High School Graduation Test Could Be Eliminated In NJ With Proposed Bills

TRENTON, NJ — A bill eliminating the high school graduation proficiency test in New Jersey is moving through the state legislature, and would take it off the requirements for students to graduate.

Only 11 states maintain a testing requirement for high school graduation, bill sponsors wrote, while saying standardized tests can be inconsistent and biased.

The bill has versions in both the Assembly and Senate which were both introduced later last year (S3308/A4639), and specifically prohibits the State Board of Education "from including in the standards for graduation from high school a requirement that students achieve satisfactory performance on the Statewide graduation proficiency test."

The bill is on the docket for the Assembly's education committee meeting on Thursday at 10 a.m. Democratic Assemblymembers Mila M. Jasy (Essex/Morris), Ralph R. Caputo (Essex), and Angela V. McKnight (Hudson) are the sponsors, with 12 other bipartisan members co-sponsoring.

From Start Strong in the fall to the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment in the spring to district-level assessments, school districts have standardized testing scheduled for some of their students nearly every month of the school year.

It is particularly intensive in high school, where students are taking the PSAT, various college entrance tests, and have been subject to passing the graduation test for decades. Related article: Student Testing In NJ: Too Much Or Not Enough?

The graduation exit testing "does not accurately represent student learning or career and college readiness," Jasy wrote in the bill, and added studies have shown "numerous flaws" with standardized testing.

"Studies have shown numerous flaws with standardized testing, including variation in student performance based on external circumstances, strong racial and socioeconomic biases, and inconsistency with material taught in class," she added.

This story contains reporting by Patch's Karen Wall.