you are. Thank you. Good morning everyone. Welcome to our state board of education meeting. Whereas the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced
notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. Whereas in accordance with the provisions of this act, the state board of education has caused notice of the meeting to be published by having
the date, time, and place thereof posted in the department of education, secretary of state's office, and notice also having been given to the state house press, the governor's office, and the state board agenda subscribers. Now
therefore, be it resolved that by adopting the resolution, the state board of education states its intentions to convene a public meeting to conduct the state's business on July 1st, 2026. May I please have a motion? >> Absolut.
>> Thank you very much. Board member Bennett, may I please um continue? I will now read the statement to adjourn to executive session. Whereas in order to protect the personal privacy and to avoid situations
wherein the public interest might be disserved, the Open Public Meetings Act permits public bodies to exclude the public from that portion of a meeting at which certain matters are discussed. Now therefore, be it resolved that
consistent with the provision of NJSA 10 column 4-12B, the State Board of Education will now adjourn to executive session to discuss personnel and legal matters. May I please have a motion?
>> Thank you. May I please have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. The board will now Oh, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um the board will um it's approved.
Is anyone saying nay? I don't think so. All right. Um it's now approved and we will convene within an hour. Thank you so much. Thank you. Remember that teacher who changed your life? You could be that teacher. New Jersey has
some of the best public schools in the country with competitive salaries and valuable benefits. Be that teacher. Visit teach inspire.nj.gov. Remember that teacher who changed your life? You could be that teacher in New Jersey.
You'll help shape the next generation alongside a dedicated community of educators. New Jersey has some of the best public schools in the country with competitive salaries, valuable benefits, and a solid pension plan. So, be that teacher. Make an impact. Teach Inspire
New Jersey. To learn more, visit teach inspire.nj.gov. If you're a teacher, you've had students tell you how much you mean to them. And for everyone who does, more feel that way, but may not say it. Remember that teacher who changed your life. You're that teacher to a lot of people. Teach
Inspire New Jersey. If you're a teacher, you've probably had students tell you how much you mean to them. And for everyone who does, there are more who feel that way but may not say it. You can't know how many, but it's more than you think. Because you've
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valuable benefits, and a solid pension plan. So be that teacher. Make an impact. Teach Inspire New Jersey. To learn more, visit teach inspire.nj.gov. If you're a teacher, you've had students tell you how much you mean to them. And
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Jersey. Jersey. Visit the teach inspire. PTO NJ Pto. Hold off. Remember that teacher who changed your life? You could be that teacher. New Jersey has some of the best public schools in the country with competitive salaries and
valuable benefits. Be that teacher. Visit teach inspire.nj.gov. Remember that teacher who changed your life. You could be that teacher in New Jersey. You'll help shape the next generation alongside a dedicated community of
educators. New Jersey has some of the best public schools in the country with competitive salaries, valuable benefits, and a solid pension plan. So, be that teacher. Make an impact. Teach Inspire New Jersey. To learn more, visit teach
inspire.nj.gov. Gov. If you're a teacher, you've had students tell you how much you mean to them. And for everyone who does, more feel that way, but may not say it. Remember that teacher who changed your life. You're that teacher to a lot of people. Teach
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Visit teachinspire.nj.go. gov. Okay. Good morning everyone. I'd like to please reconvene the meeting at this time. Um whereas consistent with the provision of NJSA 104-12B, the state board will now adjourn from
executive session to resume the open session portion of our meeting. May I please have a motion? So move. >> Thank you very much. Board member Bennett, may I please have a second? >> Thank you very much, Board Member Barry. Appreciate it. Um
are there is there um any opposition? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed, please say >> thank you. Any opposed, please say nay. All right. I'd like to begin by asking Dr. Keenan to please lead us with the
pledge of allegiance. And board members who are online, if you could unmute and speak with us, that's great. Thank you. >> I pledge algiance to the flag to the flag of the United States of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands.
One nation, >> one nation under God, indivisible indivisible with justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Okay.
>> So, welcome and thank you very much for joining us today. The state board meetings are accessible to the public for viewing on the YouTube channel. And I would like to advise that the YouTube also provides us with
accessible language translations and closed captioning. If you are viewing our simalcast currently, please know that you can use the settings option in YouTube for information regarding our subtitles, automatic
translations, and closed captioning in multiple languages. So now for the purpose of this meeting to begin, I would like to please appoint Commissioner Locks to be our pro our chair prom Pereé for the
limited purpose of conducting the election of our state board officers for 2026 2027. Um all those in favor please say I. >> I. Well, actually, first, may I please have a a motion and a second to go
through with that? Thank you very much. Board member Bennett, may please have a second. Thank you very much, Dr. Kenan. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Thank you. Any opposed, please say nay. Any abstensions? The motion is approved.
