Test Scores Show How Brick Students Stack Up

Test scores for school districts statewide were released by the state Department of Education this week. The scores were based on the 2010-11 school year.

For Brick schools, there were some bright spots, and the district was largely on par with neighboring Toms River – another large, suburban school district in the same district factor group as Brick.

A school's district factor group (DFG) is an indication of the socioeconomic status of families within a district so the state can compare progress of students to their peers in other communities. Students are ranked as being 'proficient' or 'advanced proficient' if they pass standardized tests, and 'partially proficient' if they did not receive a passing score.

On the high school level, where students are tested in their junior year, an average of 91 percent of students between the township's two high schools received proficient or advanced proficient scores in language arts. That compares to 92 percent in Toms River and 94 percent at Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin, which is also in Brick's DFG.

In Brick, an average of 12.8 percent of students in the two high schools received advanced proficient scores.

In math, 77 percent of Brick high school students ranked proficient or advanced proficient. That compares with 74 percent in Toms River and 79 percent at Southern.

The number of advanced proficient students in Brick was generally on par with the other two other districts; 18 percent of Brick students ranked advanced while 19 percent of Toms River students and 21 percent of Southern students ranked the same way.

School officials pointed to the lower grades as the best indicator of where Brick was making progress, however – especially when it came to math.

"We've had more advanced proficient students than we've ever had before," said Superintendent Walter Hrycenko, crediting a new math curriculum called Everyday Math, with helping spur better performance.

A down category for the district was third grade language arts, where Brick students lagged their DFG and statewide counterparts by four and three percentage points, respectively. But by the fourth grade, students were beating their peers both in the DFG and state by two and five points.

Hrycenko said some other school districts purchase extra testing materials that prepare their third graders for tests, but the Brick school district has not been able to afford those materials.

"When we look at where they are in grade four and grade five, it doesn't seem to be necessary," he said.

Across Brick's elementary schools, an average of 67 percent of fourth grade students tested proficient or advanced proficient. That's compared to 68 percent in Toms River and 58 percent in Stafford Township. In math, 85 percent of Brick students passed the tests, compared to 84 percent in both Toms River and Stafford.

Between Brick's two middle schools, an average of 88 percent of eighth grade students received proficient or advanced proficient scores in language arts. The same percentage of Toms River students received a passing score, and 89 percent of Southern Regional students passed.

In math, 72 percent of Brick's eighth graders passed the tests, compared with 77 percent of Toms River students and 82 percent of Southern students.

Comparisons broken down by school and by district, as well as by ranking, are included in spreadsheet files available from a state website.

Year-to-year comparisons between schools do not always tell the whole story, Hrycenko said, because "you're not measuring the same students."

"The grade five students from last year are now in grade six," he said.

But starting in 2014, school administrators will be able to get a better handle on how students are progressing through the grade levels.

According to Assistant Superintendent Patricia Lorusso, new tests that track scores from the same class as they move from grade to grade will be used in New Jersey.

"Those new tests are going to be a better indicator of progress and how we're closing the achievement gap," Lorusso said.

"It's not a one time, per year test," she said, adding that students will take the tests three times per year.