon County high school, said her daughter has been doing well in school but feels “defeated” by this test.

“Whoever thinks we’ve had a regular school year obviously doesn’t work in a school,” said Jennifer, who asked not to be identified by her last name.

NJ Advance staff writers Adam Clark, Rob Jennings, and Tina Kelley contributed to this report.

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @johnsb01.