Behind the Numbers: Administrators Discuss School Report Card Statistics

State school report cards for the Barnegat Township School districts released to the public this week offered a statistical snapshot of various student performance indicators for all six district schools, and some parts of the picture weren’t pretty.

But administrators have stressed that it’s hard to get an accurate picture of the district from numbers alone. Some of them have weighed in on a few key stats.

Test scores

Standardized test scores from the 2009-10 school year – first released late last year – showed improvement over the year before in same areas, but there were also significant drops in scores.

At Joseph T. Donahue elementary, for instance, nearly half the fifth grade failed their New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) tests for language arts. 

(For more details on test scores from the districts' schools, see previous story.)

In January, shortly after the test scores were initially released, district supervisor of curriculum and instruction Karen McKeon said changes to the NJASK standards that made the tests abruptly harder could have been to blame for the fact that scores were lower than district officials expected.

The Barnegat School District’s own quarterly assessments for the same year, which are based on the core curriculum standards and are tailored to determine individual progress, demonstrated that on average, students were “far exceeding” state averages, McKeon said. 

But in 2010, the NJASK tests underwent revision, and “the benchmarks students were expected to achieve were much higher.”

In addition, she said, the fairest way to judge scores, especially against state averages, is to factor in socioeconomic and other factors. The school report cards do just that, comparing Barnegat students’ scores to those within its District Factor Group (DFG), which consists of districts around the state that share similar income, poverty and unemployment levels and other traits.

In general, the report cards show that Barnegat students scored above its DFG average on standardized tests.

Students with Disabilities

The report cards also showed Barnegat schools had high numbers of students with  Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, specific education plans for students with learning and/or developmental disabilities. At Cecil S. Collins Elementary school, a third of students have IEPs.

Superintendent Jason Bing said in an e-mail that in the district as a whole, approximately 19 to 20 percent of students have IEPs, higher than the state average of about 12 percent.

In order to offer the best education possible to all students, Bing said the district uses an inclusive model where IEP students learn in classrooms alongside their peers without IEPs.

“We strongly believe in meeting children’s individual needs in the least restrictive environment possible,” he said. 

Suspensions

Last school year, 9 percent of Russell O. Brackman Middle School students received suspensions, more than double the state average of 4 percent. 

Brackman principal Steven Nichol said such a high number of suspensions was unusual for his school. Toward the end of the year there were a number of incidents that led to suspensions, he said.

 “Through sixth, seventh and eighth grade, we tell [students] what’s expected of them,” he said. “We had a few kids that just didn’t get it.”

This year, suspensions have normalized, he said.

Bing said the middle school prides itself on a disciplined school environment.

“I always look at [suspensions] on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “Percentage numbers often do not tell the true story.”