You have the floor. Thank you so much. >> All right. Good morning, everyone. So today we'll hold the election the annual election for the state board of education officers for the period of July 2026 through June 2027. So state law NJSA18A4-
requires that the state board of education organized at its first regular meeting following June 30th of every year with the election of a president and a vice president. So secretary of the board, it is my responsibility to conduct this election. Um President Goldenberg selected the nominating
committee. The nominating committee members are Miss Pñena, who is the chair, and Dr. Keenan and Mr. Shahada. The committee presented its slate at the June public meeting. At this time, are there any nominations from the floor for president? >> I nominate uh Kathy Goldberg.
>> Excellent. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. And vice president I nominate U. Mary Bennett. >> Just point of clarification, I I believe the committee's already nominated
candidates um in um the June board meeting. Uh and I'm assuming that their nominations are considered already, the two that I just mentioned. So, thank you A for mentions. Okay. >> Yes. Thank you, Member Fonte. That's
correct. Okay. Um, since we have uh just one candidate running for president, the election will be conducted by a voice vote, A or nay. And so the candidates will be voted on um in the order they've been nominated. So all in favor of Kathy Goldenberg as the president of the state board, please signify by saying I.
>> I. >> Opposed abstensions. The motion is carried. Congratulations, President Boulderberg. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um, I'm honored. Thank you. I love working with our board. Thank you.
>> All right. Um, for the vote for vice president, um, the election will be held by a roll call vote. Therefore, when each board member's name is called, please vote for your candidate of choice or abstain if you wish. The first candidate to receive the majority of votes will be the one elected.
So, as I will now conduct the election for vice president, again, when your name is called, please state the candidate that you are voting for or indicate if you wish to abstain. Diane will call the names in alphabetical order. >> All right. Arecelio Ponte.
>> Mary Bennett. >> Mary Bennett. >> Mary Bennett. >> Mary Beth Barry. Janette Penny. Ryan Butcher. >> Barry Bennett.
>> Jack Panero. >> Jack, I believe you're muted. Can you hear me? >> I can now. >> All right. Miss Pñena, please. >> Voding Kanan. Mary Bennett. Janette Pñena.
>> Joseph Ricka. >> Janette Pñena. >> Ahmed Jiada. >> Mary Bennett. James Williams, >> Ned Johnson, >> Mary Bennett,
>> and Kathy Goldenberg. Um, I'd like to work with both, so I'm going to abstain. So at this time there are five uh six votes for Mary Bennett and there are four votes for Janette Pñena.
>> Okay. At this point as all the votes have votes have been counted Mary Bennett has been elected vice president of the state board of education for the 2026 2027 term. So, I wish to congratulate the state board leadership, President Goldenberg and Vice President Bennett on their elections for the 2026 2027
school year. And I look forward to continuing our work together for the benefit of educators, staff, and students across the state. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, and then if do we have to officially would you I'd like to again thank the
board for um for the election process and the committee for working on it so diligently and um I'm very honored to work with all of our board members. They're tremendous and I'm excited to work with Vice President Bennett. And I
just want to also say that I've very much enjoyed working with Dr. Johnson and I look forward to continuing working with Dr. Johnson and um he has been a delight to work with and your leadership is very appreciated. So
>> did you want to say good morning since joining the board in January of 2024? It's been a learning experience. It's been an opportunity to work with colleagues and discuss issues of critical importance as we try to work with the department on behalf of 1.4
million students in over 600 districts. Uh Kathy Goldenberg has been a delight as our leader during my tenure. I look forward to working with her. But I have to say with all of my colleagues, we discuss, we deliberate, we question, we
get answers, and then we decide, and ultimately we vote. And all voting, all discussion, all decisions are on behalf of making things better for children and hoping to increase the best performance possible. And in this role, I'll continue doing what I've been doing.
