See How East Windsor Elementary, Middle Schools Rank In NJ

EAST WINDSOR, NJ — New education rankings from U.S. News & World Report are once again showing how the elementary and middle schools in East Windsor ranks among K-8 schools in New Jersey.

The news outlet based its 2024 Best Elementary and Middle School rankings on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education, focusing on student proficiency in core subject areas.

Here’s a look at how elementary schools in East Windsor ranked compared with others in the state:

• 599: Grace N. Rogers Elementary School
• 654: Perry L. Drew Elementary School

Intermediate and Middle Schools

• 329: Melvin H. Kreps Middle School

The U.S. News list includes data on more than 79,000 public elementary and middle schools nationwide.

In the analysis, U.S. News looked closely at state assessments of students who were proficient or above-proficient in mathematics and reading/language arts, while also accounting for student backgrounds, achievement in core subjects, and how well schools are educating their students. Student-teacher ratios are applied to break ties in the overall score.

LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News, said the state and district-level rankings are intended to give parents a snapshot of their child’s school and how well it’s doing within its community.

"Easily accessible data on student-teacher ratio, district spending, and the number of school counselors available at the school can keep parents informed and involved," Jones said.

To be included in district-level rankings, at least two of the top-performing schools must rank in the top 75 percent of the overall elementary or middle school rankings to qualify for district-level recognition.

However, U.S. News school rankings have their critics. James Fallows, a former U.S. News editor, even called them "meaningless" in a 2021 interview with NPR.

"The reason they started doing it back in the early 1980s under the guidance of a man named Mel Elfin, was because it was a brilliant business strategy," Fallows said. "By appealing to the human desire for rankings and knowing where you stand and where somebody else stands, they were able to make a very strong part of their business, which is now basically the only part of their business."

Even Princeton University president, Christopher L. Eisgruber, said in a 2021 opinion piece in The Washington Post that “the rankings game is a bit of mishegoss — a slightly daft obsession that does harm when colleges, parents or students take it too seriously.”

— With reporting by Michelle Rotuno-Johnson,Patch Staff