Mt. Hebron School Misses Academic Targets, Says State

Mt. Hebron Middle School fell short of its academic achievement targets last year and student growth in language arts and math was found to be lagging behind most schools in the state, according to a recent report. 

The New Jersey Department of Education’s “School Performance Reports" found Mt. Hebron's 548 students in sixth through eighth grade in 2011-12 who took the state standardized test New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge were 73 percent proficient in both language arts and math, which was below the school's goals of 76.7 and 77.7 percent, respectively. 

While students schoolwide missed the state benchmark for proficiency, the only group in the school that actually missed its proficiency targets was black students. All other groups of students measured — white, Hispanic, Asian, students with disabilities and the economically disadvantaged — met their academic targets. 

Black students at Mt. Hebron were 56.7 percent proficient in language arts, below the goal of 64 percent, and 55.1 percent proficient in math, below the goal of 65.9 percent. 

Mt. Hebron's academic achievement was cited as lagging behind schools in its "peer group," about 30 similar schools in New Jersey, and "about average" when compared to schools statewide, according to the report.

In addition, achievement gaps on the NJ ASK in both language arts and math were near or slightly above state averages for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade, according to the report. 

While Mt. Hebron students met 100 percent of their academic growth targets in the report, their growth performance ranked in the lower third in both language arts and math when compared to schools in their peer group and all schools statewide. 

Overall, Mt. Hebron's academic growth rate "lags in comparison" to schools in its peer group and schools statewide, according to the report. 

When it comes to college and career readiness, the school met 50 percent of its targets. The report found Mt. Hebron's college and career readiness was "high" when compared to its peers schools and "about average" when compared to schools statewide. 

The report, which replaces the state’s annual School Report Card, factors in a host of never-before-used data, such as whether students are on track for college and a career, and the percent of elementary and middle school students chronically absent. 

One of the most significant additions in the report is the peer school comparisons. Schools are now compared to about 30 similar peer schools from across the state that share comparable student grades, how many students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, English proficiency and students with special needs. 

The following chart is where Mt. Hebron Middle School ranked compared to schools in its peer group and statewide. For example, Mt. Hebron School has a statewide percentile rank of 52 when it comes to academic achievement, which means that its students scored higher than 52 percent of all schools statewide in the ranking. 

Demographics

The school population of 548 students in 2011-12 was 42.1 percent white, 41.4 percent black, 7.7 percent Hispanic, 2.1 percent Asian, .5 percent American Indian, 6.2 percent of two or more races.

The school that year had 119 students with disabilities (22 percent of the school), 89 economically disadvantaged students (16.2 percent of the school) and three students with limited English proficiency (.6 percent). 

Montclair Patch will analyse the data from the state for each of Montclair's 11 schools in the coming weeks.

Click here to read Montclair High School's rankings.

Click here to read Bradford Elementary School's rankings.   

Click here to read Charles H. Bullock Jr. Elementary School's rankings. 

Click here to read Edgemont Elementary School's rankings.

Click here to read Glenfield Middle School's rankings.

Click here to read Hillside Elementary School's rankings.

Click here to read Northeast Elementary School's rankings.

Click here to read Renaissance Middle School's rankings.

Click here to read Watchung Elementary School's rankings.