Thank you. um officially. Do we need to give the the meeting back? Okay, great. So, now that um we can move forward um the central region. Well, first we're going to ask if the uh
minutes from the June 3rd meeting of 2026, if there's um anything that people would like to comment on before we vote on accepting them officially. May I please have a motion to approve
the minutes from our May meeting? >> So moved. >> June, sorry, our June meeting of the state board of education. >> So moved. >> Yes. So moved, Arcilio, thank you. May I please have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, all those in
favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Thank you. Any oppositions? Any abstensions? Uh, the motion is approved to accept the minutes from June. And now I'll go ahead with um my report. The central region
public hearing will be held here today in Trenton on corrections to the New Jersey student learning standards in the four content areas as follows. Career readiness, life literacies, key skills,
computer science and design thinking, world language, visual and performing arts, as well as the draft revisions to the New Jersey preschool teaching and learning standards. State board members Janette Pena,
uh, Mary Bennett, Claudine Keenan, and I will hear public testimony today regarding that. And for the month of August, we will not hold any public testimony as there are no topics that are scheduled. And now, it is my sincere pleasure to
introduce our new state board student representative, Miss Amelia Reynolds. She is from Collingswood, New Jersey, which is in Camden County, and her advisor is Katherine Whan, who is not with us
currently, right? But um but we're very happy to have you. So, we'd love to hear your report. Also, when we're having our meetings, Amelia, please feel free to add to the discussion. Just raise your hand and I'll call on you. And please go
ahead. Thank you. that there's a little button here. You just push it towards you. >> Is this on? Great. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Thank you, President Goldenberg. And good morning, members of the state board of education, commissioner,
department of education staff, and guests. Knowledge is power. This adage, however cliche it may be, is a universal truth and a statement that encapsulates why education systems exist. As Malcolm X said, "Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to
those who prepare for it today. Learning is the foundation of improving the world around us, and it is vitally important that students play a role in shaping the systems and policies that govern how they learn. As the 2026 2027 State Board of Education Student Representative, my mission is to provide a perspective that
reflects the needs and concerns of the students of New Jersey, a diverse and multifaceted community that I am proud to be a part of. As a rising junior at Collingswood High School in Camden County, I am fortunate to be immersed in academic, extracurricular, and personal experiences that expose me to a wide
variety of New Jersey students. I compete in a team setting with fellow student athletes through track and cross country, while also making friends with artistically focused peers through theater and concert band. I've gotten to know like-minded students from other schools at MAI United Nations conferences and in my role as an NJAC
state officer. Additionally, as a part of student council and callings with student voice action committee, I regularly hear the thoughts and ideas of peers who are devoted to improving the school community and speaking up about issues that matter to them. All of this exposure has given me insight into the complex tapestry of New Jersey students
while also revealing how much work we as a state still have to do in improving equity and par between different schools in their resources and opportunities available for students. Ensuring that all students, no matter the school they attend, have access to a high quality education is extremely
important to me as I know how frustrating it can feel when you have to accept that your school is unable to offer certain classes or programs due to rising costs, tight budgets, state and federal mandates, and competing educational interests. Furthermore, I am also very passionate about creating
school climates where all students, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or ability, feel encouraged to involve themselves in school activities, and challenge themselves academically. In my upcoming reports, I hope to highlight areas where equity needs improvement in the New Jersey public education system and celebrate the
strides that schools are making to give students the support they need to thrive. Student leadership goes handinhand with implementing successful change in education. For real impact to occur in a learning environment, we need students who are willing to show up, advocate for themselves, and collaborate with others. I am grateful for the
opportunity to serve as permanent student representative to this board for the next 11 months and cannot wait to begin research for reports, listen to my peers insight into pertinent issues in education, and share these viewpoints with all of you. Having seated this table is a privilege that I do not take for granted, and I'm honored to be
representing the students of New Jersey in this setting. I'm so excited to see what my future in this role brings and will fulfill my duty with vigor, diligence, and heart. Thank you. So looking forward to working together with you and learning from you as you do
from us. But thank you so much. We welcome you and again, please participate whenever you feel like it. Please Good morning, Ben. I like something in particular that you said. Students who
show up, advocate, and collaborate. So much of life is showing up. If you're not there, if you don't have a seat at the table, where is your voice? Advocating is speaking up for yourself, and we know you're going to do that on behalf of the students who are not in this room. And collaborating, we look
forward to doing that with you. So, welcome. Anyone else? Would you like to say anything? Just >> also say thank you. We really value I think your perspective that you're bringing and bringing on behalf of your peers is incredibly important. Obviously, the school system is here to
serve students across the state. So, we thank you for your leadership and dedication and joining us. >> Thank you. Okay. So, we'll go ahead now. I think we'll please discuss our um
committee reports. Um we had an instructional policy meeting and Dr. Johnson, if you'd like to report on that and provide us with some insight. >> Good morning, uh President Goldenberg. Thank you. Uh the instructional policy
committee met on June 18, 2026 to discuss the department's efforts to finalize results for state assessments and provide them to school districts as soon as possible. The committee and department uh discussed the standard setting process
for both the New Jersey graduation profici proficiency assessment adaptive as well as the New Jersey student learning assessment assessment adaptive. and a timeline for presenting the recommended cut scores to the state board of education for approval. Uh the
committee looks forward to further discussions with the commissioner and department staff on this issue. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Johnson. And now, um we'll go ahead with our commissioner's report. >> Wonderful. Thank you again. Um I have
two reports this month and we're going to come back to uh the piece that um member Johnson just mentioned in terms of the standard setting in just a moment but I am going to go ahead and start with literacy and I think member Johnson again uh gets a shout out for encouraging us to have this conversation
with some regularity. So in a previous update I had shared with the board that we had been working on some different trainings related to literacy and continuing to support the science of teaching reading work. Uh these are four excerpts from what turned out to be a three-hour training and There's a lot more here. I tried to keep this to four
