JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

JAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of Results CoJDS is proud to present a detailed analysis of the 2019-2020 JSAT Level 8 exam. We strongly encourage you to read this document as it will help you understand the results in context. In the pages which follow, we will describe the demographics of test-takers, analyze the scores, and highlight points of interest gleaned from the exam. Section I – Demographics of Test Participants Number of Participants and Schools As of December 31, 2019, results were tabulated for 1,952 8th grade students who completed the 2019-2020 JSAT Level 8 exam in fifty-one schools across North America. The following is a list of lower schools that offered the exam to their students: School City State 1. Academies at Gerrard Berman Day School Oakland NJ 2. Adolph Schreiber Hebrew Academy of Rockland New City NY 3. Ahi Ezer Yeshiva Brooklyn NY 4. Bais Yaakov of Queens Kew Gardens NY 5. Barkai Yeshivah Middle School Brooklyn NY 6. Ben Porat Yosef Paramus NJ 7. Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy Stamford CT 8. Bnos Malka Academy Flushing NY 9. Bnot Yaakov of Great Neck Great Neck NY 10. Brauser Maimonides Academy Ft. Lauderdale FL 11. Bruriah Middle School Elizabeth NJ 12. Carmel Academy Greenwich CT 13. Emek Hebrew Academy Sherman Oaks CA 14. Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy Beverly Hills CA 15. Hebrew Academy of Five Towns and Rockaway Lawrence NY 16. Hebrew Academy of Long Beach Woodmere NY 17. Hebrew Academy of Miami Miami Beach FL 18. Hebrew Academy of Nassau County Uniondale NY 19. Jewish Education Center Elizabeth NJ 20. Jewish Foundation School Staten Island NY 21. Kinneret Day School Riverdale NY 22. Manhattan Day School New York NY 23. Mazel Day School Brooklyn NY 24. North Shore Hebrew Academy Great Neck NY 25. Park East Day School New York NY 26. Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva Edison NJ 27. Rohr Bais Chaya Academy Tamarac FL 28. Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey River Edge NJ

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

29. SAR Academy Bronx NY 30. Shulamith School for Girls of Brooklyn Brooklyn NY 31. Shulamith School for Girls of Cedarhurst Cedarhurst NY 32. Silverstein Hebrew Academy Great Neck NY 33. Sinai/RYNJ River Edge NJ 34. Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County New Milford NJ 35. Solomon Schechter School of Queens Queens NY 36. Tenafly Chabad Academy Tenafly NJ 37. The Moriah School Englewood NJ 38. The Rabbi Haskell Lookstein Middle School of Ramaz New York NY 39. The Shefa School New York NY 40. Torah Day School of Phoenix Phoenix AZ 41. Westchester Day School Mamaroneck NY 42. Yavneh Academy Paramus NJ 43. Yeshiva Derech HaTorah Brooklyn NY 44. Yeshiva Har Torah Bellerose NY 45. Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island Inwood NY 46. Yeshiva Merkaz Hatorah Staten Island NY 47. Yeshiva of Central Queens Flushing NY 48. Yeshiva Shaarei Tzion Girls School Piscataway NJ 49. Yeshivah of Flatbush Brooklyn NY 50. Yeshivat BitaHon Brooklyn NY 51. Yeshivat He'atid Teaneck NJ 52. Yeshivat Noam Paramus NJ

In addition, testing events were held in Chicago at the Ida Crown Jewish Academy and in Los Angeles at YULA school for girls who administered the exam as part of their high school application process. Events were also held at Yeshiva of Flatbush, Yeshivat Noam and our Cedarhurst offices for out-of-network students whose school did not offer the exam. Demographics of Test Takers Grade Level 8 9 10 Total Male / Female 877 / 1,075 1 / 13 0 / 25 1,991

Chareidi / Yeshiva 169 13 25 207 Day School / Modern Orthodox 1,670 1 0 1,671 Community 31 0 0 31 Other 82 0 0 82 All Test Takers 1,952 14 25 1,991

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

As can be inferred from the table above, 98% of students who completed the exam were in 8th grade, and approximately 86% of all 8th grade students who completed the exam attended schools that identified themselves as Day School / Modern Orthodox. The male to female ratio for students in 8th grade who took the exam was 45% vs. 55%. Considering that 98% of all test takers were in 8th grade our analysis will only focus on this population. Section II – Methodology: Our exam contained nine sections plus an optional Gemara section, which was scored separately. The mandatory portion of the exam consisted of 160 questions which were distributed as follows: Number of Section Questions Weight Section 1 – Chumash Skills 35 22% Section 2 – Chumash Vocabulary 10 6% 19% 30 ( ָפּ ָר ָ שׁ ה) Section 3 – Chumash Knowledge Section 4 – Critical Thinking 5 3% Section 5 – Dinim/Yediot Klaliot 30 19% Section 6 – Navi Knowledge 15 9% Section 7 – Hebrew Language Skills 25 16% Section 8 – Torah Sheb'al Peh 3 2% Section 9 – Tefillah 7 4% Total: 160 100%

Upon completion of the exam, we sent the raw results to Dr. Nilis Myszkowski, Ph.D. of Pace University for statistical analysis. Dr. Myszkowski who has worked as a psychometrics and statistics consultant for multiple domestic and international companies suggested that we drop forty-one questions from the exam to maintain the highest degree of internal reliability. Questions that lack this reliability might have been worded in a manner that was confusing or simply didn’t discriminate between high and low scorers reliably for some reason. The following is an example of two questions which were dropped.

and the ו' ַה ִ ה פּוְּך This question sought to measure if a student understood the function of a correct answer was C.

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

Another example of a question that was dropped:

The answer is A and would seem to be pretty straight forward. Thus, it is difficult to know at times what makes a question lack internal reliability. However, be that as it may, based on Dr. Myszkowski’s recommendation, the revised distribution of questions became as follows: Number of Section Questions Weight Section 1 – Chumash Skills 24 20% Section 2 – Chumash Vocabulary 10 8% 18% 22 ( ָ פּ ָר ָשׁ ה ) Section 3 – Chumash Knowledge Section 4 – Critical Thinking 4 3% Section 5 – Dinim/Yediot Klaliot 18 15% Section 6 – Navi Knowledge 13 11% Section 7 – Hebrew Language Skills 20 17% Section 8 – Torah Sheb'al Peh 3 3% Section 9 – Tefillah 5 4% Total: 119 100%

Section III – Results for Students With and Without Learning Differences

No Reported Learning Diff Students With Learning Diff Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: Number of Students: 1,505 641 864 447 234 213 AVG Score Male Female AVG Score Male Female Section 01: Chumash Skills 77% 74% 78% 64% 62% 66% Section 02: Chumash Vocabulary 82% 79% 85% 70% 67% 73% Section 03: Chumash Knowledge 71% 71% 72% 59% 58% 60% Section 04: Critical Thinking 30% 33% 27% 23% 24% 22% Section 05: Dinim / Yediot Klaliot 80% 78% 81% 69% 68% 70% Section 06: Navi Knowledge 58% 54% 61% 47% 44% 51% Section 07: Hebrew Language 48% 45% 51% 35% 34% 36% Section 08: Torah Sheba'al Peh 66% 70% 63% 48% 49% 47% Section 09: Tefillah 74% 73% 75% 60% 60% 59%

