Monday April 29 marks the last day that the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment will be administered to ninth through eleventh grade students at Scotch Plains – Fanwood High School. The exam, which tests student on both mathematics, science and English Language Arts, took place over the course of eight days starting on April 8. This year marks a switch over from the PARCC exam to the NJSLA, after New Jersey dropped the test in Feb. 2019.
 
In addition, for the first time this year the New Jersey Department of Education announced that the number of test items on the exam would be reduced, thus reducing the number of days and topics that the exam covered.
 
Still, the exam caused an evident disruption in the school with classes being moved or displaced to brand new locations. Because the exam fell on the weeks before the AP exam, many students lost time in their AP classes to prep for their upcoming tests.
 
“My AP Biology class met 20 minutes later than normal most days so I had to spend more time studying at home than I usually would.” senior Kayla Reisberg said.
 
In addition, students taking the NJSLA had a modified schedule, which meant that students did not attend all of their classes on certain days or their classes met at different time slots.
 
Whether students sat for the exam or remained in their classes, it is clear that the NJSLA had an effect on SPFHS.