The Number Every New Jersey Parent Needs to See

Right now, across New Jersey, only about 2 in 5 students are testing at grade level in math. Just over 1 in 2 are proficient in reading. That’s not one struggling district. That’s the entire state, according to the New Jersey Department of Education’s own 2025 NJSLA results.

Turn it around and the picture is stark: roughly 3 in 5 New Jersey students are not meeting grade-level math standards. Nearly 1 in 2 are not meeting grade-level reading standards. And this isn’t a one-year dip, reading proficiency is still below the 2019 rate of almost 3 in 5, even after several years of “recovery.”

What “Grade Level” Actually Means

In New Jersey, grade level isn’t a letter on a report card. It’s measured every spring by the NJSLA (New Jersey Student Learning Assessment), tested in grades 3 through 9, against a specific set of standards called the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. A student who isn’t “meeting expectations” hasn’t just underperformed a test, they’re missing the specific skills the state says they need before the next unit, the next grade, and the next year of material stacks on top.

It Gets Worse With Age, Not Better

The gap widens as students move up. By 8th grade, fewer than 1 in 5 students taking the general math assessment are proficient. Even the stronger students who test into Algebra I only reach about 2 in 5 proficiency. Either way, a majority of New Jersey 8th graders are not meeting grade-level math expectations.

And there’s a harder truth underneath all of this: independent national testing (NAEP) suggests New Jersey’s own test may be understating the problem, not exaggerating it. On NJSLA, about 1 in 2 NJ 4th graders were called proficient in reading — but on the more rigorous NAEP, fewer than 2 in 5 were. A similar gap shows up in 8th grade reading. In other words, the real number may be worse than the one the state reports.

Why This Should Alarm Every Parent

Reading is foundational to every other subject, not just English class. A child who struggles to read struggles to access science, social studies, word problems in math, and eventually their own independence and self-advocacy.

Math compounds differently, but just as dangerously. A gap in 3rd grade arithmetic doesn’t stay in 3rd grade — it becomes a crack in 4th grade, a fracture in 5th, and by middle and high school, a wall blocking every STEM-adjacent path forward.

Why Waiting Is the Real Risk

NJSLA results come back months after the school year has already moved on. A’s and B’s on a report card can coexist with “not proficient” on the state standard, because classroom grades and state proficiency measure two different things. By the time most parents find out there’s a problem, months, sometimes years, of foundational learning have already passed by.

The First Step Is Awareness

Given the current state of education in New Jersey, waiting for the next report card or the next round of state testing is not a neutral choice, it’s a risk. The earlier a gap is identified, the easier and less costly it is to close.

At Genie Academy, our team assesses exactly where your child stands against New Jersey’s real grade-level standards — kindergarten through 12th grade and builds a plan around their specific gaps, not a generic worksheet. Find out where your child really stands, today.

We teach math, reading, writing and coding in small classes at our seven New Jersey centers, and test prep for the assessments that come later.

Sources: NJ Dept. of Education 2024–25 NJSLA results, reported by Chalkbeat Newark (Dec. 9, 2025); NJ Education Report, “New Jersey’s Disconnect on ‘Proficiency’ in Reading and Math” (Mar. 6, 2025), comparing NJSLA to NAEP.