slides. It's still a tiny bit long- winded. Um, but I think hopefully that helps us start to continue the conversation about how do we support the science of teaching reading here in New Jersey. So, I really I love starting with this statistic and this piece of research finding. You know, I think for
many years low reading achievement and still in places is treated as an unfortunate but an inevitable reality. And that's not what research tells us. So researchers uh Moes and Dorgansson who you see here cited on the slide have shown that when students receive explicit systematic evidence-based
literacy instruction as many as 95% of students can learn to read proficiently. This does not mean that every student learns in the same way or at the same pace. But it does mean that reading success depends on the quality of instruction much more so than many people once believed. So, if most
students can be successful readers when they receive the right instruction, these persistent achievement gaps really should not exist. And this is part of our call to action. The question is not whether kids can learn to read. The question is whether our systems consistently provide instruction that
reflects what decades of cognitive science, neuroscience, and educational research have taught us about how reading develops. So, this work is foundational to what's already happening in New Jersey. Um, and I'll spend just a tiny bit more time on the research. Apologies. So, what you have in front of
you here is the simple view of reading. Um, which some folks I know on the board have have certainly already seen. Um, and this one is is from 1986, but it I think is still very clear in talking about what is this simple view. So, you see two sides of this mathematical
equation. Word recognition and language comprehension. So word recognition on the left is the ability to accurately and automatically recognize words on a page. And language comprehension is the ability to understand vocabulary, sentence structure, concepts, and
meaning. And I think this model really helps show why different readers struggle for different reasons. So one student may decode accurately and fluently, but they still struggle to understand what they're reading because they lack background knowledge on the topic. Another student may have strong
oral language and rich ideas, but they struggle to access text because that decoding still takes a lot of effort on their behalf. And both of these things create challenges uh in being a fluent reader. There's lots more research here. Folks may be very familiar with
Scarboro's reading rope, which really shows how skilled reader reading develop as word recognition skills become increasingly automatic and are woven together with language comprehension skills. And again, we know from a lot of these different studies how how this
works together. One of the pieces I'll just further emphasize is that this knowledge piece plays a really critical role. And studies continue to emphasize that. Students with strong background knowledge about a topic often understand
a text better than students with strong general reading skills but less knowledge. And in a study where children are given the same background knowledge, gaps in comprehension narrow significantly on a topic. So together all of these findings remind us that
effective literacy instruction is not just about helping students decode words. Phonics is important. Phonics is not the entirety of the science of teaching reading. Um but again, it's about this systemically building knowledge, vocabulary, and language so students can access increasingly complex text. So it's not a choice between
phonics and comprehension. It is explicit systematic instruction in foundational word reading skills. So decoding becomes accurate and automatic along with those rich language and knowledge building experience that support background knowledge and vocabulary.
So all of this understanding I could certainly talk about this research for much longer than we will today um but is already in much of what work New Jersey has undertaken. So up here we have two resources uh that again are already published that are really grounded in
the science of teaching reading and this concept about how do we translate this knowledge and this research into practice in our classrooms is what these two guides are trying to do in this framework. So the one on the left uh first focuses on evidence-based literacy
practices and universal screening. And we at this board have talked some about universal screening and we'll continue to talk about what we're seeing in terms of district implementation and results. Um but this is really crucial that screening part as again I mentioned this isn't still the same for all students and we need to make sure students are
getting that support before difficulties become entrenched. Really really important. Um and the second one that you see there on the right focuses on high quality instructional materials. Even the strongest teacher, if they don't have access to materials that are grounded in this research and that work
together to build knowledge coherently for students, they'll struggle to really again make sure that this science becomes a reality. So together, these two things provide a roadmap for strengthening literacy systems. And I will further emphasize that we have some incredible bright spots here in New
Jersey. So we have places where these practices are absolutely happening in action. And I think we can continue to highlight those and share those so folks can see what this really looks like even here in New Jersey. Overall, our goal with this is coherence. It's really
making sure that we have alignment across the entire system. So, we'll continue to come back together on when we say literacy, what does that mean in terms of how we approach this and how we approach support. Uh, but I'll quickly walk you through a little way we're thinking about it.
Part of why I spend this time on the research is that for all of us this vision for what should students actually get to experience in classrooms is really really important. So if we are doing literacy well as a state that means that kids are actually reading rich text. They have explicit
instruction and decoding. They get the individualized supports that they need and they're getting access to those grade level texts every single day. That doesn't happen by magic or by accident. We know that that requires our educators to get training and support. We have to make sure again that their
prep is aligned to their coaching is aligned to what they have access to. Um they have access to those high quality materials with the embedded screeners and that they get the opportunity to plan for and execute on that individual student follow-up. That also takes school system supports to make sure that
teachers have that make sure those materials are there. Make sure that literacy screener data is analyzed and that teachers are supported accordingly. And then at the system level, this research, evidence, best practice, making sure that we're sharing the bright spots and we're helping make this
easier for our districts so that ultimately we see this vision in every classroom is what we're working towards. So I promise to try to give you the short version of this today, but I think um with literacy is we you know our responsibility is to make sure that this
knowledge is widely spread and that our students benefit from it. And if we can align our students, schools, and systems um around this evidence-based practice, we can make sure that we improve literacy outcomes for all students and um and make sure that that's our path
forward. So, thank you. I will pause to see if there are questions, reactions, or other pieces before my second update. >> Does anyone have questions or comments at this time? Yes, ma'am. Amelia, >> what the universal screening means?
