Did Par-Troy Schools Make the Grade?

The outpaces the state average for language arts and math proficiency, according to the School Report Cards released Thursday by the New Jersey Department of Education.

The goal of the School Report Cards is to allow the public to see for itself how the state judges individual elementary, middle and high schools performance in the 2010-11 school year. The information also gives school districts the information they need to find deficiencies and plot courses for improvement. 

The reports measure standardized test scores for each school in a district and also provides figures on average class size, expulsion rate, length of instruction time, attendance rate and several other factors.

It also provides financial data for districts. Parsippany taxes fund 90 percent of the budget, while the state average is 52 percent. Per pupil spending costs in the township are $18,132 while the state average is $17,469. Parsippany only receives 8 percent in state aid while the state average is 42 percent.

In some instances, the district earned slightly lower scores than the state average but had a higher rate of "advanced proficient'' students.

For instance, 65.9 percent of l students were proficient in language arts (3 percent lower than it achieved for 2009-10), while the state average is 69.3 percent. But 26.7 percent of students were advanced proficient (4.2 percent higher than in the previous year), compared to the state average of 21.2 percent.

In math, Par High students were 50.4 percent proficient while the state average was 50.5 percent. But Parsippany had 28.3 percent advanced proficiency while the state average is 25.7 percent.

At , students were 59.8 percent proficient in language arts as compared to the state average of 67.3 percent. However, 33.9 percent of students at the Hills achieved advanced proficiency. The state average is lower at 21.2 percent.

Mathematics tells a similar story: Par Hills students were 47.4 percent proficient in math, a figure lower than the state average of 50.5 percent. But 36.4 percent of students earned advanced proficiency, while the state average is only 25.7 percent.

Students at Parsippany's two middle schools on average scored about 57 percent proficient in language arts, while the state average was 58.3 percent. Math scores were 47.8 percent proficient compared to 44.4 percent of state students. But the advanced proficiency rate was 35.2 percent while the state average is 27.8 percent.

You can find breakdowns of the individual elementary schools and grade levels on the DOE website.

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