Overall Average Score (1-9): 68% 66% 69% 56% 54% 57%

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

Learning Differences As can be seen from the table above, of the 1,952 8th grade students who took the exam, 447 or 23% were reported to have learning differences. The average overall grade for students without learning differences was 68% and the average for students with learning differences was 56% which is a gap of 12% and quite significant. This gap holds for both males and females. In general, both for students with and without learning difficulties, the overall average score for girls was 3% higher than for boys. Also, the girls scored higher than the boys in every category except for critical thinking and Torah Sh’bal Peh. (In Teffilla, among students with learning differences, the boys scored three-tenths of one percent higher than the girls.) Note: Learning differences are based on the use of an IEP and schools identifying students who have learning differences. The actual number of students with learning differences might be higher as not all schools completed this section of the sign-up portion. If it was not noted at sign up, we assumed students had no learning difficulties unless they had an IEP. Due to the possible gap between students with learning difficulties and those without, schools might wish to analyze the results of these populations separately. In our interactive reporting software, there is the ability to focus on students with and without learning differences individually. However, in our PDF reports which are static, we grouped these two populations. In our analysis which follows, we only review the composite results of these two populations. Section IV – Scores for All Test Takers (With and W/O Learning Differences)

ALL Students (With and W/O LD) Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: 1,952 877 1,075 AVG Score Male Female Section 01: Chumash Skills 73% 71% 75% Section 02: Chumash Vocabulary 79% 76% 82% Section 03: Chumash Knowledge 68% 67% 69% Section 04: Critical Thinking 28% 31% 26% Section 05: Dinim / Yediot Klaliot 77% 76% 79% Section 06: Navi Knowledge 56% 51% 59% Section 07: Hebrew Language 45% 42% 48% Section 08: Torah Sheba'al Peh 62% 64% 60% Section 09: Tefillah 71% 69% 72%

Overall Score: 65% 63% 67%

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

Overall Scores: In the composite results (for students with and without difficulties), the average (or mean) score was 65% with a standard deviation of 15. In other words, 68% of all test takers scored between 50 and 80. These results are plotted on the Bell chart below:

Distribution of Overall Score for all Test Takers (Grade 8 - 1,952 Students) Mean = 65 SD = 15 0.3

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

Impact of Removing a Section The following table can be used to evaluate the effect of removing any given section from the assessment after it was scored. For example, if we were to remove the Navi Knowledge section, the total number of correct (NC) would have been 136,813 out of a possible 206,912 questions (NP) which would have made the overall average go up by one point to 66%. Thus, the impact (IMP) of removing this section is +1. The most impactful section was the Hebrew Language section at +4. Removing all sections with a negative impact would have resulted in an average score of 73%.

Weight NC NP AVG IMP Section 01: Chumash Skills 20% 34,324 46,848 73% -2 Section 02: Chumash Vocabulary 8% 15,512 19,520 79% -1 Section 03: Chumash Knowledge 18% 29,402 42,944 68% -1 Section 04: Critical Thinking 3% 2,197 7,808 28% +1 Section 05: Dinim/Yediot Klaliot 15% 27,168 35,136 77% -2 Section 06: Navi Knowledge 11% 14,102 25,376 56% +1 Section 07: Hebrew Language 17% 17,695 39,040 45% +4 Section 08: Torah Sheb’al Peh 3% 3,610 5,856 62% - Section 09: Tefillah 4% 6,905 9,760 71% -

Total: 100% 150,915 232,288 65%

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

Boys vs. Girls: On average, in the composite results, the girls scored 4% higher than the boys and were better than the boys in every category except for critical thinking and Torah Sh’bal Peh. Distribution of Letter Grades (Overall / Sections 1-9): A (84-100) B (70-83) C (55-69) D (50-54) F (0-49) # of Students 217 577 694 172 292 % of Students 11.1% 29.6% 35.6% 8.8% 15% Percentile Range 90-100 60-89 25-59 15-24 0-14

Initially, we were somewhat reluctant to include letter grades in our reporting as they could easily be misunderstood to indicate a passing or failing grade which is not our intention. Indeed, we did not place a letter grade on the individual student reports. It is entirely possible that the exam might have been more difficult than what can reasonably be expected of students in 8th grade and a score of 65% is a lot better than it would seem. We will also be the first to admit that certain elements of the test design could have been improved and students were probably not prepared for certain styles of questions in this first year of the exam. We feel, that in terms of ranking students, a norm-referenced percentile score is much more useful for high school administrators who are using these scores to help with student placement. In the end, we decided to include letter grades, however they follow a scheme more aligned with the general percentile scores. In other words, as can be seen from the table above, an A represents a final score between 84%-100% as that percentage score is equal to a percentile score of 90% or better. The next level is B which is assigned to a final percentage score between 70%-83% and represents students who are in the 60th percentile and above etc. We also considered the standard deviation when assigning these boundaries. For example, if a student scored 50% on the exam, they were still within one standard deviation of the mean (as mean = 65 and SD = 15), thus we felt a grade of D was still appropriate for a percentage score of 50%. As such, we decided to include letter grades in this manner, as we felt this would help students, parents, administrators and anyone else looking at these scores understand the percentage scores with a better perspective. Note: We assigned these same letter grades to section percentage scores even though they are not representative of a percentile score for the given section.

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

Distribution of Letter Grades by Section: # of Q: A B C D F Section 01: Chumash Skills 24 572 702 348 131 199 29% 36% 18% 7% 10%

Section 02: Chumash Vocabulary 10 969 588 158 100 137 50% 30% 8% 5% 7%

Section 03: Chumash Knowledge 22 407 573 579 127 266 21% 29% 30% 7% 14%

Section 04: Critical Thinking 4 104 140 N / A 327 1,381 5% 7% - 17% 71%

Section 05: Dinim / Yediot Klaliot 18 709 714 346 57 126 36% 37% 18% 3% 6%

Section 06: Navi Knowledge 13 272 170 460 232 818 14% 9% 24% 12% 42%

Section 07: Hebrew Language 20 165 233 285 112 1,157 8% 12% 15% 6% 59%

Section 08: Torah Sheba'al Peh 3 631 N / A 625 N / A 696 32% - 32% - 36%

Section 09: Tefillah 5 545 574 430 N / A 403 28% 29% 22% - 21%

The distribution of letter grades by section will be analyzed at the section level. Percentiles It should also be noted that for a student to score in the 50th percentile or above they needed to achieve a score of at least 66%. Thus, a percentage score of 65 would indicate the test taker is just about in the middle of all test takers. As noted earlier, the standard deviation for the exam is 15 which means a little over two-thirds of all test takers scored between 50 and 80 (as the mean was 65). The table below demonstrates the correlation between an overall score and its percentile. The table also indicates the number of students who achieved a given score and the letter grade assigned for each score.

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

Note: With 119 questions each question was worth .84 points. NC = Number correct. If the NC column skips a number, it is because no student correctly answered that exact number of questions. It should also be noted that students who had the same reported percentage score might have a different percentile due to rounding. For example, a student who answered 103 questions correctly would get a score of 86.7% and a student who answered 104 questions correctly would get a score of 87.4%. Both scores would be rounded to 87%, however, the first student would have a percentile score of 93 and the second student would have a percentile score of 94.

