Here's How Mendham And Chester Schools Rank Statewide

MENDHAM/CHESTER, NJ —For the first time since 2020, New Jersey's school rankings are back, showing how your local schools compare to 2,300 others across the state. The new data offers insight into how Mendham and Chester's schools compare on a statewide scale.

Along with the school performance reports, which were released during the first week of April, the data shows school-by-school summative scores and ratings, which compare districts and provide a score that measures how well each school is doing in academic achievement and progress. See all school ratings here.

The scores were established to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act.

The state did not score schools in 2019-20 and 2020-21, because the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted state testing and New Jersey was granted a waiver from accountability-related requirements under ESSA.

In every state, ESSA requires school districts to measure student performance and develop a “State Report Card” which parents can explore online, with quantifiable measurements like a score or a letter grade for how schools are performing.

ESSA also requires states to report how much money, on average, they spend per student.

Summative scores provide a number from 1-100, and are based on factors 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, as 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.

Here's how Mendham and Chester's schools performed:

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.

Here's more data on the West Morris Regional High School District:

• total students: 2,165
• English learners: 1 percent
• students with disabilities: 13.4 percent
• average teaching experience: 13.7 years
• economically disadvantaged: 0.9 percent
• student-to-teacher ratio: 13 to 1

How students performed on assessments:

• English Language Arts: 74.4 percent proficient (met state average but fell short of New Jersey's 80 percent goal)
• Math: 57.2 percent proficient (met state average but fell short of New Jersey's 80 percent goal)

Are students at risk?

In Mendham and Chester, 8.8 percent of students were "chronically absent" — absent on at least 10 percent of school days. The state rate was 18.1 percent of students.

Are students graduating?

• four-year graduation rate: 95.8 percent (met state average and surpassed New Jersey's goal of 95 percent)
• five-year graduation rate: 97.7 percent (met state average and surpassed New Jersey's goal of 96 percent)

This article contains additional reporting by Michelle Rotuno-Johnson.