Could you give a quick explanation of that? >> Absolutely. Um, universal screening means that there are specific skills and foundational literacy that need to be measured. Uh, and so a new law has screener uh, requirements for K through three and they test specific pieces
again of students ability to do these discrete skills. So they provide much more targeted information for teachers and coaches about where does a student need support in their literacy journey. Um, happy to share a little bit more, but a great question. Thank you, Amelia.
Anybody else at this time? >> Okay, thank you very much. >> All right, thank you. Give away the clicker here, but I will go ahead and introduce our next topic. Um, so next, as I previewed and as member Johnson uh indicated from our committee meeting, I'm pleased to
introduce a presentation that's intended to familiarize the board with the standard setting process that follows the introduction of New Jersey's new adaptive assessments. So in the coming months, this board is going to be asked to adopt recommended cut scores for these assessments. And we want to make
sure that everyone understands how these recommendations are developed. So this is a highly technical process that follows established national assessment and psychometric standards but also relies on the judgment of assessment professionals, statistical analyses and
panels of actual New Jersey educators. So all of these come together to make this recommendation and our role as policy makers is not to serve as the technical experts but to make sure that we understand the process, ensure that it's rigorous and credible and evaluate
the recommendations that emerge from it. So to walk us through that process today, I'm pleased to introduce Dr. Jordan Schiff, the assistant commissioner for teaching and learning services and John Fogani. I really can't believe I just messed that up, John. >> John's going to restate his last name,
director of the office of assessments. Thank you both. >> You did well, Commissioner. That was fine. Thank you very much. Um, good morning, President Goldenberg, Vice President Johnson, and members of the state board of education. Today we would like to present information on the NJGPA
adaptive and the NJSLA adaptive standard setting process. >> We will begin we will begin with an overview of standard setting. The questions we will be focusing on why do new standards need
to be set? What is standard setting? How does standard setting work? How does standard setting impact the reporting timelines? Following this, we'll discuss the reporting timeline starting with the 2627 school year.
As New Jersey moves to a new assessment that is measuring the New Jersey student learning standards in a new way, a new baseline needs to be established. This is done through a standard setting. More information about the standard setting process will come in the next slide.
There are a number of reasons why New Jersey has transitioned to an adaptive test. Adaptive assessments give us clear and more precise picture of what students know. Because the test adjusts to each students level, high achieving students get appropriately challenging
questions and students working towards grade level proficiency get questions that pinpoint what they do understand. The adaptive assessments can generate actionable data on student achievement and progress towards learning standards at the district and school levels,
pinpointing which schools need additional support to improve outcomes. Since 2018, stakeholders have voiced a strong desire for the department to consider moving to an adaptive test format, indicating that many in the field understand its benefits. Students
can benefit from adaptive testing, too. When a test feels appropriately challenging, students may experience less frustration, less boredom, and less anxiety. In the spirit of moving to the next generation of assessments in New Jersey, shifting to adaptive testing modernizes
the system. It strengthens item banks, improves security, increases flexibility, and aligns our state with best best practices already used across leading states and large-scale assessment programs. The assessment has been designed for New Jersey students by
New Jersey educators based upon the 2023 New Jersey student learning standards. The adaptive platform allows the test to assess the breadth of grade level standards so schools and districts can have a more complete picture of their curriculum alignment to the standards.
In short, adaptive testing gives us more precise information, a better student experience, and a stronger, more modern statewide assessment system. Standard setting is the process of translating the written descriptions in the performance level descriptors or
PLLDS into numerical scale scores. It involves establishing cut points or thresholds that divide scores into distinct performance levels. New Jersey educators will recommend where these thresholds should be set, indicating the points at which students
demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities consistent with grade level, course level, or graduation ready proficiency as divi defined in the PLLDS. The first step in completing the standard setting is to develop the
performance level descriptors or PLLDS. The PLDS are a description of the knowledge, skills, and abilities a student should be able to demonstrate at each performance level for each standard. What that means is that each tested standard has five performant
level descriptors for the New Jersey student learning assessment adaptive program. The department worked with KBM to draft the PLLDS for ELA and mathematics. In late July, educator committees will meet to review the PLLDS, provide edits, and ultimately
approve them for use in the upcoming standard setting meeting. The second step for standard setting is developing what is called the ordered item booklet. This document consists of a selection of items from the administration arranged from the easiest
to the most difficult. The educator panelists participating in the standard setting will use this booklet to identify where the items shift alignment from one PLLD to another. For example, moving from level one to level two.
