At its Oct. 29 meeting, the Belvidere School District Board of Education reviewed the results of the school’s standardized tests from last school year. The presentation covered data from the Grades 3 to 11 New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA), the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA), AP subject tests, PSAT, and SAT.
Of the presentation’s 24-minute runtime, coverage of NJSLA results took about four minutes. The presentation indicated that Belvidere students scored lower than the state average in 17 out of the 18 grade-level subject tests.
In an analysis of the original NJDOE testing results obtained by the Ridge View Echo via OPRA request, findings show that Belvidere students not only fall below the state average. Over 70% failed to meet grade-level benchmarks in every subject from Grades 3 to 8.
Belvidere Students Fall Below Benchmarks in Droves
Students statewide take the NJSLA every spring starting in Grade 3. The test measures individual student progress as well as district progress toward statewide learning outcomes.
Scores for the English Language Arts (ELA) and math subject tests range from 650 to 850. The science test, administered to Grades 5, 8, and 11 only, ranges from 100 to 300.
Scores are further classified into five performance levels:
Level 1 – Did not yet meet expectations
Level 2 – Partially met expectations
Level 3 – Approached expectations
Level 4 – Met expectations
Level 5 – Exceeded expectations
The ideal is for as many students as possible to score in Levels 4 and 5. Scores in these categories demonstrate the student’s mastery of grade-level benchmarks. In other words, they prove that the student can do what someone at that grade is expected to do.
While state law requires every public school to disclose its NJSLA results to the public, it does not specify which metrics schools must disclose or in what format. The presentation at the Oct. 29 meeting indicated that in nearly every NJSLA subject test, Belvidere’s overall average score fell below the state average. It did not include information on the five performance levels and the percentage of students meeting grade-level expectations.
The following tables show Belvidere’s testing performance according to the NJSLA’s five performance levels, with comparison to New Jersey’s statewide performance.
Grade 9’s ELA results show considerable improvement compared to Grades 3 to 8, though they are still trailing below the state average.
A look at class size indicates one possible explanation.
Belvidere High School’s population includes students from three sending districts: Hope, Harmony, and White Township. This is reflected in Grade 9’s larger overall class size in Spring 2025: 73 students compared to 41 in Grade 8, an increase of 32 students.
In previous years, all three sending districts scored higher than Belvidere at the elementary level. While Spring 2025 test scores have not yet been made public for all school districts, a comparison of the Spring 2024 scores shows that Harmony attained a Level 4+ scoring percentage of 33%; Hope, 50%; and White, 74% vs. Belvidere’s 29%.
This is potentially significant when looking at the number of students who showed proficiency in high school. In Belvidere’s Grade 8, four students scored Level 4+ out of 41 total students. In Grade 9, the number of proficient students rose to 27– a number that may reflect the influx of students from the higher-achieving sending districts.
In math, the situation appears more mixed at first. While Belvidere students still consistently scored lower than the state average, the difference between the passing percentage of Belvidere students vs. the state percentage is smaller than in ELA. In the Grade 8 Algebra I class, Belvidere students even exceeded the state average, both in their collective score and their percentage of Level 4+ scorers.
Two pieces cloud potential optimism.
One is the data from Grade 8 math. In a class size of 24, not a single student scored at Level 4 or 5. In other words, no one in Grade 8 math could meet grade-level expectations.
Moreover, the majority of that class (62.5%) fell into the lowest performance level, Level 1 – Did Not Yet Meet Expectations.
This is not the first time that Belvidere has seen these results, either. NJSLA results from Spring 2024 show this is the second consecutive year that Belvidere’s entire Grade 8 math class has fallen below benchmarks.
Low math scores in general have been common since the pandemic, especially in Grade 8 math. Across the state, that grade in particular continues to struggle on the math test. However, the degree of struggle seen in Belvidere’s Grade 8 is unusually severe. In Spring 2024, only one other school in Warren County showed a 0% passing rate in Grade 8 math.
