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Middle School Statewide Assessment

For more than a decade, the department has developed and administered an eighth-grade assessment to determine whether students are making sufficient progress in mastering the knowledge and skills they will need to pass the state’s eleventh-grade assessment. The Grade 8 Early Warning Test was administered from 1991 through 1998 to help students prepare for the High School Proficiency Test (HSPT 11) in the eleventh grade. In March 1999, the department replaced the EWT with the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA). In 2008, a redesigned eighth grade assessment, NJ ASK 8, replaced the GEPA.  As a result of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requirements, the department expanded the state assessments to include grades 5 through 7 in 2006.  In 2008, the redesigned NJ ASK 5-7 replaced the interim ASK 5-7 of 2006 and 2007.

Please Note: The results of the redesigned NJ ASK 5-8 Language Arts Literacy (LAL) and mathematics cannot be compared with those of previous assessments due to changes in test design. In 2008, grades five through eight assessments were redesigned as NJ ASK 5-8. Grades five through seven of the new ASK 5-8 replaced the ASK 5-7 administered in 2006 and 2007. For grade eight, ASK 8 replaced GEPA marking 2007 as the last GEPA administration; however, the ASK 8 science test design remains unchanged from GEPA. It is important to note that the redesigned NJ ASK 5-8 for LAL and mathematics differ significantly in terms of item type, passage length, and testing time. Therefore direct comparisons of student performance across these tests are inappropriate.

Algebra I & II End of Course Tests