Interactive Map: High School Proficiency in the Garden State

By Colleen O'Dea, NJ Spotlight

About nine in 10 New Jersey public high school juniors were proficient in reading and writing, and three-quarters mastered math last year, according to results from the High School Proficiency Assessment.

Generally, the highest-performing schools in 2010-2011 were in the northeast and central parts of the state. Those with the lowest average scores were in cities near the Hudson River in the north and close to Delaware in the south.

scores by 7.3 percent in Language Arts Literacy and 14.1 percent in Math. The district also scored higher than its socioeconomic peers in virtually every subgroup and subject. 

Click here and scroll down to see a map with each district’s average scores, as well as the number of students tested and the percentage that passed (rated proficient and advanced proficient) and those that failed (partially proficient).

Each school’s profile also shows whether it is in a special needs district (typically, these are the poorest cities in the state) and its district factor group ranking. DFGs range from A, which have the lowest socioeconomic characteristics, through J, the wealthiest communities. R indicates charter; V, vocational.

Schools in the higher DFG categories tend to fare better: In A schools, most of which are in special needs districts, 69.9 percent passed language arts; 46.9 percent, math. J schools had passing rates of 97.7 percent in language arts; 93.5 percent, math.

Statewide, 89.6 percent passed language arts last spring and 75.2 percent passed the math section, according to the state Department of Education.

In Fair Lawn, 96.8 percent of students passed language arts and 89.3 percent passed the math section.

Before graduating from a public high school in New Jersey, nearly all students must pass the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). Students are tested in the spring of their junior year; if they do not pass the first time, they can take the exam again as seniors.