Once again, according to the Department of Education’s new performance measures used to rate schools across the state, WW-P schools generally rank highly compared to their peers and schools statewide, though there appear to be a few exceptions. Most striking: High School North was ranked “average” in the category of academic achievement when compared to peer schools, and Dutch Neck elementary school was found to be “significantly lagging” behind schools in its peer group in “college and career readiness.”
While at first blush these numbers appear to be of concern, it is important to look at the information behind these numbers to understand their true meaning, said Assistant Superintendent Martin Smith.
“When looking at the North school performance report it is important to not just look at the narrative, but also examine the data points that are used to determine that narrative,” said Smith. “While the report states that the school’s academic performance is ‘high’ when compared to schools across the state and about ‘average’ when compared to its peers, the data points used relate to performance on the HSPA, in which 97 percent of North students are proficient or above in language arts, and 94 percent are proficient or above in math. Because, in general, HSPA is not a rigorous assessment, the passing rate across the state and our peer districts are all very high, so the differences in pass rates are likewise a very small band.”
Smith also noted that any student who is exempt from passing or takes a fifth year or more to pass is not included in these numbers. Since North is a magnet school for several special education programs, there are more students who would fit into these categories than at many of North’s peer schools, or South, for that matter, which does not have such magnet programs.
“In fact,” he said, “as the state has also recognized, in order to get a 100 percent ranking in this category, we would need to convince the students who are allowed by law to graduate in five or six years instead of four to drop out rather than finish their schooling. Of course this is the exact opposite of what we want to happen.”
Regarding the low grade that Dutch Neck received in the area of college and career readiness, Smith said, “this number is disproportionately low because we have many families who take extended vacations because they are traveling overseas, especially at the elementary school level. In order to raise this grade, the district would need to amend its leave policy and require parents of students at the elementary level who miss school days due to family travel to de-register them, so that their absences aren’t counted.”
But, Smith said, “low numbers in grades K-3 in the area of college and career readiness do not translate into lower numbers in that category in middle and high school — it is just the opposite. Our schools rank as ‘high performance’ or ‘very high performance’ at the upper levels.”
West Windsor’s two high schools fared well compared to their peers. High School South was in the 84th percentile for academic achievement, 90th for college and career readiness, and 55th in graduation and post-secondary, compared to last year’s rankings: 92nd, 89th, and 52nd, respectively. This year South’s peer group included such schools as Hillsborough, Hunterdon Central, Madison, and Somerset Hills high schools.
While North was in the 40th percentile (or “average”) for academic achievement, it was ranked in the 92nd percentile for college and career readiness, and 52nd for graduation and post-secondary. Both of these numbers have increased since last year, which were 90th and 49th, respectively.
Also included in North’s peer group were Robbinsville High School, which ranked in the 50th percentile for academic achievement, 26th for college and career readiness, and 63rd for academic and post-secondary; and Millburn, in the 86th, 81st, and 78th percentiles, respectively. Other districts with which WW-P is frequently compared, for example Princeton and Hopewell, were not included in either school’s peer groups.
A note of caution is in order: Under the current rating system, it is still difficult to accurately compare school rankings from year to year. Why? Because the peer groups, determined by grade level, percentage of students with free or reduced price lunches, limited English proficiency, and special education programs, have changed.
In other words, not only does it meant that no WW-P schools are classified within the same peer group, but also that, for example, the peer group that encompassed High School South last year does not contain all of the same 30 schools this year. Therefore, according to Smith, not only is it is difficult to compare peer rankings within the district, but it is equally difficult to compare a particular school’s progress from last year to this year because the underlying measures are different.
Superintendent David Aderhold commented on the performance reports, saying, “Overall, we are pleased that the students in our district performed well. A combination of all assessments, in different formats, ratings, and rankings show the true measure of success.” He said the current performance reports provide data that will be examined as the district seeks to improve academic performance for all students.
Board of Education President Anthony Fleres added, “It is important to realize that the two high schools have different peer groups. Also, South and North aren’t even listed as peers of each other. When you look at the certain performance areas, North does slightly better than South (and vice versa). I would say the differences are so minuscule that they are just statistical noise. All of our schools have done well.”
According to the DOE, the purpose behind the performance reports is to “provide citizens with a tool to view key performance indicators that provide insight into academic achievement as measured by statewide assessments, metrics of student growth, and whether students are on track for success in college and career.”
All schools are given scores for academic achievement and college and career readiness. Schools offering grades four through eight are also scored on student growth, based on scores on the NJ ASK test. And high schools are also evaluated in graduation and post-secondary, a measure of how many students complete high school in four years or drop out. In grades kindergarten through eight, academic achievement is based on language arts and math literacy. High school rankings also take into account scores on the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
In college and career readiness elementary schools are rated on student attendance and absenteeism; in middle schools the ranking is based on the number of students who take algebra I in eighth grade; and at the high school level college and career readiness is based on the percentage of students taking the SAT, PSATs, ACT-PLAN, and Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes.
Smith noted that providing as much information to the public as possible is an admirable goal. “However,” he added, “the DOE has made the reports so complex that you really need to delve deeply into the measures used by the state to understand the rankings.”
