Every year schools all over New Jersey, grades pre k- through 12th grade have to take an assessment called PARCC. PARCC is an acronym for Partnership for Assessment of the Readiness for College and Careers. This year, PARCC has been changed to NJSLA which is the acronym for New Jersey Student Learning Assessment.

In Manville High School, students grades 9-11 will be taking the NJSLA April 8th-17th. In the past, class of 2019 had to pass the assessment with a 725 minimum in English and Math. If a student does not reach the minimum score, students are given alternate assessments in order to graduate. Students will have the opportunity to take the SAT’s, ASVAB, the ACCUPLACER, or have to go through a portfolio process. The difference between the SAT’s, ASVAB, and the ACCUPLACER from the portfolio process, is that a student is assigned English or Math assignments that they have to complete, and then the portfolio gets sent to the state and they deice whether or not the student meets the requirements. The portfolio process is the last option or else the student will not be eligible to graduate.

Even though NJSLA may be stressful for students, it’s also stressful for the faculty. The school assigns certain teachers to run park and put everything together that is required. The school requires that assuming groups of students are done in November. What that means is that they have to assign certain students, on certain days, in certain locations throughout the school thus creating the entire schedule. Following that, the teachers that run NJSLA have to make sure all teachers that will be in each testing room will be covered for their main classes. The faculty get very involved with the assessment and there is a lot of moving pieces that go with it, and if there isn’t help there can be a lot of mistakes that can happen, so the faculty as a whole has to come together to get the job done properly.