Nearly 40% of New Jersey students who earn high school diplomas cannot do basic high school math, a new independent analysis found.
The findings land close to home. Cherry Hill's own school-level data show math proficiency well below district targets, particularly in middle school, where just 37% of students in grades 6-8 at Rosa International Middle School were proficient in 2024-25.
Education analyst Chad Aldeman, who formerly led a Georgetown University education finance research center, published the report titled "False Hope: New Jersey Kids Aren't Ready for College" on Sept. 9 through the organization We're All Solvers. He detailed his findings in a Tuesday, Sept. 15 interview with NJ Spotlight News.
New Jersey's graduation rate tops 92%, but roughly 40% of graduates are not proficient on the state's math exam, Aldeman said. The state achieved that high rate by lowering the passing score on its exit exam and expanding alternative pathways to a diploma, he said.
One pathway, a portfolio option for students who cannot pass the math exam, "is not standardized or verified across the state," Aldeman said.
Cherry Hill's numbers
Rosa's 37% middle-school math proficiency rate is published in the school's SMART goals document. The school set a target of 49% by June 2026. The district's 2030 goal for grades 6-8 is 68%.
Statewide, only 22.5% of eighth graders showed math proficiency on the spring 2026 state learning assessments, according to NJ Spotlight News reporting from Sept. 14.
At Bret Harte Elementary, about 60% of fourth graders met math expectations on state assessments, per the school's SMART goals document. Third graders fared better at 68%, and fifth graders at 71%.
The district's 2025-2030 Strategic Plan calls for a 10% increase in math proficiency across grades 3-11 by 2030, according to the district's end-of-year goals update. Cherry Hill high school math proficiency rates on the state graduation exam were not publicly available as of publication.
College impact
Aldeman told NJ Spotlight News the disconnect hits students hardest at college.
"It's demoralizing," he said. "A student takes algebra or geometry in high school, maybe earns A's or B's in those classes … and yet, shortly after they graduate from a New Jersey high school, they take a placement exam into Rutgers and Rutgers says, 'Oh, you have to retake some of those same types of classes with a similar name on them.'"
His report found more Rutgers students are being placed into intermediate algebra and other courses below the calculus level. Rutgers faculty have responded by moving assessments earlier in the fall and adding short quizzes to address incoming students' math gaps, Aldeman said.
State context
Statewide, 60.3% of 11th graders met graduation readiness in math on the spring 2026 NJGPA-Adaptive exam, up from 58.5% in 2025, NJ Spotlight News reported in August. But NJ Department of Education executive director of teaching and learning Lisa Haberl cautioned at an Aug. 5 state Board of Education meeting against reading too much into year-over-year changes, saying "some of the differences may reflect changes in how student performance is measured and evaluated."
Aldeman called the readiness gap "pervasive" and not limited to lower-income communities. He urged the state to raise graduation standards and release test scores sooner. Scores currently arrive in October or later, which he said "diminishes the urgency."
No public statement from Cherry Hill Superintendent Dr. Kwame R. Morton Sr. or the district responding to the report's findings was available as of publication.
