NJ student test scores improve, but grades 8 and 11 math lags

Four years after the pandemic emergency ended and K-12 performance plunged nationwide, New Jersey’s third through eighth graders are finally edging up to be on par with pre-pandemic levels, although they are yet to match their highest performance in nearly a decade.

Eighth grade math performance in 2025, however, still has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The state said that was because eighth grade data left out a small group of top-performing students, bringing down overall numbers.

Still, New Jersey’s elementary and middle school students are generally improving across grades and courses, Jordan Schiff, the state's assistant education commissioner, said of the testing results.

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The state released data about K-12 students’ performance on asse