The department has been recruiting educators to participate on advisory committees for the list of accept from the list of acceptable educators. The standard setting panels will be comprised of a mixture of educators, supervisors, and instructional coaches from across local agencies and charter
schools representing urban, suburban, and rural districts from counties throughout New Jersey. Panelists are trained on how to complete the task of assigning the PLLDS to each of the test questions in the ordered item booklet. The facilitator leads the
panelists through multiple rounds of review that include individual judgments, group discussion, and data feedback. After multiple rounds of review and receiving feedback on which impacts the proposed cut scores would have on
student outcomes, the committee works to converge on a final recommended cut point for each performance level. The reporting for the spring 2026 administration of the NJGPA adaptive and NJSLA adaptive programs is delayed
during the first year because of the standard setting process and additional quality control procedures that are standard for the first year of a new assessment. Beginning with the administrations for the 2627 school year, the depart department is
anticipating much faster reporting timelines than what New Jersey experienced previously. The standard setting process adds extra time in the first year because of a few main factors which include that the standard setting requires using actual
student results from an operational administration. Since student data is required, the standard setting meetings can only occur after the administration and scoring are complete. The New Jersey educators that will be
participating in the event will be provided detailed training to the process. The recommended cut scores from the panelists will be reviewed and analyzed for defensibility and they will undergo a policy review to ensure the meanings of the performance
levels are representative of what was intended to be measured. Following receipt of the standard setting report, the department will meet with our technical advisory committee to evaluate the recommended cut scores and the process overall. The next step is to
present the recommended cut scores to the state board of education for review and adoption. Once cut scores are adopted, reporting can be finalized and released. While reporting is delayed in this first year due to the extensive handcoring of the ELA writing prompts
and the standard setting requirements, the department anticipates earlier reporting in the following administrations. for the fall's NJGPA adaptive reports will be returned to districts prior to the winter break and the spring NJSLA
adaptive results for 2027 are anticipated to be released to districts by June 30th. The June 30th date means districts will receive final reports almost two months earlier than we were able to provide previously.
Additionally, where student data was locked to the administration previously, now student scores will move with that student. That means that if students transfer schools or districts, any results that they have in the assessment system will be visible to the new school
and district. Beyond this, districts will be able to roster students in the assessment platform to teachers they will be moving to the following year. This will allow those teachers to not only see student level results for each individual in their class, but the
system will aggregate the information so that they are able to review class level results. Educators will soon be able to see overall general strengths and weakness of their class in aggregate prior to meeting their students on the first day of school.
This now concludes our presentation. We're available to answer any questions that you may have. Yes, Madam President. >> So, our uh sorry, our committee did mute about this and I've already asked the question before, but I thought the public may be interested also. Um the
educators that you have that are helping prepare this. I think you said there were 16 of them or 18 >> different between math, >> the math and the ELA. Do you want to speak about that in detail a bit more and where they are? If they're from the
south, the north, the east, um I'm sorry, you know, the north, >> look at all of the different regions of of the state, as well as ensuring that they represent our urban districts, our suburban districts, as well as our rural districts. That kind of diversity of experience is very very important
because we want to ensure that um that the judgments are representative of all of the teachers throughout our state. Jordan, I'll just add and uh again the prior to the conversations about the cut scores, the board will receive much more detailed executive summaries that will
have uh specifics in here. So, I just want to emphasize that for today it's the process, but you'll have this in the technical reports. >> Okay. Thank you. Um board member Bennett. >> So, during Vice President Bennett, sorry, sorry, I'll get it. >> It's Mary Bennett regardless of what
precedes the name. Um so what the public is not getting now is the benefit of the instructional committee uh discussion which is uh President Goldenberg alluded to. So we had um 14 people who worked on the ELA
and 16 people who worked on the math and we talked about the training that people went through. >> I'm I'm so sorry to interrupt. I do just want to clarify that um on the committee we were only speaking about GPA and this process is something that we have to repeat for each assessment. So I just wanted to add that clarification.
>> Okay, we so we talked about the uh NJGPA- A which is the students like Amelia class of 2028. Um that's their test NJGPA and we had quite a good discussion and a lot of our questions
were were answered in terms of process to get to standard setting. So while this is the abbreviated version I think in our discussion we pressed for quite a bit. I think my colleagues would agree and we appreciate the information that you provided for us at that time. So there's more to come, right,
Commissioner? >> Absolutely. >> More to come and it'll be specific to each administration. So we will have a detailed conversation about GPA and then we'll have a detailed conversation about SLA. So thank you for letting me add that clarification. >> Please call on um past president Arcelio Ponte.
Uh thank you, Madam President, and congratulations to you and Vice President Mary Bennett. Um thank you. >> Just just wanted to uh comment that um I I'm pleased that we're working towards a more efficient process and certainly uh
pleased to hear about uh the timeline for the 26 27 year. uh is certainly uh important for us to put in the hands of teachers the the assessment uh outcomes of students as soon as possible and the
parents for that matter. And so um I as a board member will do what I can to support you commissioner and your team and helping to get um these test results into the hands of of teachers and parents as quickly as possible. So um
count on us to to help you uh uh drive forward this uh this timeline for for this academic year. So uh just want to applaud you and your team for moving this forward and thank you for sharing the process. So it's for for our
understanding. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um I'd like to please call on Jack Bernaro next. Board member Farara, you're muted. >> Is it Ron?
