When the magazine New Jersey Monthly released its ranking of high schools statewide in its September edition, WW-P South’s position this year — falling from number 16 in 2010 all the way to 62 — raised eyebrows and perpetuated concerns. South now falls behind Princeton (which moved back from number 44 to 59), Montgomery (which fell from number 10 to 61) and two area schools that moved up: South Hunterdon Regional, up from 74 to 21, and Hopewell Valley Central, up from 38 to 31.
Meanwhile High School North dropped slightly from a ranking of 29 in 2010 to 32 this year. In a statement, West Windsor-Plainsboro Superintendent Victoria Kniewel responded to concerns over the quality of education declining in WW-P.
“As a public school district, what is important for parents to understand is our strong student performance data. WW-P SAT rankings are first and third in the state; graduation rate is almost 100 percent; percentage of students going to college is 96 percent; and HSPA scores are excellent. Also, WW-P offers more AP opportunities than the schools on the New Jersey Monthly list and student performance on those tests rival the scores of other top-performing schools,” Kniewel says.
Some supporters of South fear that the school’s reputation for excellence will fade without the proper resources; specifically teachers.
“South is accomplishing a great deal with fewer resources — at least fewer teachers — than almost any other school in the state. But with significant disadvantages in student-teacher ratios and class sizes, South will not improve and will not be able to continue to deliver the top-quality education it has in the past,” writes Donald Gilpin, a Princeton Junction resident and a language arts teacher at South for 23 years.
Hemant Marathe, president of the WW-P Board of Education, recently echoed Gilpin’s sentiments about “doing more with less” although he highlights the flip side as being budget-conscious management. But Gilpin says teachers will serve as a better investment for the school district than any infrastructure, technology, or new program designs (see Letters, page 2). Kniewel also takes on the class size debate with her statement.
“While our teacher-student ratio is higher than other schools, student performance is excellent. In addition, current educational research shows that students’ performance is more affected by the quality of the teacher than the number of students in a classroom,” she says.
Finally, Kniewel reminds families of WW-P students to keep perspective and consider the methods used to calculate the rankings.
“For parents and community members reading this list, I would remind them that ‘student performance’ along with our excellent financial accountability are important criteria over time. The list set forth by this magazine and rankings in other media outlets, such as U.S. News and World Report and Inside New Jersey, use different criteria for rankings. These rankings are subjective and changeable based on the criteria set forth by the specific group performing the rankings. It also is valuable to remember, as with all rankings, this listing is a ‘snapshot’ of one group of students for one year,” she said.
New Jersey Monthly ranks only public high schools, not including charter schools, by an analysis of data from the state Department of Education’s 2010-’11 school report cards. Ringwood-based research company Leflein Associates performed the data analysis and grouped information “indicators” into three categories: student performance, student outcomes, and school environment. The magazine states that some of the biggest moves in position were partly fueled by New Jersey’s new “four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate,” as mandated by the federal government.
