SPRING LAKE HEIGHTS — The Spring Lake Heights Board of Education (BOE) met Monday and discussed the 2024 New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA) scores, which showed a steady increase since last year and exceeded state-posted numbers.
All students grades three through eight took the NJSLA this past spring, and the school saw an overall increase in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations in all three testing subjects, including English Language Arts (ELA), math and science.
English language arts saw an increase of 7.9 percent of students meeting expectations compared to 2023, and 20 percent of students this year exceeded expectations of the state standards.
Mathematics saw an 8 percent increase in students meeting expectations from 2023 to 2024, and almost 5 percent are exceeding expectations.
In science, scores are ranked based on proficiency in subject matter and not state expectations, and are scored from a 1, meaning below proficiency, to a 4, signifying advanced proficiency. Overall, there was a 3.2 percent increase in proficient scores since 2023, and a 4.9 percent increase in advanced proficiency scores.
John Spalthoff, Superintendent and Principal at Spring Lake Heights, spoke on the overall pattern in scores this year.
“We want to see less students in that ‘not meeting’ or ‘partially meeting’ expectations area, and more in that ‘meeting or exceeding’ area of performance, and that’s basically the trend we saw across all of the grade levels this year,” Spalthoff said. “We always want to keep doing better than we did the year before.”
HIB report
The board also announced that there were zero reported Harassment, Intimidation or Bullying (HIB) incidents for the second half of last school year, in a report that is mandated by the state.
Spalthoff detailed some of the ways faculty works to keep those numbers at zero.
“We have a lot of training, including sensitivity awareness, online safety, bullying recognition, student mental health practices and management and translation strategies,” said Spalthoff.
The school’s New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights assessment score was 76 out of the maximum score of 78. Spalthoff detailed why the school’s score was two points shy of perfect.
“The only area that we didn’t give ourselves full credit for was identifying patterns in HIB, and reviewing climate and school policies to prevent HIB,” Spalthoff said. “It’s a bit tough to do those things when you don’t have any confirmed incidents in the school.”
The board members noted that they are proud of the positive environment in the school, and will keep up with their varied training with students to help prevent any possible incidents in the future.
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