>> I can't see. It's wrong. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Dr. Butcher, you're next, sir. >> First question is, Arcelia, why do you get to get called the former vice former president and I don't get to call former president?
Just being funny. Sorry, Commissioner. >> It was just so long ago, Ron, that people forget. >> I wanted I wanted to give you that opportunity. Anyway, Commissioner, I I basically want to echo what Arcilio said. I'm I'm
really pleased that how we're moving forward and my only reason in speaking today is to let you and your team know that I really think uh you're doing a great job and we're moving in the right direction. and I'm excited to see what's going on.
That's it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else have comments at this time? Okay. Thank you. >> Just quickly again um thank folks and again I know uh these are some very technical processes that we want to make
sure folks understand. So we really appreciate folks uh engaging and and starting this conversation ahead of us having those uh actual conversations about adopting cut scores. So, thank you again. Thank you to everyone. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Yes, please. >> Uh, moving on to our items for
consideration today. I do not have any personnel recommendations to make this month. Um so next we are moving on to certification of school districts and six since the June 2026 state board meeting the executive county superintendents have finalized three NJQs interim reviews for school
districts implementing district improvement plans in one or more of the five areas of school district effectiveness and 41 NJAC full reviews in the five areas of school district effectiveness. So today I am recommending 26 of these districts for
certification and Mr. Ambrose Ducket the third, assistant commissioner, and Mr. Robert Gregory, executive director for the division of field support and services are here to share a little bit more and respond to your questions. >> Good morning. >> Thank you, Commissioner.
>> Good morning, president, members of the state board. Great to see everyone this morning. Uh we just wanted to highlight for you those districts that we are recommending for certification. We're going to start with one district that was on a district improvement plan uh
for several years and have has met the 80% benchmark and that is Woodward School District in Berlin County. We have three schools in Essex County who have uh underwent a comprehensive review
and are uh certified as high performing. That's Bloomfield Township School District, Essex County Schools of Technology, and the New York Public School District. In Gloucester County, we have Deepford Township Public School District, Green Ridge Township School
District, Monroe Township Public School District. In Mercer County, we have Hope Ball Valley Regional School District, Robbinsville Public School District, West Windsor Plainsboro Regional School District. And in Middle Sex County, we
have Carterette Public School District, Middle Sex County Vocational and Technical School District. In Mammoth County, we have Homegall Township School District, Little Silver Burrow School District. In Mars County, we have Butler
Public School District, East Hand River Township School District, Floren Park School District, and excuse me, as I scroll down here, Montville Township School District, Mars County Vocational School District, Mount
Olive Township School District, Peekquin Township School District, and Roxbury Township School District. In Ocean County, we have Ocean I'm sorry, uh, B School District and
Somerset County, Book School District, Montgomery Township School District, and North Planefield School District. At this point, we will open it up for any questions you may have. And please note of the 16 that were not
Oh, it's on not speaking into it. Of the 16 that were not certified as high performing, six were within three points in instruction and programming. So that is showing progress. And now we'll open the floor for any questions. I don't see anyone with their hand up
and so therefore >> go I think we have one question. Uh, sorry. >> Just a comment. >> Just a comment. Just uh wanted to mention that I'm really pleased that one of our previously state controlled
school district is up for certification, the U North public school system. And so really proud to see that. and um also just proud of all the districts but particularly the ones also in Middle Sex County both Carterette and the Middle
Sex County vocational technical school districts which I'm very familiar with. So um just want to congratulate all the districts. >> Thank you. And uh as board member Bennett Vice President Mary Bennett asked but before we do have three
district improvement plans for your review and the board's review. one from North Jersey, one from Central Jersey, one from South Jersey. >> Thank you very much. And when the bill comes, I will abstain as Newark is my district. Uh I am so thrilled that we
finally got to this point, 22 and a half years under state operation and then now six years back under local control. And for my colleagues, uh, when we worked on the redistribution of points, we said we needed to let districts that are making progress get the recognition for the
progress, and this shows it does work. So, I'm I'm just over the moon. Thank you so much. But I will abstain during the official vote. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? Okay. All those in favor of accepting
the district's recommended for certification, uh, please indicate. Well, I need a motion first. I'm sorry. I'm always ready to jump ahead, please. Board member Pñena, may I have a second? >> Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Board member Keenan. Um, all those in favor of accepting the districts for uh recommended for certification, please say I. I. I. Thank you. Any opposed? Please say nay.
And any abstensions? >> I. >> Okay. For Newark. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you.
