Governor Phil Murphy • Lt. Governor Tahesha Way

NJSLA-ELA Companion Guide: Grade 9

The New Jersey Student Learning Assessments for English Language Arts (NJSLA-ELA) measure 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. Test forms can also include multimedia stimuli such as video or audio. The 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-level assessment. Grade 9 has one blueprint for all students. The blueprint consists of a Narrative Writing Task, Long or Paired Passage Set, and Research Simulation Task.

The grade 9 ELA assessment:

  • aligns to a representative sampling of standards and evidence statements;
  • reflects the balance between literary and informational texts;
  • includes a writing task in each unit and associated scoring rubrics;
  • aligns to the ELA Task Models;
  • maintains all item types (Evidence-Based Selected Response; Technology-Enhanced Constructed Response; and Prose Constructed Response); and
  • reports on all five subclaims and performance levels.

The units, ELA task types, and testing times for grade 9 are outlined in Table 1.

Table 1 - ELA Grade 9

Unit Task Time (minutes)
Unit 1
  • Narrative Writing Task
  • Long or Paired Passage Set
 90
Unit 2 Research Simulation Task 90
Total: 2 Units All Tasks Total: 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 New Jersey Assessments Resource Center under Educator Resources. The New Jersey Assessments Resource Center also includes links to access the ELA Practice Tests and Released Items.

If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Assessments at assessment@doe.nj.gov.