NC Score Percentile Count Grade 81 68.1 56 43 C 117 98.3 100 2 A 80 67.2 54 46 C 116 97.5 100 2 A 79 66.4 52 35 C 115 96.6 100 2 A 78 65.5 50 37 C 114 95.8 100 6 A 77 64.7 48 41 C 113 95.0 99 3 A 76 63.9 46 43 C 112 94.1 99 9 A 75 63.0 43 51 C 111 93.3 99 9 A 74 62.2 41 33 C 110 92.4 98 8 A 73 61.3 39 36 C 109 91.6 98 14 A 72 60.5 38 40 C 108 90.8 97 10 A 71 59.7 36 29 C 107 89.9 96 20 A 70 58.8 34 33 C 106 89.1 95 16 A 69 58.0 32 38 C 105 88.2 95 12 A 68 57.1 30 48 C 104 87.4 94 20 A 67 56.3 28 37 C 103 86.6 93 17 A 66 55.5 26 27 C 102 85.7 92 18 A 65 54.6 25 37 C 101 84.9 91 24 A 64 53.8 23 35 D 100 84.0 90 25 A 63 52.9 21 32 D 99 83.2 88 19 B 62 52.1 20 29 D 98 82.4 87 38 B 61 51.3 18 22 D 97 81.5 85 29 B 60 50.4 17 33 D 96 80.7 84 30 B 59 49.6 15 21 D 95 79.8 82 42 B 58 48.7 14 20 F 94 79.0 80 37 B 57 47.9 13 17 F 93 78.2 78 22 B 56 47.1 13 17 F 92 77.3 77 28 B 55 46.2 12 19 F 91 76.5 75 40 B 54 45.4 11 15 F 90 75.6 73 31 B 53 44.5 10 20 F 89 74.8 72 31 B 52 43.7 9 15 F 88 73.9 70 40 B 51 42.9 8 11 F 87 73.1 68 42 B 50 42.0 8 11 F 86 72.3 66 28 B 49 41.2 7 19 F 85 71.4 64 42 B 48 40.3 6 15 F 84 70.6 62 40 B 47 39.5 6 10 F 83 69.7 60 38 C 46 38.7 5 10 F 82 68.9 58 40 C 45 37.8 5 4 F

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

44 37.0 4 7 F 34 28.6 1 2 F 43 36.1 4 8 F 33 27.7 1 6 F 42 35.3 4 6 F 32 26.9 1 6 F 41 34.5 3 15 F 31 26.1 1 2 F 40 33.6 3 3 F 30 25.2 0 1 F 39 32.8 2 6 F 29 24.4 0 2 F 38 31.9 2 5 F 28 23.5 0 2 F 37 31.1 2 3 F 22 18.5 0 3 F 36 30.3 2 3 F 21 17.6 0 1 F 35 29.4 2 7 F 17 14.3 0 1 F

Section V – Analysis of Results by Section Section 01: Chumash Skills

ALL Students (With and W/O LD) Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: 1,952 877 1,075 # of Q: AVG Score Male Female Section 01: Chumash Skills 24 73% 71% 75%

Group 01: Decoding Standards 18 77% 74% 80% Group 02: Understanding the Text 4 55% 52% 57% Group 03: Rashi Standards 1 76% 73% 79% Group 04: Additional Standards 1 70% 82% 60%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 01: Chumash Skills 24 572 702 348 131 199 29% 36% 18% 7% 10%

The Chumash Skills section of the exam was comprised of 24 questions divided into four groups of standards. The bulk of items (18 of 24) were in the group of questions that involved decoding skills.

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

Group 01: Decoding Standards. This group was composed of the following standards:

Standard Q: AVG M F of a word. 2 93% 91% 95% שׁ ֶֹ ר שׁ Standard 01: Student can identify the three letter of a word even when one שׁ ֶֹ ר שׁ Standard 02: Student can identify the three letter 2 68% 58% 77% .is absent שׁ ֶֹ ר שׁ letter of the Standard 03: Student can identify a noun as singular or plural. 2 93% 93% 94% Standard 04: Student can identify a singular noun as masculine or feminine. 1 89% 85% 92% Standard 06: Student understands that the number and gender of a noun 2 86% 83% 88% .( ִ א ישׁ ָ גּ דוֹל / ִ א ָ שּׁ ה ְגּ ָדוֹל ה ) .determines the number and gender of its adjective when they appear מ ֹ ֶ שׁ ה ְ ו ָ כ ֵ ל ב Standard 07: Student can translate the prefixes of 1 95% 94% 96% . ְל ִ מ ְ צ ַר יִ ם , ִמ ִמּ ְצ ַר יִ ם .with nouns e.g ְו ָ ה ִ א ישׁ .Standard 08: Student can translate a combined or contracted prefix e.g 1 76% 76% 77% .( ַ בּ = ְ בּ + ַ ה ) ַ בּ ַ בּ יִ ת or Standard 10: Student can translate the suffixes of singular nouns that show 1 78% 73% 81% .י ָ ִ ד י, יָ ְ ד ָך , יָ ֵ ד ְך .possession, e.g Standard 11: Student can translate the suffixes of plural nouns that show 2 59% 56% 62% . יָ ַד יִ ְך .possession e.g to Egypt. 1 79% 76% 80% = ִ מ ְ צ ַר יְ ָ מ ה .e.g ה" א ַה ְ מּ ַ ג ָ מּ ה Standard 13: Student can identify the ָ שׁ ַמ ר, .verb in the past tense e.g ַק ל / ָפּ ַע ל Standard 15: Student can translate a 2 64% 63% 66% . ָ שׁ ְ מ ָר ה , ָ שׁ ַ מ ְר ִתּ י 52% 46% 50% 1 . ֵ שׁוֹמ ר .verb in the present tense e.g ַק ל / ָפּ ַע ל Standard 16: Student can translate a

and were able ֶשׁוֹר שׁ In general, students did well in terms of being able to identify a full to determine if a noun was singular vs. plural, or masculine vs. feminine. Also, they generally understood the meaning of simple prefix letters and were able to determine which gender was appropriate for an adjective that described a given noun. However, student did show signs of struggle (particularly the boys) when it came to of a word when one of the letters was absent, understanding the ֶשׁוֹר שׁ knowing the full being able to translate the suffixes of single ,( ַבּ ַבּ יִ ת .meaning of combination prefix (e.g ה"א ַ ה ְ מּ ַג ָ מּ ה and understanding the purpose of the ( יָ ִ ד י, יָ ְ ד ָך) nouns which show possession .(to Egypt = ִ מ ְ צ ָר י ְ ָמ ה .e.g ה"א the directional) The most significant area of difficulty in this group was being able to accurately translate .verbs ַ ק ל the suffixes of plural nouns that show possession, as well as translating For example, when given the following question:

Please select the best translation for the word in quotation marks. " ַ ו ֲ ע ָ ב ֶ ד יָך יַ ַ ע ְ ב רוּ" a) And your servants passed b) And your servant are passing c) And the passing of your servants d) And your servants will pass

Only 51% of students were able to accurately translate it as “And your servants will pass.”

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

Group 02: Understanding the Text This group contained the following four standards and each standard had one question.

