Comparison of Performance in MATHEMATICS on the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment - GEPA

The GEPA is administered to all NJ students in the Spring of their 8th grade year.  Current subjects tested include Language Arts, Mathematics and Science.  The test is an outgrowth of the former Early Warning Test.  The GEPA was first administered in SY 1998-99.  Student scores are ranked Partially Proficient, Proficient or Advanced Proficient.  

In years past comparisons have been based on the scores of the General Education students only.  In 2002 the charts were recast to include the scores of all students including Special Education and ESL students as required by the provisions of the federal "No Child Left Behind" legislation. This has the advantage of factoring  out the results of score management apparent in the reporting of some districts. 

As NCLB requires the reporting of scores by among other factors, race, the percentage of SOM White and Black students scoring Partially and Advanced Proficient has been added.

Also, apparently the tests for 2001-02 were rescored, and there were significant differences between the reports issued in 2002 and 2003.  The results here use the 2003 numbers.  No MEAN calculation is provided in 2003.

The percentage of all SO-M students scoring Partially Proficient in Math was about the same as that for all Suburban NJ students, but SOM White students were far less likely to fail the test than their dfg I counterparts while SOM Black eighth graders had a much higher incidence of failure than all Suburban NJ students. 

The percentage of all SO-M students scoring Advanced Proficient in 2004 fell below that of dfg GH, but the performance of SOM White students far exceeded that of dfg I while the percent of SOM Black students reaching Advanced Proficiency was well below the Suburban NJ level.

Data from NJ Report Cards