Graduation Readiness Rate Decreases In Hillsborough High School For 2025

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the rates as graduation rates versus graduation readiness rates.

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough High School saw a decrease in its student readiness graduation rate from 2024 to 2025.

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Lisa Rebimbas provided a presentation on the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment(NJGPA) in Hillsborough.

The NJGPA is designed to measure the extent to which students are graduation-ready in English Language Arts(ELA) and Mathematics.

The Hillsborough High School 2025 graduation readiness rate fell to 94.1 percent in ELA, which is 1 percent lower than in 2024, which was 95 percent. The state average for graduation readiness for ELA was 82.5 percent in 2024 and 81.3 percent in 2025.

The Hillsborough High School 2025 graduation readiness rate also fell to 83.6 percent in mathematics, which is also 1 percent lower than in 2024, which was 84.6 percent. The state average for graduation readiness for mathematics was 55.6 percent in 2024 and 58.5 percent in 2025.

"As you can see, the 2025 scores are within 1 point of the 2024 scores. In both ELA and math, the district continues to exceed the state average percent as students determined as graduation-ready," said Rebimbas. "We are well below the not graduation-ready percentage as compared to the state, which is where we want to be."

Looking into the data further, Rebimbas shared the breakdown of graduation readiness by ethnicity/race.

"A slightly lower percentage of our Black and Hispanic Latino students are graduation ready in ELA than the district percentages. And a lower percentage of our Black and Hispanic Latino are graduation ready in math than the district percentages," said Rebimbas.

Rebimbas also shared the breakdown of graduation readiness by specific subgroups, including special education and economically disadvantaged students.

"A look at our graduation readiness of the NJGPA by program shows a lower percentage of our students with IEPs[Individual Education Plans] are both graduation ready in ELA and math than our general education students," said Rebimbas. "Additionally, a lower percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged are graduation-ready in math than our non-economically disadvantaged students."

Rembimbas said that students who are not graduation-ready will be identified for support before retesting in October.

Overall, Rebimbas said the data clearly identified specific subgroups that require targeted support to enhance their graduation readiness.

As a result, Hillsborough School staff will further analyze the data to:

• Provide more granular insights for curriculum and instructional extensions and adjustments
• Determine targeted intervention for students before the October administration of the NJGPA

"The big takeaways... is we are doing a good job educating our students, but we also continue to see those gaps in certain areas that we have seen over time," said Superintendent Michael Volpe.

Volpe noted that Rebimbas has an excellent background as a middle school principal, director of special services focused on special education, "that you and I are starting to have some real conversations about how we can best support those students and close those gaps."

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