Ramapo Indian Hills Algebra 1 State Test Results Nearly Double as Geometry and Algebra 2 Fall

Ramapo Indian Hills reported at its Oct. 12 Board of Education meeting that 44% of students who took the state's Algebra 1 test last spring met or exceeded expectations, up from 23.3% a year earlier.^[1][2] Results fell on the district's two smaller math tests: 59% met or exceeded expectations in geometry, down from 80.1%, and 48% in Algebra 2, down from 90.4%.^[1] The state, which switched to a new test last spring, has cautioned against comparing the results directly with earlier years'.^[3] The district finished above the state on all three math tests, by a single point in Algebra 2, and below Bergen County on all three.^[4]

In English, 71% of ninth graders met or exceeded expectations, up from 66.9% and above Bergen County's 63% and the state's 51%. In science, about a third of juniors scored proficient or above, as in each of the two previous years.^[5][6]

Wyckoff eighth graders choose between the district's two high schools, Ramapo and Indian Hills. The New Jersey Student Learning Assessments are given mostly to ninth graders in English and in Algebra 1, geometry or Algebra 2, and to juniors in science. Spring 2026 was the first year the state ran the English and math tests through a new testing company, Cambium, in an adaptive format that adjusts each student's questions based on earlier answers.^[7]

Share of students meeting or exceeding expectations, from slides shown at the meeting and posted on the district's website. County and state figures are Wyckoff News sums of the slides' figures for the top two of five levels; the presenters did not state them.^[1][4][8][9]

The county gap is at the top level. On all three tests the district had a larger share than the county at the "met expectations" level, but a smaller share at the top "exceeded expectations" level: 15% of its geometry students, for example, against 41% countywide.^[4]

Algebra 1

"Algebra 1 was a main focus during the last school year in terms of practice problems throughout the year and practice with the online platform," said Mike Kaplan, the district's math supervisor.^[2] The figure remains below 2024's 49.4%.^[1] Nearly all of the 307 students who took the test were ninth graders.^[9] Statewide, the share meeting or exceeding expectations in Algebra 1 rose 2 percentage points, according to the district's slides.^[10] Last year Kaplan told the board that the district's Algebra 1 results come only from ninth graders, while a K-12 district would also include advanced eighth graders who take the course.^[11]

Geometry and Algebra 2

Kaplan called the geometry drop "a surprising result" and said this year's figure was closer to 2024's 67.8%.^[12] Statewide, the share fell 5 percentage points in geometry and 25 in Algebra 2, according to the slides.^[10] Lisa Haberl, the state Department of Education's executive director of teaching and learning, told NJ Spotlight News, which reported preliminary statewide Algebra 2 results falling from 80.4% to 45.5%, that they "shifted more than we might have anticipated."^[3] Asked about the declines, Kaplan said "some of it was the student, the older students taking the test," "some of it was a new test," and that some of the topics students struggled with "we taught after the test."^[13]

Darren Groh, the district's director of curriculum and instruction, said part of the swing came from which students were tested. In 2024, he said, "the test administration was not done correctly," and every student in the three math courses was tested, rather than ninth graders and students who had not tested before. In 2025 the district "kind of overcorrected" by testing only ninth graders, so 2025's geometry and Algebra 2 results reflected "our highest level ninth grade math students." This year, transfer students who had not yet tested were included again.^[14] The Algebra 2 group nearly doubled, to 40, about 14 of them transfer students, Groh said.^[9][15] By the slides' figures, about 19 students met or exceeded expectations in Algebra 2 in each of the two years.^[1][9]

The district's posted presentation lists its math plans, including a Math Lab class for Algebra 1 students and online practice through Delta Math and ALEKS.^[8]

English

English results remain below 2024's 80.5%.^[5] The share of special education students meeting or exceeding expectations rose from 29% to 42%, said Nancy Blomquist, the English supervisor.^[16]

Science

Angela Manzi, the science supervisor, said the class was the first tested since the district's rotating block schedule began, which cut the science credit structure from seven and a half credits to six "along with the loss of instructional time."^[17] A third of the district's juniors scored proficient or above, against 39% in the county and 29% statewide; another third scored at the lowest of four levels, against 34% in the county and 44% statewide.^[6] The district's presentation notes that this was also the first year of the science test on Cambium, with new questions; unlike English and math, it was not adaptive.^[8]

During questions, a board member noted that last year "we said a lot of the same things" and asked Manzi to identify what students weren't learning.^[18]

Manzi said the district held steady while the state declined, which she described as "consistent with small gains"; the slides show the district's share unchanged and the state's down 2.8 percentage points.^[19] "We know that the test doesn't count for our students," she said; the science test is not a graduation requirement.^[19][20] Every student now takes biology first, she said.^[21]