A Glossary of Terms

Assessment
A state-developed or state-approved standardized instrument or process that measures student performance levels on the Core Curriculum Content Standards.

Test specifications
Test specifications have been developed for those content areas which are currently projected to be assessed. They are available for language arts literacy, mathematics, science and social studies. They will be updated after the revised standards are adopted.

Sample tests
Sample tests are published by NJ Department of Education. Examples of similar tests given nationally and internationally are readily available on the Internet, and may be used as models for teachers, as well as practice for students. You may find them for all grades.

Core Curriculum Content Standards
Standards adopted by the State Board of Education May 1, 1996, and as thereafter revised by the State Board, which describe the knowledge and skills all New Jersey students are expected to acquire by the benchmark grades of fourth, eighth, and eleventh-twelfth. These standards are established for the provision of a thorough and efficient education.

Cumulative progress indicators
These are statements which further delineate the Core Curriculum Content Standards.

Curriculum frameworks
Documents published by the Department of Education that include and elaborate on the Core Curriculum Content Standards for kindergarten through grade 12 education and that may assist in the development of local curricula.

NJ ASK
New Jersey Assessment of Skills & Knowledge (grades 3 - 7) is used to determine cumulative achievement of the Core Curriculum Content Standards as measured by the statewide assessment system. Scale scores range from 100 to 300 with the Proficient standard at a score of 200 and the Advanced Proficient standard at a score of 250.

GEPA
March 1999 marked the first administration of the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA). The GEPA has taken the place of the Grade Eight Early Warning Test, which had been administered to eighth graders from 1991-1998. The GEPA is intended to provide information about student progress toward mastery of the skills specified by the Core Curriculum Content Standards in all seven subject areas. GEPA score is a scale score used to report the language arts literacy, mathematics, and science section results. The score scale ranges from 100 to 300 with the proficient standard at a score of 200 and the advanced proficient standard at a score of 250.

HSPA
High School Proficiency Assessment has replaced the High School Proficiency Test (HSPT) and is used to determine student achievement of the knowledge and skills specified by all areas of the Core Curriculum Content Standards and Workplace Readiness Standards. The HSPA will test all of the standards, and students must pass all sections of the test as one of the requirements for a high school diploma.

Performance Assessment
Demonstrations of what students know and can do, including such things as open-ended or constructed-response questions, essays, portfolios of student work, projects, and reports of laboratory or work-based experiences.

Performance Level
One of several categories describing student proficiency with regard to the achievement of the state's Core Curriculum Content Standards defined by cumulative progress indicators.

Proficient
A score achieved by a student at or above the cut score which demarks a solid understanding of the content measured by an individual section of any state assessment.