More Sobering Data on NJ Students’ Learning Loss and a “Wake Up Call” for NJ Parents

More sobering analysis surrounding the recent “lackluster” performance by New Jersey students on national assessments and the attendant long-term decline in student achievement, as well as the welcome arrival of a new organization, Wake Up Call New Jersey, which seeks to alert New Jersey parents to this grim reality.  It’s not a pretty picture but parents should know the truth.

I. MORE NAEP ANALYSIS: LONG-TERM DECLINE

JerseyCan looked at the percentage of New Jersey students who were “proficient” on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the bi-annual test known as “The Nation’s Report Card.”  In Table 1 below, note the declines since 2019, which reveal the learning loss suffered as a result of extended school closures during COVID.  But also note that scores are significantly lower since 2013.  In other words, New Jersey student achievement has been declining for over a decade.

Table 1. Percentage of Students At or Above Proficient

II. ABYSMAL RECOVERY FROM COVID SCHOOL CLOSURES BUT PARENTS ARE UNAWARE

As the numbers in Table 1 show, New Jersey’s recovery from COVID school closures has been abysmal. How abysmal? The Harvard-Stanford Education Recovery Scorecard* has ranked state educational recoveries since COVID:

• Math: New Jersey ranked 43rd among the states for recovery in math. The average student achievement remains over two-thirds of a grade level below 2019 levels.  91% of New Jersey students are in districts where 2024 math achievement was below 2019.  Students in large districts like Newark, Paterson, Edison, Hamilton, and Trenton were more than a full-year behind 2019 levels.  A full year!
• Reading: New Jersey ranked 29th for recovery in reading. The average student was almost half a grade level below 2019.  81% of students are in districts where 2024 reading was below 2019.

Yet New Jersey parents appear to be oblivious to this below-grade-level performance by their kids.  In a recent poll, 89% of parents erroneously believe their children are at or above grade level, according to NJEdReport.

III. WAKE UP CALL NEW JERSEY

Enter a new organization launched by New Jersey philanthropist Laura Overdeck.  Wake Up Call New Jersey provides accessible data that shows that despite what parents believe (or want to believe), all is not well in many New Jersey school districts.  It’s not just New Jersey’s large achievement gap between high-performing (usually wealthier) school districts and low-performing (usually less wealthy) districts.  In many wealthier districts, things aren’t nearly as rosy as parents think (or want to think).

We encourage everyone to go to the Wake Up Call NJ website and see the data on how students in their school district are actually performing.  But here are a few low-lights in several “high-performing” districts:

• 50% of 5th graders in Cherry Hill can’t do math at grade level, yet Cherry Hill schools receive an “A” rating.
• 36% of 5th graders in Montclair can’t do math at grade level. Only 38% of Algebra students demonstrated grade level achievement.
• Even in Princeton, ranked as the second smartest city in the country, more than 25% of 4th graders can’t do math at grade level.

Of particular concern to parents in “high-performing” districts where most hope for their kids to go to college, these learning deficiencies show up in college-readiness as well:

• Even though most New Jersey students do not meet NAEP’s proficiency requirements (see Table 1), over 90% still receive a high school diploma.
• Similarly, less than 56% of 11th grade students demonstrated proficiency in the math section of the state test. The other 44% are classified as “not graduation ready,” yet 0ver 90% get a diploma.
• Only 44% of SAT test-takers demonstrated college readiness in math and reading/writing, and 40% of New Jersey’s ACT test-takers did not meet the ACT College Readiness Benchmark in math.
• More than 20,000 New Jersey students are placed into remedial education at two- and four-year colleges each year.

This alarming reality reflects an egregious dereliction of duty by Gov. Murphy.  At the behest of his teachers union political supporters, NJEA and AFT, Murphy allowed schools to remain closed far longer than in other states, particularly in high-poverty districts.  Even worse, Murphy’s initial recovery plans were delayed, unserious, and unsuccessful, wasting valuable time and resources.  Yet Murphy has never been held accountable. 

Maybe this will serve as a “Wake Up Call.”

*The Education Recovery Scorecard is produced by the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Education Opportunity Project at Stanford University, as presented in NJEdReport.