Middle School Statewide Assessment
For more than a decade, the department has developed and administered an eighth-grade assessment to determine whether students are making sufficient progress in mastering the knowledge and skills they will need to pass the state’s eleventh-grade assessment. The Grade 8 Early Warning Test was administered from 1991 through 1998 to help students prepare for the High School Proficiency Test (HSPT 11) in the eleventh grade. In March 1999, the department replaced the EWT with the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA). In 2008, a redesigned eighth grade assessment, NJ ASK 8, replaced the GEPA. As a result of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requirements, the department expanded the state assessments to include grades 5 through 7 in 2006. In 2008, the redesigned NJ ASK 5-7 replaced the interim ASK 5-7 of 2006 and 2007.