Standard Q: AVG M F 71% 60% 66% 1 . ָפּ סוּק Standard 19: Student can identify the subjects and objects in a 59% 51% 55% 1 . ְלשׁוֹן ַה ָפּסוּק Standard 21: Student can answer questions on the text using not previously learned. 1 36% 35% 36% ָפּסוּק Standard 22: Student can comprehend a 63% 62% 63% 1 .( ַה ְשׁ ָק ָפה) to real life experiences ַר ִ שׁ" י or ֻח ָמּשׁ Standard 23: Student can apply

Students generally struggled with standard 19 which asked them to identify the subject or . ָ פּ סוּק object of a

In the question above, only 66% of students were able to provide the correct answer (B). Students struggled even more with this question.

Only 55% of students answered A. they were not expected to ָ פּ סוּק The most significant difficulty however was interpreting a have seen before:

It could be that this question was a little bit off-putting as the choices are somewhat long and wordy. Nonetheless, only 36% were able to answer this question correctly. From this

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

directly from ָ פּ סוּק group of standards, it would seem that students struggle to interpret a the text. that was translated for them and they were ַר ִ שׁ " י For standard 23 students were given a Only . ַר ִ שׁ " י asked to apply an appropriate lesson that could be learned from the words of 63% of students were able to answer this question correctly. This would seem to indicate that even where the language barrier is less of an issue, students still struggle to interpret the full meaning of the text. It could also be that students are not exposed often to an .on a test and were somewhat overwhelmed by this type of question ָפּ סוּק unseen Group 03: Rashi Standards To answer this . ַר ִ שׁ " י of a given ִ דּ בּוּר ַה ַ מּ ְ ת ִ ח יל The question asked students to identify the meant. About 76% of " ִ דּ בּוּר ַ ה ַ מּ ְ ת ִ ח יל" question, students needed to know what the term students were able to do so. Group 04: Additional Standards This group also contained only one question which was to identify the function of the on ֲח ִמ ִישׁ י which has the word ֻח ָ מּ שׁ Students were given a page of . ֻח ָמּ שׁ in the " ֲ ח ִ מ ִישׁ י " word Here the girls . ָתּוֹר ה for the fifth person called to the ֲ ע ִ ל יָּ ה it where it is used to indicate the struggled at 62% vs the boys who scored 82%. The primary difference may be due to the and presumably were ַ בּ ר ִ מ ְ צ ָ ו ה fact that most boys who took the exam have already been more familiar with the function of this word as part of their preparation of reading their .Girls who had not done so would be less familiar with the term . ֵ בּ ית ְ כּ נֶ ֶ ס ת in the ָפּ ָר ָ שׁ ה Summary of Section 01: Chumash Skills: While students appeared to be strong in some of the more basic skills such as identifying or translating prefixes and some the , ַר ִבּ ים or יָ ִח יד ,נ ְ ֵק ָב ה or ז ָ ָכ ר whether a word is , ֶשׁוֹר שׁ a ַ ק ל noun suffixes, they struggled with some of the complicated skills such as interpreting directly ָ פּ סוּק verbs or plural noun suffixes. Furthermore, students struggled to decipher a from the text. Section 02: Chumash Vocabulary

AVG Score Male Female Section 02: Chumash Vocabulary 79% 76% 82%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 02: Chumash Vocabulary 10 969 588 158 100 137 50% 30% 8% 5% 7%

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

The score for this section was 79%. Students were given 10 vocabulary words and on average were able to translate 8 of them correctly. The words that students were asked to translate were chosen at random from the list of vocabulary words in the standards. These are the ten words and their scores in order of percentage correct: 96% זָ ֵ ק ן 92% נ ָ ַ פ ל 90% ָ שׁ ָת ה 89% נֶ ֶ פ שׁ 85% ַר ק 79% אוֹיֵ ב 75% ָ ק רוֹב 73% ִע ם 71% אָ ַ ס ף 43% ֶכּ ֶב שׂ

Overall, the 79% average for this section would seem to indicate that students have a vocabulary. Indeed, 50% of all students achieved an A on this section ֻ ח ָ מּ שׁ decent basic indicating an ability to get at least 9 of the ten words correct. However, some of the scores were somewhat concerning. Only about three-quarters of students were able to . ָ שׂ ָפ ה and ֻ ח ָ מּ שׁ despite them being quite frequent in ִ ע ם or ָ ק רוֹב correctly translate the words It should also be noted, that of the 395 students who scored a 60 or less on this section, 375 (95%) of them failed to score a 65 or above on the assessment as a whole. Thus, a poor performance on the vocabulary section which was relatively easy was a strong indicator of poor performance overall. Section 03: Chumash Knowledge

Section 03: Chumash Knowledge AVG Score Male Female 68% 67% 69%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 03: Chumash Knowledge 22 407 573 579 127 266 21% 29% 30% 7% 14%

The purpose of the Chumash Knowledge section was to determine the general level of It could be . ֻ ח ָ מּ שׁ in the ִ מ ְצ וֹת knowledge students possessed about basic stories or As with other sections of the exam, there were easier . ֻ ח ָ מּ שׁ exam on ָפּ ָר ָשׁ ה considered a questions and those that were more difficult. Overall, the average score for the Chumash Knowledge section was 68%.

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

with most of the questions coming ֻ ח ָ מּ שׁ The standards were broken up by the books of ַ ו יִּ ְק ָר א however, students scored better on the books of , ְ שׁ מוֹת and ְבּ ֵר ִ אשׁ ית from the books of . ַ בּ ִמּ ְד ָ בּ ר and Q: AVG M F Standard 66% 65% 66% 11 ְבּ ֵר ִאשׁ ית Standard 32: Chumash Knowledge 70% 68% 69% 7 ְ שׁ מוֹת Standard 33: Chumash Knowledge 79% 76% 78% 3 ַ ו יִּ ְ ק ָר א Standard 34: Chumash Knowledge 74% 70% 73% 1 ַבּ ִמּ ְד ָבּ ר Standard 35: Chumash Knowledge

gave יַ ֲ ע ק ֹ ב that , ַמ בּוּל Students knew that it rained for forty days and forty night during the stuttered and killed an Egyptian. They struggled to recall what מ ֹ ֶ שׁ ה that , ְכּ ת ֹנ ֶ ת ַ פּ ִ ס ים a ֵ יוֹס ף ְמ ָנוֹר ה where the , ַמ בּוּל after the ָ ח ם cursed נ ֹ ח was created on the fifth day of creation, that ְ ס דוֹם refused to accept anything from the king of ְאַב ָר ָ ה ם ִ אָב ינוּ that , ִ מ ְ שׁ ָ כּ ן was located in the ַמ ָתּ ן ָתּוֹר ה after defeating the four kings and had difficulty recalling the month in which took place. Section 04: Critical Thinking

Section 04: Critical Thinking AVG Score Male Female 28% 31% 26%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 04: Critical Thinking 4 104 140 N / A 327 1,381 5% 7% - 17% 71%

Critical thinking was a section that many students found to be very difficult with the average score being 28% (boys scored five percentages points higher than girls) and only 12% of students achieved a grade above 65% or above. Overall, this section included four questions and was worth about 3% of the overall score (3.36 points). We will be the first to admit that the design of this section could have been vastly improved. Students were given a long page to read and some of the questions (but not all) required students to perform some mathematical calculations to arrive at the correct answer (addition, subtraction and percentages). We tried to make sure that students would not get bogged down on the math by reminding them how to figure out a percentage if they had difficulty with it. The idea was to see if students can think and process information presented to them.