>> Yes. Now we'll go ahead for >> resolution. Resolution donated funds. So today I'm pleased to announce that the New Jersey Association for Former County Superintendent has generously donated funds totaling $1,400 to the Marie H. Katsenbach School for the Deaf. Kimberly Murray, acting assistant commissioner
for the Division of Educational Services, is here today to provide you with details and respond to your questions. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. >> Are there any questions regarding the donation offered um to the Captain
School? May I have a motion to accept that? Thank you very much. May I please have a second? >> Thank you. Thank you. Board member Barry. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> I.
>> Thank you. Any oppose, please say nay. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries. Thank you very much. >> Super. >> Thanks, Kim. Thank you so much. >> Um, all right. Next, uh, we have a resol resolution to adopt the revised practice
test and qualifying score for middle school social studies. So, today I'm pleased to present this resolution, um, a revised practice content knowledge test and its qualifying score for middle school social studies. So this assessment along with other measures ensures that candidates seeking the
middle school social studies grade 5 to8 endorsement have demonstrated the appropriate level of mastery mastery knowledge to offer high quality instruction in this area to students. So back with us is Jordan Ship, assistant commissioner uh and Kim Gatty, acting director of the office of recruitment
preparation and certification to present the overview and respond to your questions. >> Thank you Commissioner. Good morning President Goldenberg. Um, Vice President Bennett, congratulations. And members of the state board, we are here to present a resolution to adopt the revised practice content knowledge assessment in
the area of middle school social studies. Last month, we presented this at discussion level and today we are presenting it for adoption. >> As we discussed on Hello, there it is. As discussed at the June meeting, the middle school
social studies test used as part of the eligibility for the middle school social studies endorsement grades five to eight redesigned with a new instructional focus on critical thinking and making connections among historical events, geographical locations, economic trend.
It's also changes the test structure by eliminating the essay portion but increasing the number of multiplechoice questions from 120 to 140 and organizing content categories. The content uh of the redesign test is broadly aligned to national standards and is reviewed by
educational experts uh to ensure relevance and rigor. uh ETSs engaged expert uh in educa experts in education to review the test uh the content and to confirm alignment to current uh expectations and standards. The outcome
of these studies resulted in the updated test and a new recommended cut score. The recommended cut score reflects the entrylevel knowledge expectations that they have for new educators. ETSs will expire the existing test 5089
on August 31st of this year. The resolution proposes the state board adopt the revised assessment and the recommended cut score of 149 effective September 1st. The proposed cut score is the recommended cut score from the standard setting study and we referred
to standard setting earlier in uh today during a different presentation. While it may look like we are proposing to adopt a lower score for the assessment, the department is not lowering standards or are we lowering the cut score. We are proposing to adopt a new cut score based
upon recommendations of the standard setting study that is aligned to the revised national standards equivalent level of content knowledge needed for a novice educator. In other words, these cut scores are based upon a revised assessment and corresponding cut scores
appropriate to that specific assessment. you're available to answer any of your questions. >> Thank you. Um I was fortunate to be in on the committee meeting so I got to ask a lot of questions and are there any other questions at this time about the
cut score? Yes, Mary Bennett. I'm sorry, Mary Barrett. >> I just had a comment. Um I was also privy to some of those conversations. I'm always concerned on what the general public is thinking. They're seeing uh New Jersey again, we're lowering scores.
How are we getting that out to educators and parents and letting them know that the rigor is still there? We're have high expectations, but those numbers are not necessarily the same and so that they're not getting a misperception.
>> Yeah, it's a different test with a different cut score based upon the evaluation of different standards. And as clear as we can state it today is the clear indication that that Kim and her colleagues as we're talking to the EPS about these type of things need to
communicate out in the public and we'll continue to do so every opportunity we get. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. And uh Dr. Ra, board member Ricka. >> Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Commissioner, and thanks to the department and uh right along with with
my colleagues um question during committee. We asked a lot of questions related to the creation of the assessment um how it's new and and how it's been field tested as well. And so really do appreciate all the answers that we received and that this test now
reflects the the the land the landscape of of assessment uh in this area and is right in line with that. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Anybody else at this time? Questions or comments?
>> Dr. Rick, your uh hand is still up. That's not intentional. Okay. All right. So, may we uh please have a motion to accept the new Tutsport as recommended. Thank you very much. Board member PA, may I
please have a second? >> Second. You said Dr. Keenan. Thank you very much. Port member Keenan. Um, all those in favor of accepting the cut score, please say I. >> I. >> I.
>> Thank you. Anyone opposed, please say nay. Are there any abstensions at this time? Hearing none, the motion carries unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Very good. Um, well, we had
our new business for today, so thank you for that. Um, and if there's nothing else, I'd like to please ask for a motion to adjourn at this time. Thank you very much. Board member Pena, may I please have a second?
>> Second. >> Second. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. That was um board member Shahada. Thank you. Um all those in favor please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed?
All right. Um we will be having our um hearing for standards and we'll start that in is there a definite time? 1:00 it's scheduled for. So thank you very much. Take care and have a wonderful July everyone and a safe and happy July
4th. Thank you.