New NJ School Performance Reports Are Out: See How Your District Did

NEW JERSEY — How did your New Jersey school district rank among the rest during the 2023-2024 school year?

The New Jersey Department of Education released the latest School Performance Reports this week, with details on each of the state's 2,400-plus public schools. Districts are scored from 0 to 100 based on factors like standardized test scores, student academic growth and graduation rates, among other metrics.

Kevin Dehmer, Commissioner of Education, said the reports provide valuable information for families and the school community as a whole.

"They serve as a starting point, and a resource, for dialogue between the community and local school leaders about the school district’s accomplishments, priorities, and areas of need," he said in a statement.

Statewide, the four-year graduation rate was 91.3 percent, which is the highest since 2011, when New Jersey implemented the federal graduation rate calculation. The Garden State is also second in the nation for the highest percentage of schools offering at least one AP course.

The graduation rate also increased for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and those who are multilingual learners.

Rates of chronic absenteeism (students who miss more than 10 percent of the school year for any reason) continue to decrease post-pandemic, but are still higher than before the coronavirus disrupted learning. In 2018-2019, that rate was 10.6 percent, and in the 2021-2022 school year, the rate had jumped to 18.1 percent.

Last school year, 14.9 percent of students statewide were chronically absent.

And, behavioral incidents such as vandalism, bullying, and weapons offenses declined compared to the year before, but also remain higher than pre-pandemic levels, data shows.

This year's performance reports also include expanded data on visual and performing arts participation, more information on student discipline, and added information on the percentage of students who have graduated or are still in school working towards a diploma after six years in high school.

How are schools compared with one another?

Along with the performance reports are school-by-school summative scores and ratings, which compares districts and also gives a number score that measures how well each school is doing in academic achievement and progress.

Schools are broken down into categories by configuration, or what grade levels they serve, and compared to others in that category. These include elementary/middle school, high school, and a mixed configuration school which combines many grades into one building.

Elementary schools which only teach children under grade three are not included, as there is no state testing at this level.

Based on the configuration, the NJ Department of Education looks at the schools’ four-year graduation rate, five-year graduation rate, English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency, math proficiency, ELA growth, math growth, and progress towards English language proficiency (ELP). A school needs to have data on three of these elements to have its score reviewed in the standard manner.

The rate of chronic absenteeism is also included in the score. Student performance is measured overall, but also focuses on how students are doing in underserved subgroups classified by race, nationality, economic situation, and special education.

What do these scores and ratings mean?

"Summative scores" provide a number from 1-99, and are based on factors listed above such as graduation rates and progress in English and math. Higher scores are better, and certain schools with lower scores are put into categories for support and improvement.

Schools are compared to one another based on grade level, as well, in the "summative ratings." For example, schools that serve high school students only are compared with one another. These are percentile ratings from 1-100, so a school with a rating closer to 100 is among the best of its peers.It is possible for a school to have a higher summative rating than summative score, and vice-versa.

Who are the top and bottom performers in 2023-2024?

Top performers (based on summative score)

• Glenwood School (Millburn Township School District)
• Mendham Township Middle School (Mendham Township School District)
• Bergen County Technical High School - Teterboro (Bergen County Vocational Technical School District)
• High Technology High School (Monmouth County Vocational School District)
• Alexander Hamilton School (Glen Rock Public School District)
• Edison Academy Magnet School (Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School District)
• Woodbridge Academy Magnet School (Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School District)
• Academy for Mathematics, Science and Engineering (Morris County Vocational School District)
• Biotechnology High School (Monmouth County Vocational School District)
• Montgomery Upper Middle School (Montgomery Township School District)

Bottom performers (based on summative score)

• LEAD Charter School
• Capital City High School (Trenton Public School District)
• Rev. Dr. Frank Napier, Jr. School (Paterson Public School District)
• Ezra L. Nolan School (Jersey City Public Schools)
• Battle Monument Intermediate School (Trenton Public School District)
• Paulsboro Junior High School (Paulsboro School District)
• New Roberto Clemente (Paterson Public School District)
• Grant Intermediate School (Trenton Public School District)
• Thomas Jefferson Intermediate School (Trenton Public School District)
• Morgan Village Middle School (Camden City School District)

View the full scores and ratings in the table below; there is a search bar to look for a particular school, otherwise it is sorted alphabetically by county. Click here if you cannot see the table below.

Table note: Some schools did not get a score because the state did not have complete data for last school year. Schools serving only elementary students under grade 3 do not get a score, because their students do not participate in state standardized tests. Charter schools are listed separately, not by county. All schools are included.

To see how your school fared in 2022-2023, check out our Patch report from last year.

Patch's Nicole Rosenthal contributed to this report.