Two Bernards Elementary Schools Named as NJ 'Reward' Schools

The state Department of Education has released its list of "Reward Schools" for 2013, and both the Mount Prospect Elementary School and the Cedar Hill Elementary School are included among 112 schools around the state.

Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said he was aware that the two schools had been included as Reward Schools. However, he added that he does not believe the accolade will translate into additional funding for the schools.

A Reward School is a school with outstanding student achievement or growth over the past three years, according to information from the state Department of Education. The DOE said the types of Reward Schools are:
•    Highest-Performing: schools that are the highest-performing in the state, in terms of school- wide proficiency, subgroup proficiency, and graduation rates.
•    Highest-Progress: schools that have high levels of student growth, measured using their median Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) over time.

Mount Prospect was ranked as a high performing school, and Cedar Hill as a high progress school. Only one other Somerset County school, in Hillsborough Township, was included on the list.