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

As mentioned, the overall average of this section was 26% and the average for each of the four individual questions were 42%, 16%, 25% and 19% respectively. With an overall average of 26%, it would appear that most students merely guessed. However, after Dr. Myszkowski processed the results and left four of the five original questions, this told us that students who did better on the exam overall did better on this section as well. As such, this section is useful in terms of discriminating between users of higher and lower ability. A closer look at the results reveals the following:

Overall Score A (84-100) B (70-83) C (55-69) D (50-54) F (0-49) Average for Sec. 04 60% 32% 20% 21% 19%

As can be seen, students who scored higher on the exam overall did better in this section as well. Those who scored an A overall on the exam averaged 60% for this section which is far above the general average of 28%. It should also be noted that the impact of deleting this section entirely would have been +1 and changed the average of the overall score from a 65 to a 66 which is not very significant. Going forward however, it does appear as if this section does need to be improved and we look forward to the feedback we hope to receive. Another point worth noting, we presume it is unlikely that many (if not most) test-takers had previously been exposed to this question type in school. This factor most likely added to the level of discomfort students felt with this set of questions. Section 05: Dinim / Yediot Klaliot

ALL Students (With and W/O LD) Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: 1,952 877 1,075 AVG Score Male Female Section 05: Dinim / Yediot Klaliot 77% 76% 79%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 05: Dinim / Yediot Klaliot 18 709 714 346 57 126 36% 37% 18% 3% 6%

The average score for this section was 77%. (The average for the 169 students who were identified as attending Chareidi / Yeshiva schools was 82%.) Students knew the signs which identify a kosher animal, that one who eats without a The . ֶמוֹד ה ֲ א נ ִ י and the first prayer of the day is , ַה ֵ שּׁ ם blessing is tantamount to stealing from off the ground. Other ַ א מּוֹת can’t more than 20 ֲח נ ֻ ִ כּ יָּ ה most challenging question was that a of ִ מ ְצ ָ ו ה is celebrated in Israel, the ֶ פּ ַ ס ח difficult questions were how long the festival of and the egg on the seder plate is a reminder ֲה ָ שׁ ַב ת ֲא ֵב ָד ה returning a lost object is known as

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

ֲ א ֶשׁ ר of students knew that the blessing after using the restroom is 85% . ָ ק ְר ַבּ ן ֲח ג ִ יג ָ ה of the . ִ תּ ְ שׁ ֵר י falls on the tenth day of יוֹם ִ כּ פּוּר and 74% knew that י ָ ַצ ר Section 06: Navi Knowledge

ALL Students (With and W/O LD) Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: 1,952 877 1,075 AVG Score Male Female Section 06: Navi Knowledge 56% 51% 59%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 06: Navi Knowledge 13 272 170 460 232 818 14% 9% 24% 12% 42%

In this section, the average score was 56% and over half of all test takers failed to achieve a score of 55%. There were thirteen questions in this section which in total accounted for 11 points. The following were the scores for each question in descending order. made a party in this city for seven days: 88.5% ֲא ַח ְׁשוֵרֹוׁש :JSAT 8 / 124 73.2% : ֶא ֶרץ יִ ְׂש ָר ֵא ל JSAT 8 / 111: The Jews crossed this body of water in order to enter JSAT 8 / 114: Shimshon lost his great strength when: 71.0% went to collect grain in the fields of: 69.1% רּות :JSAT 8 / 125 58.8% :יָ ֵעל ֵא ֶׁשת ָח ֵבר ַה ֵּקינִי this person was killed by , ֵס ֶפר ְׁשֹופ ִטים JSAT 8 / 113: In 58.0% : ְַאב ָׁשלֹום as he fled from ָּדוִד JSAT 8 / 121: This person cursed JSAT 8 / 116: This person mocked her husband for not acting like a king: 51.6% JSAT 8 / 122: This person is described as being very quick on his feet like a gazelle in the field: 50.3% was killed he went to see: 49.3% ָׁשאּול JSAT 8 / 120: The night before this group of people pretended to come from a far away place in order to make a treaty with 47.2% ,יְ ֻהֹוׁשע JSAT 8 / 112: In the times of JSAT 8 / 118: What happened on the mountain Gilboah? 40.6% was a city of: 38.6% נֹוב :JSAT 8 / 117 was not being followed: 26.3% ְַאב ָׁשלֹום saw his advice to ֲא ִחית ֹ ֶפל JSAT 8 / 123: When which ֵס ֶ פ ר ְ שׁ ֵ מוּא ל ב' or ֵס ֶ פ ר ְ שׁ ֵ מוּא ל א' Seven of the last eight questions were from presumably most students had studied within the past two years. It could be these questions were too detailed oriented, or that students never actually studied these books for ַ שׁוּשׁ ן made a party in the city of ֲ אַח ְ שׁ ֵ ו רוֹשׁ in their entirety. 89% of students knew that is revisited every year. On the other ִפּוּר ים seven days, presumably because the story of .בּ ֹ ַע ז went to collect grain in the field of רוּת hand, only 69% of students knew that which is ְמ ג ִ ַ לּ ת רוּת than ְמ ג ִ ַלּ ת ֶ א ְ ס ֵ תּ ר Apparently, students are somewhat more familiar with understandable. Perhaps this section could be improved by providing students with a list of names, places, and events and noting in the standards what exactly students need to know about these people, places or events.

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

Section 07: Hebrew Language

ALL Students (With and W/O LD) Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: 1,952 877 1,075 AVG Score Male Female Section 07: Hebrew Language 45% 42% 48%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 07: Hebrew Language 20 165 233 285 112 1,157 5% 7% 9% 5% 75%

This section had twenty questions and accounted for 17% of the exam overall. When looking at the results, the Hebrew Language section had the lowest average score at 45%, and 75% of students failed to achieve a score of 65% or higher. It should be noted that this was the only portion of the exam whose content was entirely in Hebrew and the amount of Hebrew which students were required to read was quite long. As such, our initial reaction was the passages were too long and difficult for students to comprehend. However, when taking a look at the results more closely, we noted that out of the twenty questions in this section, ten of them did not involve long passages at all. Yet, the overall average for these ten questions was 46% which is essentially the same as the questions that involved reading long passages which was 44%. The following are examples of short answer questions and their scores.

41% of students selected the correct answer (B)

55% of students selected the corrected answer (A).

29% of students selected the corrected answer (A).

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

We did receive some feedback that some students might have been confused by the layout of the answer choices in the Hebrew Language section as they went from right to left instead of left to right. While we can change the format going forward, there were two questions written in a less confusing format with the choices going vertically. The next two questions asked students to translate two sentences accurately.

