Official Site of The State of New Jersey
NJSLA-ELA Companion Guide: Grade 9
The New Jersey Student Learning Assessments for English Language Arts (NJSLA-ELA) measures student proficiency with grade-level skills, knowledge, and concepts that are critical to college and career readiness. On each assessment, students read and analyze passages from authentic fiction and nonfiction texts. The test can also include multimedia stimuli such as video or audio. The NJSLA-ELA assessments emphasize the importance of close reading, synthesizing ideas within and across texts, determining the meaning of words and phrases in context, and writing effectively when using and/or analyzing sources.
For high school students, the content coverage for ELA task types (i.e., Literary Analysis Task, Research Simulation Task, and Narrative Writing Task) will be represented across grade 9 and on the ELA component of the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA). The grade 9 blueprint is composed of a Narrative Writing Task and Research Simulation Task. The ELA blueprint for the NJGPA includes a Literary Analysis Task and Research Simulation Task. This organizational structure ensures that high school students have an opportunity to complete all three ELA task types prior to graduation.
The NJSLA-ELA blueprints define the total number of tasks and points for any given grade or course assessment. Grade 9 has one blueprint for all students. The grade 9 blueprint consists of a Narrative Writing Task, Long or Paired Passage Set, and Research Simulation Task.
The NJSLA-ELA assessments:
- align to a representative sampling of standards and evidence statements;
- reflect the balance between literary and informational texts;
- include a writing task in each unit and associated scoring rubrics;
- align to the ELA Task Models;
- maintain all item types (Evidence-Based Selected Response; Technology-Enhanced Constructed Response; and Prose Constructed Response); and
- report on all five subclaims and performance levels.
The units, ELA task types, and testing times for grade 9 are outlined in the ELA: Grade 9 table below.
ELA: Grade 9
| Unit | Task | Time (minutes) |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 |
|
90 |
| Unit 2 | Research Simulation Task | 90 |
| Total: 2 Units | All Tasks | 180 |
The NJSLA-ELA blueprints and additional test support documents (e.g., evidence statements, scoring rubrics) can be found in the Test Content and Other Information webpage of the NJSLA Resource Center under Educator Resources.
If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Assessments at assessment@doe.nj.gov.
