On November 9 Governor Chris Christie approved legislation, P.L. 2015, c.134 (A-3079 / S-2766 (Jasey, Diegnan, Mainor, Wimberly, Oliver, DeCroce, Turner, Ruiz)) which prohibits the administration of standardized assessments to students in kindergarten through second grade. Thanks to NJPSA efforts earlier this year, the new law includes an exclusion to that ban for diagnostic and formative purposes.
Specifically, the legislation was amended back in February of this year to permit a commercially-developed standardized assessment be used by a teaching staff members ‘to identify particular student learning needs or the need for special services, or to modify instructional strategies for individual student learning.’ The law also specifically states that a classroom teacher or a board of education is equally permitted to develop, administer, and score an assessment for students in those grades.
The law is effective as of the beginning of next school year.
For questions regarding this or other legislation, please contact NJPSA’s GR Team at 609.860.1200.