57% of students translated the first question correctly (C), and 53% of students answered the second question correctly (B). Thus, while we are open to exploring how this section can be improved, we believe it would be unfair to blame the results entirely on the length of the passages that the students were asked to read. Section 08: Torah Shb’al Peh

ALL Students (With and W/O LD) Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: 1,952 877 1,075 AVG Score Male Female Section 08: Torah Sheba'al Peh 62% 64% 60%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 08: Torah Sheba'al Peh 3 631 N / A 625 N / A 696 32% - 32% - 36%

This section involved just three questions that were worth just under 3% of the overall exam and the average score was 62%

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

נ ְ ִב ִ יא ים lived after the ַ תּ נּ ָ ִ א ים In this section, 57% of students were able to identify that the and מ ֹ ֶ שׁ ה ַר ֵבּ נוּ began with ָתּוֹר ה ֶשׁ ַבּ ַע ל ֶפּ ה of students knew that 63% . ֲ א ָמוֹר ִא ים but before the . ַ שׁ "ס as being the name of one of the orders of נְ זִ ִ יק ין were able to identify 65% In this section, boys did better than girls (64% vs. 60%). This might be because boys tend . ְ גּ ָ מ ָר א and ִ מ ְ שׁ נ ָ ה such as ָתּוֹר ה ֶשׁ ַ בּ ַע ל ֶפּ ה to spend more time studying Section 09: Teffilla

ALL Students (With and W/O LD) Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: 1,952 877 1,075 AVG Score Male Female Section 09: Tefillah 71% 69% 72%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 09: Tefillah 5 545 574 430 N / A 403 28% 29% 22% - 21%

This section contained five questions and was worth 4% overall. The average score for this section was 71%. is ְ שׁ ַמ ע יִ ְ שׂ ָר ֵא ל ה' ֱ א ֵ לק ינוּ ה' ֶ א ָ ח ד of students understood that the main idea of the sentence 89% is the one and only G-d. 80% of students understood the main ַ ה ֵ שּׁ ם that we are saying that as coming from " ְ וי ָ ַד ְ ע ָתּ ַ ה יּוֹם וכו'" were able to identify the passage of 73% . ֲ א ֶשׁ ר יָ ַצ ר idea of ְ ו ֵ ת ן ָשׂ ָ כ ר Only 56% of students were able to identify the main idea of the sentence . ָ ע ֵל ינוּ and only 55% of students were able to ֲע ִ מ ָיד ה found in the טוֹב ְל ָ כ ל ַ ה ְ בּוֹט ִח ים ְ בּ ִ שׁ ְמ ָך ֶ בּ ֱ א ֶ מ ת . ִ בּ ְר כוֹת ְ ק ִר יאַת ְ שׁ ַמ ע as coming from " ְ ו ָ ה ֵא ר ֵע ינ ֵ ינוּ ְ בּ ָתוֹר ֶ ת ָך וכו'" identify the words of Section 10: Gemara (Optional)

No Reported Learning Diff Students With Learning Diff Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: Number of Students: 398 269 129 140 94 46 AVG Score Male Female AVG Score Male Female Section 10: Gemara (Optional) 66% 65% 67% 56% 54% 55%

The Gemara section was optional and scored separately from the rest of the exam. Initially, there were 25 questions in the exam, however, on the advice of Dr. Myszkowski, we dropped three questions to maintain internal reliability. As in the general exam, users with learning differences made up about one-quarter of all test takers of this section. Also, as in the general exam, the gap between students with learning differences and without learning differences was significant with a 10 point

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results difference between the two groups on average. In both groups, the girls did slightly better than the boys.

ALL Students (With and W/O LD) Grade 8 (All Populations): Number of Students: 538 363 175 AVG Score Male Female Section 10: Gemarah (Optional) 63% 62% 64%

# of Q: A B C D F Section 10: Gemara (Optional) 22 85 127 156 44 126 16% 24% 29% 8% 23%

For the composite group of all test takers, the average score was 63%, with the girls doing slightly better than the boys. Only 48% of students were able to achieve a score of 65% or higher. For the optional Gemara section, students were expected to study a page or so of Gemara in preparation for the exam and were given a copy of the page of Gemara so that it was “open book” for that portion of the exam. The specific text selected for study was the first until a few lines into the next page). There were ten questions on the) ַע ְר ֵב י ְפּ ָס ִח ים page of text which students were expected to prepare and the average score for that section was 63%. The rest of the section consisted of 12 general questions and the average score for those questions was 66%. Specific Text for Study Gemara in general is a difficult subject and the text chosen for study was not necessarily “easy”. It did require students to keep track of who said what and why. The table below shows the score for the standards which aligned with the specific text selected for study. Standards – Specific Text for Study # of Q: Standard 74: Student can identify a selected text as being a 2 70% statement, question, answer, proof, or rejection of a proof. Standard 75: Student can demonstrate understanding of a 5 55% selected statement, question, answer, or proof. Standard 77: Student cab identify where common punctuation 1 71% marks are appropriate e.g. question mark, comma, period etc. Standard 79: Student can identify who is speaking in a given text 1 66% and, if relevant, to whom they are speaking. and ְ גּ ָ מ ָר א Standard 82: Student understands the conclusion of the 1 43% . ְסוּג י ָ א any relevant logical or halachic outcomes of the

72% of students were able to answer this question correctly (C).

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

However, only 50% of students were able to answer this question correctly (A) despite it being the fourth word of the text they were expected to study.

requires an understanding of the ְסוּגי ָ א often each step of the , ְ גּ ָ מ ָר א When studying previous step. Thus, if one does not understand the question, they are not going to understand the answer. The following question was meant to diagnose if students . ְ גּ ָ מ ָר א understood the initial question of the

Only 58% of students were able to answer this question correctly (B). only 43% of students , סוּג ְ יָ א Finally, when it came to understanding the conclusion of the were able to identify the correct answer (C) which is explicitly mentioned in the Gemara.

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

General Questions on the Gemara: The table shows the score for the general standards that were not necessarily aligned with the specific text selected for study. This portion of the exam contained twelve questions. Standards – General Questions # of Q: 73% 1 . ַתּ נּ ָ ִא ים Standard 84: Student can identify the names of Standard 85: Student can translate, explain or apply key terms of 1 79% the Mishnah. ַ ע מּוּד and ַדּ ף , ֶ פּ ֶר ק , ַ מ ֶסּ ֶכ ת Standard 86: Student can identify the 1 58% .(Vilna) ְ גּ ָ מ ָר א shown when given a page of Standard 87: Student can translate, explain or apply key terms of 2 81% the Gemara. ָר ֵאשׁ י Standard 92: Student can decipher and translate common 1 68% . ֵ תּ בוֹת Standard 93: Student can identify keywords as a statement, 2 48% question, answer, or proof. Standard 94: Student can translate common vocabulary words. 4 63%

who is actually mentioned) ַר ִבּ י יְ ָ הוּד ה Standard 84 - 73% of students were able to describe רב and רב הונא, רב פפא the other choices were) ַ תּ נָ א in the text they studied) as being a .(פנחס .is an argument ַ מ ֲ ח ֶ ֹלק ת Standard 85 - 79% of students knew that a Standard 86 - Only 58% of students were able to answer the following question correctly (C).

ֻ ק ְ שׁ י ָ א was a chapter and 75% knew that a ֶ פּ ֶר ק Standard 87 - 88% of students knew that a was a difficulty or question.

