New Jersey: Frequently Asked Questions Of The Office Of Evaluation and Assessment (continued)

Q. Which subject areas are tested by the state, and at which grade levels?

A. As of 2005, New Jersey administers assessments in mathematics and language arts literacy (which includes writing as well as reading) at grades 3, 4, ,8, and high school (11/12). In addition, science assessments are administered in grades 4 and 8. In 2006, the NJDOE will be administering assessments in mathematics and language arts literacy at grades 5, 6, and 7 but they will be field-tests only. They will become regular operational assessments starting in 2007. Finally, a science component will be added to the HSPA starting in 2007.

Q. Don’t statewide assessments encourage "teaching to the test"?

A. The statewide assessments are aligned to New Jersey’s Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCCS). If schools and teachers are using the CCCS as the basis for classroom instruction, then there should be no problem of a distorted "teaching to the test" since, by design, teaching to the test would mean teaching these standards.

Q. What allowances are made for the particular needs of special education and limited English proficient students?

A. A wide range of accommodations are afforded limited English proficient (LEP) and special education students during the administration of the statewide tests. These accommodations may range from more time or the use of a dictionary to the provision, in the case of vision-impaired students, of a Braille form of the test booklet. Detailed descriptions of the accommodations and related policies are included in assessment informational materials and on the DOE web site. In addition, a portfolio-based assessment, the Alternate Proficiency Assessment (APA), has been developed to measure the progress of students with severe cognitive disabilities.