Get June 2014 - May 2015 - State Of New Jersey

Standardized tests have been a part of American education since the mid-1800s. Their use skyrocketed after 2002's No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated annual testing in all 50 states.

The Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, requires students to take state tests in reading and math every year in third through eighth grade and once in high school. In New Jersey, students in third through eighth grade take the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA) in English language arts and math.

The New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) replaced the PARCC in the 2018-2019 school year. However, the state did not make the graduation requirements public until June of 2019. Graduation requirements will remain unchanged for students in the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022.

The first school year that the test was administered as a graduation requirement was 1985-1986. In 1988, the New Jersey Legislature passed a law that moved the High School Proficiency Test (HSTP11) from the ninth to the eleventh grade and added the Grade 8 Early Warning Test(EWT) as an early benchmark assessment.

If after completing the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment a student does not demonstrate proficiency on the ELA or mathematics section, the student may retake the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment in the following summer or fall.

Rolled out in 2014-15, PARCC replaced the earlier NJASK exam that critics said was too easy, noting that many students passed without skills needed to succeed in college or careers. PARCC was controversial from the start. With PARCC, students were sitting for more exams in high school.

What is the difference between the NJSLA and PARCC? The New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA) is a shorter version of the same Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test. The test questions are the same and both tests are created by the same company, Pearson.

In 2019, New Jersey began using the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA), shorter assessments based on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).