Most students in Newark Public Schools fell short of grade-level expectations in math and English language arts on New Jersey’s new state tests this past spring.
Fewer than 30% of Newark students in grades 3-8 were considered proficient on the exams in the 2025-26 school year, with rates ranging from 13.7% among eighth graders to 29.1% among third graders. In English language arts, proficiency rates ranged from 22% among fourth graders to 35% among seventh graders.
The results, presented at Thursday’s school board meeting, offer an early look at student performance under New Jersey’s new adaptive assessments. The tests, administered annually to students in grades 3-9, now adjust the difficulty of questions based on students’ answers. Changes to the tests’ content and scoring mean the results cannot be directly compared with those of previous years, district officials cautioned.
“The review of our achievement data requires a new lens,” said Rochanda Jackson, executive director of the district’s Office of Policy, Planning, Evaluation, and Testing, during a prerecorded presentation.
While the results are preliminary, this is the public’s first view into last year’s student performance metrics. The presentation came after delays in releasing the scores left educators starting the school year without results they typically use to identify students needing extra support and plan teacher training.
Newark’s general education students trailed statewide proficiency rates in math and English language arts, though the gaps were smaller in higher grades, Jackson said. Students across New Jersey also struggled on the new tests, with preliminary state results released in September showing that most third and fourth graders fell short of reading expectations and fewer than a quarter of eighth graders were proficient in math.
The findings offer an incomplete picture as New Jersey has yet to publicly release its full statewide results, including breakdowns by subgroup.
District officials also pointed to signs of academic progress. About two-thirds of Newark students demonstrated typical or high growth in math, while roughly 60% did so in English language arts, Jackson said.
Jackson reported that math proficiency increased across all tested grades and courses compared with last year, bringing overall performance within 0.6% of pre-pandemic levels. Ninth grade English language arts proficiency remained above pre-pandemic levels after surpassing them last year, she said.
Newark has expanded tutoring, summer and Saturday-school programs, and introduced a new English language arts curriculum to support students’ academic recovery. A national report released in May found that Newark students were learning faster than their peers in most U.S. school districts, though they remained more than two grade levels behind the 2019 national average in reading and math.
Superintendent Roger León said the district has begun working with teachers to adjust classroom instruction based on the new results. He said the district would continue providing additional academic support through before- and after-school programs and Saturday classes.
“They created a new test, which then creates a new baseline for us,” León said.
Samantha Olander writes about Newark and New York schools.
