Get Your Child Ready for NJ ASK Testing

It's that time of year again when students throughout the state prepare for and take NJ ASK tests. Some background -- The Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA) was administered at grade 4 from 1997 through 2002 to provide an early indication of student progress toward achieving the knowledge and skills identified in the Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCCS).

In spring 2003, the department replaced the ESPA with the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK), a comprehensive, multi-grade assessment program. Along with other indicators of student progress, the results of the elementary-level assessments identify students who need additional instructional support in order to reach the CCCS.  Many school districts  also use these tests to place students into appropriate class levels.  For example, for students entering 6th grade, some students are ready for pre-algebra, while others still need to build up their bath math skills.

The merits of standardized testing such as NJ ASK have been widely debated by educators and politicians.  Many teachers resent that their normal teaching plans get scuttled by district-wide requirements to use class time to prep students for the test.  At the same time, in some districts,  teachers are evaluated by the test results of their classes.  And of course, principals and other administrators feel enormous pressure for their schools to perform  well - relative to state standards as well as other communities.

Like it or not, for most parents NJ ASK is one of the most important indicators on how their child is doing academically - and the results should be taken seriously. 

There are other, independent options for academic assessement.  At Think Tutoring, among other resources, we use McGraw-Hill's California Acheivement Test (CAT) within our comprehensive Diagnostic Assessments.  The CAT test is used to determine grade level equivalence in Math and Reading. We also break down the test to isolate specific skill strengths and  weakness, such as numeration, integers, fractions so that our individual tutoring plans address a student's major areas for improvement. In reading, the tests isolate information, organziation, generalization, inference and vocabulary skills.

Parents who are interested in seeing how their child performs on standardized prior to NJASK should contact us as 973-593-0050.