Today, I had the opportunity to testify before the Assembly Education Committee on A4121, a bill that would eliminate New Jersey’s statewide graduation proficiency assessment and leave it entirely to local districts to determine what qualifies a student for graduation.
For anyone who follows education policy in New Jersey, this debate has been a long time coming. Our state has required some form of graduation assessment since 1980—well before federal testing mandates existed. The original purpose was straightforward: provide an early warning signal for students, parents, and districts, and require remediation when students were not on track for high school success.
A lot has changed in 45 years. Tests have evolved, standards have shifted, and federal requirements have come and gone. And I acknowledged that reality upfront: our current high school graduation assessment is far from perfect. It is condensed, limited in scope, and does not give parents or educators the timely, actionable information they deserve.
But the solution offered in A4121—simply eliminating the test with no statewide replacement—misses the core question New Jersey should be asking:
Are our schools preparing students for future success, and how do we know?
Right now, the statewide graduation assessment is the only comparable benchmark we have to answer that question across all districts. Remove it without a replacement, and New Jersey loses its ability to understand performance “apples to apples”—to track achievement gaps, evaluate progress, or hold the system accountable.
And the consequences go even deeper:
Without a statewide standard, the meaning of a high school diploma will begin to diverge from community to community. A diploma earned in one town could represent something very different than a diploma earned in another. As Assemblywoman Fantasia noted, a diploma in Asbury Park could end up meaning something entirely different than a diploma in Chatham.
That is not equity. That is fragmentation.
As I told the committee: this bill is a hatchet when New Jersey needs a scalpel.
Why Now Is the Wrong Time to Rush a Structural Change
New Jersey is at a pivotal transition moment:
- A new Governor is taking office.
- New leadership will soon run the Department of Education.
- A reconstituted State Board of Education is on the horizon.
- And the Governor-Elect has convened a respected group of education experts on his transition team who are already examining issues like this.
This is precisely the moment to pause and get this right.
Rather than eliminating our only statewide benchmark overnight, we should be having a thoughtful statewide conversation about what it should mean to graduate from a New Jersey high school—and how to assess readiness in a way that is fair, modern, meaningful, and useful to families.
And whatever comes next must address one glaring problem:
Parents deserve faster, clearer, more actionable information about how their child is doing.
They should not have to wait months for test results that arrive too late to help anyone. A modern statewide measure—graduation-related or otherwise—must deliver real-time or near-real-time insights.
The Outcome
A4121 ultimately passed the committee, with Assemblywoman Fantasia as the lone “no” vote sharing simular concerns about moving too quickly without a viable replacement, and about creating a system where graduation standards splinter district by district.
NJPI’s message was clear:
Do not make a structural change of this magnitude without a plan for what comes next. New Jersey needs modernization—not elimination.
Where We Go From Here
We urge the Legislature to slow down, allow the incoming administration and transition-team experts to fully engage, and craft a thoughtful, precise solution that reflects the needs of students and parents in 2025 and beyond.
NJPI stands ready to help design a system that works—for families, educators, districts, and the taxpayers who invest so heavily in every New Jersey student.
