School Rankings Return: See How Toms River Fared For 2021-22

TOMS RIVER, NJ — For the first time since 2020, New Jersey's school rankings are back, showing how your local schools compare to 2,300 others across the state. And according to the data, the numbers at each school from elementary to high school can vary greatly.

Along with the school performance reports released the first week of April are school-by-school summative scores and ratings, which compare districts and give a number score that measures how well each school is doing in academic achievement and progress. See all school ratings here.

This is the first time parents and teachers have seen results of the rating system since 2020, because state testing was postponed during COVID-19. New Jersey also identifies schools that need support with its ESSA accountability system.

Related article — New NJ School Performance Reports Show Student Struggles Post-COVID

Summative scores provide a number from 1-100, and are based on factors including graduation rates, chronic absenteeism, and progress in English and math. Higher scores are better. Some schools with lower scores are put into categories for support and improvement.

Schools are compared based on grade level in the "summative ratings." For example, schools that serve high school students only are compared with one another. These are percentile ratings from 1-100, so a school with a rating closer to 100 is among the best of its peers.

Toms River Regional's school-by-school scores and rankings are at the bottom of this article.

District administrators discussed the school performance reports during the school board's curriculum committee meeting Wednesday evening, going into some detail regarding the scores and the ratings.

Assistant Superintendent Richard Fasnacht said one of the positive findings was the district exceeded the growth measure at all of its schools.

Four district schools have been referred to the state's program to address specific weaknesses through targeted support: Toms River South, Toms River East, Joseph A. Citta Elementary and Walnut Street Elementary. In each case, the targeted support is to improve the scores of children in minority demographics.

Two schools in the district — Toms River Intermediate East and Intermediate South — had been on targeted support plans and saw significant improvements, and have come off the list as needing to improve, Fasnacht said. Their improvement gives the district a blueprint to follow for the four schools moved onto the list.

The committee discussion also addressed graduation rates, and Fasnacht said a change in what is being accepted at the federal level compared with the state level has affected rates. At the federal level, students who receive their high school diplomas but have certain course material waived for reasons related to IEPs or other accommodations, such as special needs students, are not counted as having achieved graduation. Their state-issued diplomas are still valid, he said.

Board member Melissa Morrison asked whether the scores, particularly the math and English language arts scores, reflect the impact of state aid cuts that have led to the cuts of more than 250 teaching positions in the last few years. Fasnacht said that certainly has played a role.

The full discussion begins at the 29-minute mark of this video.

Here are the school-by-school scores and rankings:

This article includes reporting by Michelle Rotuno-Johnson.