Part of the Grade 8 math results stem from a class split. Instead of offering a single math class for eighth graders, BES offers both Grade 8 and Algebra I. The algebra class demonstrated a much higher rate of achievement than any of BES’ other math classes: 47.1% of the class demonstrated proficiency vs. the state’s 37.9%.
Disaggregated data shows that out of the 17 students in the Grade 8 Algebra I class, none had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), a personalized instruction plan meant to accommodate students with learning differences. In contrast, Grade 8 math included 10 students with IEPs out of a total class size of 24.
In general, students with special education needs struggle more with school and especially in math. Yet the number of Belvidere students scoring in the lowest performance level in Grade 8 math is 15, a number that includes five students without IEPs.
If Grade 8 Algebra I and Grade 8 math are considered together, eight out of 41 Belvidere eighth graders demonstrated proficiency in their respective math classes this spring: about 19.5%, a number in line with BES’ performance in the other grades.
Belvidere’s science performance also fell below state averages, though the difference was the smallest of the three subjects.
Overall, Belvidere’s NJSLA results revealed a consistent pattern of academic struggle. In every subject test given to Grades 3 to 8, over 70% of students fell short of grade-level expectations. In nine of the 19 tests, over 85% of students could not demonstrate proficiency.
High School Scores Higher
Results from the high school standardized tests showed greater levels of achievement.
The five-year summary of AP test results indicated that about two-thirds of Belvidere students score a 3 or higher on their Advanced Placement tests.
The PSAT-10, PSAT, and SAT slides also demonstrated strong results: an average SAT score of 1010 at Belvidere vs. 888 for the state. This includes an average math score at Belvidere of 485 vs. the state average of 437.
The data indicated that 47 Belvidere students took the SAT.
On the NJGPA, a test that measures the graduation readiness of eleventh graders, 77.5% showed readiness in ELA vs. 80.7% for New Jersey. In math, 51.3% qualified as graduation-ready vs. 58% of the state.
Students can use either their NJGPA or SAT scores to demonstrate graduation readiness. Those who cannot attain those scores work with the school to create a portfolio of academic work as an alternative proof.
At one point in the meeting, Dr. McKinney said that about 30 students use the portfolio as their graduation requirement. The size of the graduating class was also estimated as 80 total. Though an estimate on both ends, if these numbers are accurate, they would mean that a little over 37% of the graduating class uses the portfolio as proof of graduation readiness.
District Response
The presentation included a brief description of some tools that the district intended to use in order to address student learning gaps.
The Ridge View Echo reached out to school administrators with its initial analysis. In response, superintendent Dr. Jessica Garcia replied via email:
“At our recent board retreat on Nov. 12, 2025, we engaged in thoughtful discussions, which included the identification of district goals. An area of focus is improving student growth and achievement. We are committed to strengthening the use of student data analysis so that instruction is targeted, timely, and responsive. By working collaboratively with teachers, families, and community partners, we look forward to supporting measurable improvements on state assessments that more accurately reflect the true potential of our students.”
The recording of the Nov. 12 board retreat, posted on the school’s website, does not include a discussion of student academic growth.
There is instead discussion of working with social media tools and the community to highlight existing student achievement. At timestamp 35:57 of the retreat’s recording, one board member said, “I think we have achievement. I don’t think we need to come up with new types of achievement to identify. I think we need to enhance the recognition of it.”
Dr. McKinney did not respond to a request for comment.
The next Belvidere board of education meeting will take place tonight, Nov. 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Chip O'Chang is an educator, fiction writer, and lifelong resident of New Jersey. He has also written for My Life Publications and NJ Indy. He lives in the NJ Skylands with his partner, two cats, and and a bearded dragon.
- Chip O'Chang, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/chip-ochang-contributing-writer/
- Chip O'Chang, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/chip-ochang-contributing-writer/
- Chip O'Chang, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/chip-ochang-contributing-writer/
- Chip O'Chang, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/chip-ochang-contributing-writer/
