Assessment
HSPA
The High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) is a rigorous graduation test that eleventh-grade students take for the first time in March of their junior year.
In 1996, the State Board of Education adopted the Core Curriculum Content Standards to describe what all students should know and be able to do upon completion of a New Jersey public education. The Core Curriculum Content Standards delineate New Jersey’s expectations for student learning. These standards define the current New Jersey high school graduation requirements. The HSPA is aligned with the content standards and measures whether students have acquired the knowledge and skills contained in the Core Curriculum Content Standards necessary to graduate from high school.
The proficiency levels have been determined for each of the sections of the HSPA: Partially Proficient, Proficient, and Advanced Proficient. Students scoring at the lowest level, Partially Proficient, are considered to be below the state minimum level of proficiency.
The HSPA Mathematics assessment measures knowledge and skills in four content clusters:
- Number and Numerical Operations
- Geometry and Measurement
- Patterns and Algebra
- Data Analysis, Probability, and Discrete Mathematics
The Language Arts Literacy assessment assesses knowledge and skills in the two content clusters:
OCCUPATIONAL COMPETENCY TESTS
The State of New Jersey requires 87.5% passing rate by completers in all vocational and technical programs offered through occupational competency tests or certification tests.
Through this testing program we can measure:
- Curriculum effectiveness
- Instructional methods
- Successful linkage with the world of work
- Assessment requirements of School-to-Work legislation
- The transition between school and work
Many of the tests are comprised of two components: performance test and written competency test.
The performance test is a work sample test which requires the test participant to demonstrate his/her acquired skill be doing an actual segment of work using tools, materials, machines and equipment characteristic of the occupation for which the test is designed.
The written test is an effective instrument used to measure certain aspects of occupational competence such as factual knowledge and theoretical knowledge about the occupation.
Occupational Competency Report
NWEA (Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests)
Measures of academic progress (MAP) are state-aligned computerized adaptive tests that accurately reflect the instructional level of each student and measure growth over time. Students are tested in mathematics and reading.
MAP test provide highly accurate results that can be used to:
- Identify the skills and concepts individual students have learned
- Diagnose instructional needs
- Monitor academic growth over time
- Make data-driven decisions at the classroom, school, and district levels
- Place new students into appropriate instructional programs
The assessment itself is unique in that it adapts to the student’s ability, accurately measuring what a child knows and needs to learn. In addition, MAP tests measure academic growth over time, independent of grade level or age. Most importantly, the results educators receive have practical application to teaching and learning.