Haddonfield, Haddon Township Among The Best School Districts In The State In New Rankings

A new ranking of the state's best school districts has been released and it includes both the Haddonfield and Haddon Township public school districts. Haddonfield is ranked No. 20, and Haddon Township is ranked No. 134.

Niche.com, which recently released its annual rankings of the best school districts in the country, looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as test scores, college data and ratings collected from users.

The methodology for each category of ranking varied. (Click here for more information on how Niche calculates its rankings.)

Niche assigns a standardized score for each factor, which is then weighted before an overall score is calculated for each school district. The overall scores are again standardized and some districts are disqualified from receiving a final letter grade if there isn’t enough data. School districts are then ranked numerically and assigned grades.

Haddonfield received an overall grade of A+. Its highest score was an A+, for academics, teachers and college prep. (You can see the full report card here.)

“I greatly enjoyed my time at Haddonfield Memorial High School and I feel that the school did a wonderful job preparing for college," one reviewer wrote. "If you live in the South Jersey area and you do not like your public school you should shadow a student at the school and see how you feel about it. My only complaint is that as a black student was that there was only six other black students in a school of 800. It was never that big of an issue for me and if it isn't for you give Haddonfield and try and good luck.”

Haddon Township earned an overall grade of B. It earned an A for health and safety, and an A- for teachers and for college prep. (You can see the full report card here.)

"For being such a small district, it was extremely easy to meet up with teachers for extra help," one reviewer wrote. "Every teacher is so determined to make sure that every kid understood whatever is being taught to the best of their ability. The iPads were such a great tool to have in the classroom because so many new opportunities to learn were created with them."

According to Niche, these are the 25 best school districts in New Jersey:

1. Princeton Public Schools (14th in nation)
2. Millburn Township Schools (36th in nation)
3. West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District (55th in nation)
4. Livingston Public Schools (97th in nation)
5. Summit Public Schools
6. The School District of the Chathams
7. Bernards Township School District
8. Montgomery Township School District
9. Tenafly Public Schools
10. West Essex Regional School District, North Caldwell
11. East Brunswick Public Schools
12. Pascack Valley Regional High School District, Montvale
13. Moorestown Township Public School District
14. Montclair Public Schools
15. Ridgewood Public Schools
16. South Brunswick Public Schools
17. West Morris Regional High School District
18. Hopewell Valley Regional School District
19. Glen Ridge Public Schools
20. Haddonfield Public Schools
21. Fair Lawn School District
22. Mountain Lakes School District
23. Somerset Hills Regional School District, Bernardsville
24. Northern Valley Regional High School District, Demarest
25. Berkeley Heights Public Schools

Click here to see the full list.

Niche’s data for its K-12 school district rankings comes from various sources, including the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics and the Civil Rights Data Collection.

The rankings also rely on data that is self-reported by Niche users and schools. (Click here to learn more about where Niche’s data comes from.)

What do you think of the rankings? Let us know in the comments below.

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