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Is It Time for New Jersey
to Abandon a Testing
Requirement for Graduation?
By Sean Devine, Director of Secondary Education, The School District of
the Chathams
Students in New Jersey (ELA) and mathematics, and a pass- On New Year’s Eve 2018, a panel of
sat for the High School ing score on this assessment had state appellate court judges ruled that
been a graduation requirement to
the regulation contradicted a state law
Proficiency Assessment receive a high school diploma since that declares students need to pass a
(better known by its 2001. What has followed that final single test administered in 11th grade.
administration of the HSPA has been
The current regulation specifies two
acronym, HSPA) for the a bumpy transition to end of course tests students must pass to receive
last time in March 2015. testing thrown into chaos by a recent a diploma: an ELA test in tenth grade
and an Algebra 1 test that is taken
state appellate court ruling that struck
The HSPA assessed high school down the regulation stipulating the cur- by some students as early as middle
juniors in both English Language Arts rent graduation testing requirement. school.
Educational Viewpoints -60- Spring 2019
