Should New Jersey drop its high school graduation exam for good?

For the first time in decades, thousands of New Jersey high school seniors will pick up their diplomas in June without passing a mandatory graduation exit exam.

The state waived the exam as a requirement for graduation under a law signed this year by Gov. Phil Murphy backed by lawmakers who said too many students were unprepared after pandemic learning losses. Instead, any results would be used as a field test to develop a new proficiency exam.

Students sit for the test a year before graduation, and most of the juniors who took it this spring failed, according to results recently released by the state Department of Education. In language arts, 39.4% passed and were deemed ready to graduate, while 49.5% passed the math portion — the first time that New Jersey administered the test after a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic.

The results furthered a growing debate about whether the state should scrap the controversial New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment altogether as a requirement for future classes. A state law on the books since 1979 mandates a high school exit exam.

With the clock ticking, the state has given no indication whether it will administer graduation exams for this school year’s juniors — members of the Class of 2024. The test has typically been given in March to about 100,000 students.

» READ MORE: First N.J. standardized test scores since the pandemic show students still struggling

New Jersey is among 11 states that mandate an exit exam to graduate from high school. Students who fail the exam can still graduate through an alternative assessment or a portfolio appeals process.

During a recent legislative hearing before the Joint Committee on the Public Schools, lawmakers and educators weighed in on whether the test should remain. Some called for Murphy to consider signing a bill to end the requirement.

“A high school diploma is 13 years of learning. This should be enough in order to graduate,” said Julie Borst, executive director of Save Our Schools NJ. “More testing doesn’t equate better outcomes for students.”

Joshua Glazer, an associate professor of education policy at George Washington University, said graduation exit exams can be an effective assessment tool and yield information to help the state and districts better allocate resources where students are struggling.

“Don’t we want to know how kids are doing by the end of high school?” Glazer said Wednesday. “It doesn’t mean it has to be the only measure.”

Perhaps, Glazer said, the state could keep the test but no longer make it mandatory, and instead use it to evaluate school performance.

“We don’t have to attach high stakes to it,” he said.

Some believe the test puts too much pressure on students and should not be used to measure what they have learned over the course of their secondary education. They contend students should be assessed on everyday classroom learning.

“No single test should be allowed to determine a student’s qualifications for graduation,” said Deborah Cornavaca, director of government relations for the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union. “We all know that it’s unfair.”

Stan Karp, of the Education Law Center in Newark, expressed concerns about the low passing rates. The exam is not a good barometer for student achievement for those who successfully complete other state requirements, he said.

“The Legislature needs to step in,” said Karp, a former high school teacher in Paterson.

Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D., Essex), a member of the Joint Committee, agreed. State Sen. Renee Burgess (D., Essex) called for more “teaching vs. testing.”

“These kids need help. They don’t need another test,” Caputo testified at the hearing. “We have to eliminate the New Jersey proficiency exam.”

School-by-school graduation proficiency results released last week by the state showed that students were still struggling to bounce back from learning disruptions from the pandemic. Some districts like Camden lost ground on gains made before the pandemic.

In South Jersey, the results varied by district, with the overwhelming majority not meeting the mark in either subject. In language arts, for example, 74.5% of students at Haddonfield High School were deemed graduation-ready, the highest in the tri-county area. In Glassboro, 20.6% passed, Delran 36.9%, Cherry Hill 48.9%, and Moorestown 57.9%.

Like other state tests, the exam showed a growing achievement gap among students of color, English language learners, economically disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities. Of those groups, Asian students were the top performers statewide with 69.7% passing in language arts and 84.7% in math.

Millville School Superintendent Tony Trongone, president of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, said the state must address the gap between where students live and how they perform. His analysis found scores in economically depressed districts fell 30% since the last test administered in 2019, compared with about 10% in high-performing districts.

Borst, of Save Our Schools NJ, said students who fail the graduation proficiency exam get bogged down trying to pass it or complete the portfolio. Some eventually drop out of school, she said.

“Our children lived through a pandemic that claimed a million lives. Their formal education was disrupted,” Borst said. “Get rid of the exit exam. We don’t need this.”