JSAT Level 8 2019-2020 Analysis of General Results

generally introduces a statement of the ת"ר Standard 92 - 67% of students knew that Gemara. introduces a proof but only "דתניא" Standard 93 – 65% of students knew that the word .introduces a question ורמינהו knew that 32% and 68% knew the ,"נמי" Standard 94 – 69% of students knew the meaning of the word refers to "דאורייתא" only 49% knew that ,"דלמא" and "איבעיא להו" meaning of the words .תורה something from the General Conclusion from the 2019-2020 JSAT Level 8 Exam We believe that while the exam itself might have been somewhat difficult, as evidenced by an average score of 65, it is nonetheless a reliable indicator of achievement, especially on a norm-referenced basis (i.e. a percentile score). We strongly believe the scores provided by the 2019-2020 JSAT Level 8 exam are statistically valid and will be useful for high school administrators who wish to use the data provided to help place students in an appropriate classroom suited to their abilities. The information provided by this exam will also be useful to lower school administrators who wish to utilize this data to further enhance their educational programs. We also recognize there is room for further improvement in terms of developing an appropriate test, particularly in the areas of Critical Thinking, Navi Knowledge and Hebrew Language. As such, we look forward to your comments and suggestions as to how this exam can be improved going forward. Rabbi Tzvi Daum CoJDS

JSAT Level 8 Results for:

Your School Population Comparison

School Name: Full Sample -

Year: 2019-2020 2019-2020

Quarter: 2 2

Grade Level: 88

Class Name: N / A -

Chareidi / Yeshiva, Community, Day Chareidi / Yeshiva, Community, Day School / School Demographic: School / Modern Orthodox, Other Modern Orthodox, Other

Number of Students: 1,952 1,952 Full Sample

Grade Level: 8 Learning Differences: N, Y Quarter: 2 Year: 2019-2020

Gender: F, M Number of Students: 1,952 Number of Comparison Students: 1,952 Class Name: N / A

AV G : Population AVG: AV G +/- JSAT Level 8 Overall Grade 64.9 64.9 0.0

694 Overall Grade 700

600 577 A 217 65% 500 B 577 400 C 694 300 292 D 172 Comparison 217 65% 200 172 Group F 292

100 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0 AB C D F

SECTION NC NP PERCENTAGE AV G AV G +/- DIFFERENCE

All: (Sections 01 - 09) 150,915 232,288 64.9 64.9 0.0  Similar Section 01: Chumash Skills 34,324 46,848 73.3 73.3 0.0  Similar Section 02: Chumash Vocabulary 15,512 19,520 79.5 79.5 0.0  Similar Section 03: Chumash Knowledge 29,402 42,944 68.5 68.5 0.0  Similar Section 04: Critical Thinking 2,197 7,808 28.1 28.1 0.0  Similar Section 05: Dinim/Yediot Klaliot 27,168 35,136 77.3 77.3 0.0  Similar Section 06: Navi Knowledge 14,102 25,376 55.6 55.6 0.0  Similar Section 07: Hebrew Language 17,695 39,040 45.3 45.3 0.0  Similar Section 08: Torah Sheb’al Peh 3,610 5,856 61.6 61.6 0.0  Similar Section 09: Tefillah 6,905 9,760 70.7 70.7 0.0  Similar Section 10: Mishnah and Gemara (Optional) 538 Students 7,426 11,836 62.7 62.7 0.0  Similar NC = Number Correct, NP = Number Possible, AVG = Average

JSAT Level 8 Results Assessment Year: 2019-2020 Page 3 of 6 Full Sample Full Sample

Grade Level:8 Learning Differences: N, Y Class Name: N / A Year: 2019-2020

Gender: F, M Number of Students: 1,952 Number of Comparison Students: 1,952 Quarter: 2

Group NC NP PER AV G AV G +/- Difference

Group 01: Decoding Standards - Chumash Skills 27,187 35,136 77.4 77.4 0.0 Similar

Group 02: Understanding the text - Chumash Skills 4,283 7,808 54.9 54.9 0.0 Similar

Group 03: Rashi Standards - Chumash Skills 1,493 1,952 76.5 76.5 0.0 Similar

Group 04: Additional Standards - Chumash Skills 1,361 1,952 69.7 69.7 0.0 Similar

Group 05: Chumash Vocabulary 15,512 19,520 79.5 79.5 0.0 Similar

Group 06: Chumash Knowledge 29,402 42,944 68.5 68.5 0.0 Similar

Group 07: Critical Thinking 2,197 7,808 28.1 28.1 0.0 Similar

Group 09: Dinim/Yediot Klaliot 27,168 35,136 77.3 77.3 0.0 Similar

Group 10: Navi Knowledge 14,102 25,376 55.6 55.6 0.0 Similar

Group 11: Hebrew Language 17,695 39,040 45.3 45.3 0.0 Similar

Group 12: Torah Sheb'al Peh 3,610 5,856 61.6 61.6 0.0 Similar

Group 13: Tefillah 6,905 9,760 70.7 70.7 0.0 Similar

Group 14: Specific Text Selected for Study - (Optional Gemara Section) 3,186 5,380 59.2 59.2 0.0 Similar

Group 15: Mishnah - (Optional Gemara Section) 817 1,076 75.9 75.9 0.0 Similar

Group 16: Structure of Gemara - (Optional Gemara Section) 310 538 57.6 57.6 0.0 Similar

Group 17: Gemara Concepts - (Optional Gemara Section) 3,113 4,842 64.3 64.3 0.0 Similar

NC = Number Correct, NP = Number Possible, PER = Percentage, AVG = Average

JSAT Level 8 Results Assessment Year: 2019-2020 Page 3 of 6 Full Sample Full Sample

Grade Level: 8 Learning Differences: N, Y Class Name: N / A Year: 2019-2020

Gender: F, M Number of Students: 1,952 Number of Comparison Students: 1,952 Quarter: 2

Standard NC NP PER AVG AVG +/- Difference of a word. 3,642 3,904 93.3 93.3 0.0 Similar שֹׁרֶ שׁ Standard 01: Student can identify the three letter is absent. 2,660 3,904 68.1 68.1 0.0 Similar שֹׁרֶ שׁ of a word even when one letter of the שֹׁרֶ שׁ Standard 02: Student can identify the three letter

Standard 03: Student can identify a noun as singular or plural. 3,634 3,904 93.1 93.1 0.0 Similar

Standard 04: Student can identify a singular noun as masculine or feminine. 1,739 1,952 89.1 89.1 0.0 Similar

Standard 06: Student understands that the number and gender of a noun determines the number and gender of its 3,341 3,904 85.6 85.6 0.0 Similar .(אִישׁ גָּדוֹל / אִשָּׁה גְּדוֹלָה) .adjective Similar 0.0 95.1 95.1 1,952 1,856 .מִמִּצְרַ יִם, לְמִצְרַ יִם .when they appear with nouns e.g מֹשֶׁה וְכָלֵב Standard 07: Student can translate the prefixes of

Similar 0.0 76.1 76.1 1,952 1,486 .בַּ = בְּ +הַ ) בַּבַּיִת) or וְהָאִישׁ .Standard 08: Student can translate a combined or contracted prefix e.g

Similar 0.0 77.5 77.5 1,952 1,512 .יָדִי, יָדְָך, יָדְֵך .Standard 10: Student can translate the suffixes of singular nouns that show possession, e.g

Similar 0.0 59.0 59.0 3,904 2,303 .יָדַיְִך .Standard 11: Student can translate the suffixes of plural nouns that show possession e.g to Egypt. 1,532 1,952 78.5 78.5 0.0 Similar = מִצְרַ יְמָה .e.g הא הַמְּגַמָּה Standard 13: Student can identify the

