New Jersey assesses all public school students in math from grades 3-11 through standardized testing. Math assessment data (PARCC Math tests, grades 3-8, Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry) was obtained from publicly accessible files obtained from the NJ Department of Education for the years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
District Factor Groups (DFGs) represent the Socioeconomic Status (SES) of towns and cities in New Jersey. More specifically, DFGs are measured based on percent of adults with no high school diploma, percent of adults with some college education, occupational status, unemployment rate, percent of individuals in poverty, and median family income.
DFGs hold multiple purposes, including comparing students' performance on statewide assessments. DFGs range from A (low SES) through J (high SES).
The math assessment data was separated into different categories, including English Language Learners.
A question to be asked is, is the issue with low performing students that English is not their first language, or that they do not live in a wealthy community?
The cartographic boundary outlines of the school districts were obtained from the US Census Bureau in Keyhole Markup Language (KML). Conversions of the cartographic and assessment data were performed by: Google Fusion Tables, GeoJson.io, MapBox GL JavaScript, ATOM, Tableau and MapBox Studio.
The PARCC has a scoring scale of 1-5; Level 1: Did not yet meet expectations, Level 2: Partially met expectations, Level 3: Approached expectations, Level 4: Met Expectations, Level 5: Exceeded expectations.
Met expectations + Exceeded expectations = % passing students.