Mendham Ranked Among Top 30 Schools In NJ, According To New Report Cards

MENDHAM, NJ — Two of the top 30 best-scoring schools in New Jersey’s school report cards are in Mendham Borough, Department of Education data shows.

Along with the school performance reports, which were released the first week of April, were summative scores for each school as well as ratings, which assign each school a number score that measures how well the building is doing in academic achievement and progress compared to its peers.

"Rankings, albeit popular, are always controversial, particularly when it attempts to answer a complex question such as identifying the top schools in New Jersey. I view the summative score and summative rating that our District schools earned through the lens of achievement and growth, but more importantly, for the time they were achieved," Superintendent of Schools Mitzi N. Morillo said.

All of Mendham and Chester's public schools were included on the ratings list, though Dickerson Elementary School was left off if there was not enough data to calculate a proper score.

"Summative scores" range from 1 to 99 and are based on factors such as graduation rates, proficiency and progress in English language arts and mathematics, and chronic absenteeism rates (students missing over ten percent of school days).

According to the State Department of Education, elementary and middle school grades are based on absenteeism, standardized test scores, and student progress. This includes students' English language proficiency as well as their growth and proficiency in English language arts and math.

Schools are also compared to one another based on grade level in the "summative ratings." Schools that only serve elementary students, for example, are compared to one another. These are percentile ratings from 1-100, so a school with a rating close to 100 is among the best of its peers.

Hilltop School in Mendham Borough received a summative score of 93.45 and a summative rating of 99.20, placing them in 19th place overall in the state. Mountain View Middle School was ranked 24th in the state with a summative score of 93.17 and a summative rating of 98.97.

The scores were developed to meet the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act.

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

"When many schools struggle to address learning loss, we can see that working together as a school community to return to in-person instruction in August 2020 minimized the academic impact on our students," Morillo said.

"The members of the Board of Education, administrators, faculty, staff, students, and parents should all be proud of this accomplishment," she added.

The Mendham Borough School District is a public school district that serves roughly 483 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Mendham Borough.

When asked what she is most proud of in the district, Morillo told Patch that it has very little to do with scores.

"Mountain View Middle School was named the longest-standing New Jersey School to Watch last year, and Hilltop Elementary School has received a New Jersey School of Character redesignation. These are examples of how we balance academic rigor with character development and social-emotional learning, providing the balance children need," Morillo said. "It would be naive to think that a ranking could encompass what makes the Mendham Borough schools outstanding. Our work is never done."