Similar 0.0 64.4 64.4 3,904 2,516 .שָׁמַר, שָׁמְרָ ה, שָׁמַרְ תִּי .verb in the past tense e.g קַל/פָּעַל Standard 15: Student can translate a

Similar 0.0 49.5 49.5 1,952 966 .שׁוֹמֵר .verb in the present tense e.g קַל/פָּעַל Standard 16: Student can translate a

Similar 0.0 66.1 66.1 1,952 1,290 .פָּסוּק Standard 19: Student can identify the subjects and objects in a

Similar 0.0 55.0 55.0 1,952 1,074 .לְשׁוֹן הַפָּסוּק Standard 21: Student can answer questions on the text using not previously learned. 695 1,952 35.6 35.6 0.0 Similar פָּסוּק Standard 22: Student can comprehend a

Similar 0.0 62.7 62.7 1,952 1,224 .(הַשְׁקָפָה) to real life experiences רַ שִׁי or חֻמָּשׁ Standard 23: Student can apply is and can identify it. 1,493 1,952 76.5 76.5 0.0 Similar רַ שִׁי in דִּבּוּר הַמַּתְחִיל Standard 25: Student knows what a etc.) and understands what they are used for. 1,361 1,952 69.7 69.7 0.0 Similar שֵׁנִי, שְׁלִישִׁי .e.g) חֻמָּשׁ in עֲלִיּוֹת Standard 30: Student can identify

Standard 31: Chumash Vocabulary 15,512 19,520 79.5 79.5 0.0 Similar

JSAT Level 8 Results Assessment Year: 2019-2020 Page 4 of 6 Full Sample Full Sample

Grade Level: 8 Learning Differences: N, Y Class Name: N / A Year: 2019-2020

Gender: F, M Number of Students: 1,952 Number of Comparison Students: 1,952 Quarter: 2

Standard NC NP PER AVG AVG +/- Difference

Similar 0.0 65.5 65.5 21,472 14,060 בְּרֵ אשִׁית Standard 32: Chumash Knowledge

Similar 0.0 68.7 68.7 13,664 9,393 שְׁמוֹת Standard 33: Chumash Knowledge

Similar 0.0 77.5 77.5 5,856 4,541 וַיִּקְרָ א Standard 34: Chumash Knowledge

Similar 0.0 72.1 72.1 1,952 1,408 בַּמִּדְבָּר Standard 35: Chumash Knowledge

Standard 37: Critical Thinking 2,197 7,808 28.1 28.1 0.0 Similar

Standard 38: Dinim/Yediot Klaliot 27,168 35,136 77.3 77.3 0.0 Similar

Similar 0.0 60.2 60.2 3,904 2,350 יְהוֹשֻׁע Standard 39: Navi

Similar 0.0 64.9 64.9 3,904 2,533 שׁוֹפְטִים Standard 40: Navi

Similar 0.0 45.0 45.0 7,808 3,516 שְׁמוּאֵל א Standard 41: Navi

Similar 0.0 44.9 44.9 5,856 2,628 שְׁמוּאֵל ב Standard 42: Navi

Similar 0.0 88.5 88.5 1,952 1,727 מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר Standard 43: Navi

Similar 0.0 69.1 69.1 1,952 1,348 מְגִלַּת רוּת Standard 44: Navi

Standard 45: Student can identify an appropriate title for the passage. 647 1,952 33.1 33.1 0.0 Similar

Standard 47: Student can identify the proper sequence of events in the passage. 1,197 1,952 61.3 61.3 0.0 Similar

Standard 48: Student can identify the most accurate Hebrew translation of sentences in the passage. 1,596 3,904 40.9 40.9 0.0 Similar

Standard 49: Student can identify factually correct statements about events or characters in the passage. 1,796 3,904 46.0 46.0 0.0 Similar

Standard 51: Student can identify logical conclusions that may be drawn from the passage. 2,721 5,856 46.5 46.5 0.0 Similar

Similar 0.0 46.9 46.9 9,760 4,581 .בִּנְיָנִים form in all שְׁלֵמִים Standard 52: Student can identify verbs in the

Standard 55: Student can properly sequence letters of the Hebrew alphabet. 794 1,952 40.7 40.7 0.0 Similar

JSAT Level 8 Results Assessment Year: 2019-2020 Page 5 of 6 Full Sample Full Sample

Grade Level: 8 Learning Differences: N, Y Class Name: N / A Year: 2019-2020

Gender: F, M Number of Students: 1,952 Number of Comparison Students: 1,952 Quarter: 2

Standard NC NP PER AVG AVG +/- Difference

Standard 56: Student can identify the masculine and feminine form of nouns and pronouns. 1,515 3,904 38.8 38.8 0.0 Similar

Standard 57: Student can identify simple contractions. 2,848 5,856 48.6 48.6 0.0 Similar until written down. 1,228 1,952 62.9 62.9 0.0 Similar הַר סִינַי at מֹשֶׁה רַ בֵּנוּ was transmitted orally from ָ תּוֹרה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה Standard 59: Student understands

Similar 0.0 56.8 56.8 1,952 1,109 . ָ אָמוֹראִים but before the נְבִ ִיאים lived after the תַּנָּאִים Standard 61: Student knows the

Similar 0.0 65.2 65.2 1,952 1,273 .מִשְׁנָה Standard 65: Student can name the six orders of a given text is from. 2,487 3,904 63.7 63.7 0.0 Similar תְּפִלָּה Standard 72: Student can identify which

Standard 73: Student can identify the main idea or theme of a given prayer. 4,418 5,856 75.4 75.4 0.0 Similar

Standard 74: Student can identify a selected text as being a statement, question, answer, proof, or rejection of a 751 1,076 69.8 69.8 0.0 Similar proof. Standard 75: Student can demonstrate understanding of a selected statement, question, answer, or proof. 1,466 2,690 54.5 54.5 0.0 Similar

Standard 77: Student cab identify where common punctuation marks are appropriate e.g. question mark, comma, 382 538 71.0 71.0 0.0 Similar period etc. Standard 79: Student can identify who is speaking in a given text and, if relevant, to whom they are speaking. 354 538 65.8 65.8 0.0 Similar and any relevant logical or halachic outcomes of the 233 538 43.3 43.3 0.0 Similar גְּמָרָ א Standard 82: Student understands the conclusion of the .סוּגְיָא Similar 0.0 72.5 72.5 538 390 .תַּנָּאִים Standard 84: Student can identify the names of

Standard 85: Student can translate, explain or apply key terms of the Mishnah. 427 538 79.4 79.4 0.0 Similar

Vilna). 310 538 57.6 57.6 0.0 Similar) גְּמָרָ א shown when given a page of עַמּוּד and דַּף, פֶּרֶ ק, מַסֶּכֶת Standard 86: Student can identify the

Standard 87: Student can translate, explain or apply key terms of the Gemara. 874 1,076 81.2 81.2 0.0 Similar

Similar 0.0 68.2 68.2 538 367 .רָ אשֵׁי תֵּבוֹת Standard 92: Student can decipher and translate common

Standard 93: Student can identify keywords as a statement, question, answer, or proof. 521 1,076 48.4 48.4 0.0 Similar

Standard 94: Student can translate common vocabulary words. 1,351 2,152 62.8 62.8 0.0 Similar

JSAT Level 8 Results Assessment Year: 2019-2020 Page 6 of 6 Full Sample