Hazlet Middle School Earns Top Marks for Academic Improvement

Hazlet Middle School ranked ninth in JerseyCAN: The New Jersey Campaign for Achievement Now’s Top 10 New Jersey Middle Schools for their improved performance on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) exams.

In categories of academic achievement and student growth, Hazlet Middle School met its target. Academic Achievement measures the content knowledge students have in language arts literacy and math. While NJ ASK in Language Arts Literacy and Math when compared to students with a similar history of performance on NJ-ASK.

JerseyCAN: The New Jersey Campaign for Achievement Now released school report cards Wednesday for every public school in the state as well as top 10 lists for New Jersey’s top elementary, middle and high schools. Schools were assessed in five areas: student performance, subgroup performance, achievement gaps performance gains, and four-year cohort high school graduation rates.

“We are proud of the fact that we have been recognized as one of the top ten middle schools in the State, by The New Jersey Campaign for Achievement Now, for the performance of our students at the Hazlet Middle School,” Hazlet Superintendent of Schools Bernard Bragen said. “We believe this is the result of the commitment of our Board of Education, administration, staff, parents and students to continually strive for excellence.”

Next year the district plans to offer pre-algebra to all seventh grade students and algebra for all eighth graders the following year, Bragen said.

In a press release, JerseyCAN Executive Director Janellen Duffy credited Hazlet Middle School and others in the top 10 lists as serving as examples for the state.

“Although there is certainly more work to be done so that every single New Jersey public school serves the needs of all students, these Top 10 schools are excellent examples of how great schools—both traditional and charter—can dramatically change the lives of their students,” Duffy said.