School Ratings Return In NJ: See Where Your School Ranks

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey’s school ratings are back, exploring how more than 2,300 public schools are serving the 1.4 million students around the state and comparing schools to one another.

Along with the school performance reports released the first week of April are school-by-school summative scores and ratings, which compares districts and also gives a number score that measures how well each school is doing in academic achievement and progress. See school-by-school scores below.

This is the first time parents and teachers have seen results of the rating system since 2020, because state testing was postponed during COVID-19. New Jersey also identifies schools which need support with its ESSA accountability system.

Related article — New NJ School Performance Reports Show Student Struggles Post-COVID

Many of NJ’s 2,364 public schools are included on the ratings list, though some were left off if there was not enough data to calculate a proper score.

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.

The summative scores are included in the NJ school performance reports, but not on the front page.

How are summative scores calculated?

Schools are broken down into categories by configuration, or what grade levels they serve, and compared to others in that category. These include elementary/middle school, high school, and a mixed configuration school which combines many grades into one building.

Elementary schools which only teach children under grade three are not included, as there is no state testing at this level.

Based on the configuration, the NJ Department of Education looks at the schools’ four-year graduation rate, five-year graduation rate, English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency, math proficiency, ELA growth, math growth, and progress towards English language proficiency (ELP). A school needs to have data on three of these elements to have its score reviewed in the standard manner.

The rate of chronic absenteeism is also included in the score. Student performance is measured overall, but also focuses on how students are doing in underserved subgroups classified by race, nationality, economic situation, and special education.

What do these scores and ratings mean?

"Summative scores" provide a number from 1-99, and are based on factors listed above 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, 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.

It is possible for a school to have a higher summative rating than summative score, and vice-versa.

What are the top and bottom scores?

Top performers (according to NJ DOE reports)

• Luther Lee Elementary (Demarest School District, Bergen Co.): 97.95
• Torey J. Sabatini School (Madison Public SD, Morris Co.): 97.69
• Monmouth County Academy of Allied Health and Science (Monmouth County Vocational SD): 97.23
• High Technology High School (Monmouth County Vocational SD): 97.38
• Edison Academy Magnet School (Middlesex County Vocational and Technical SD): 97.08

Bottom performers

• Daylight/Twilight High School (Trenton Public SD, Mercer Co.): 0.62
• LEAD Charter School (LEAD Charter School, Newark, Essex Co.): 0.63
• Camden High School (Camden City SD, Camden Co.): 0.99
• Morgan Village Middle School (Camden City SD): 1.14
• East Side High School (Camden City SD): 1.54

View the full scores and ratings in the table below; there is a search bar to look for a particular school, otherwise it is sorted alphabetically by county.

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. Charter schools are listed separately, not by county. All schools are included.

If you cannot see the table embedded below, click here to view the table in a new window.