the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey’s latest school grades are out, giving parents in every community a snapshot of what the state thinks of their local schools.The state Department of Education on Tuesday released the new scores, which are graded on a scale of 0-100 and consider standardized test results, graduation rates and other factors. The ratings were established to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act.
The system has been very controversial , with critics claiming the ranking system hardly reflects the quality of the education.
Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi , “Trying to decipher the scoring system used in this new grading system by the State Department of Education. Some of the disturbing trends in the data include that school districts in which the state has made significant financial investments continue to see the lowest scores and in some local communities one grammar school may rank among the lowest while others in the same community are ranked incredibly high. We need to start looking at better and different ways to help our children succeed within our schools. Merely sending additional monies does not seem to be working.”
Here’s what was counted to come up with the grades:
High schools: Four-year graduation rate (20 percent), five-year graduation rate (20 percent), progress toward English language proficiency (20 percent) English proficiency (15 percent), math proficiency (15 percent), chronic absenteeism (10 percent)
Elementary and middle schools: English language arts growth (20 percent), math growth (20 percent), progress toward English language proficiency (20 percent), English language arts proficiency (15 percent), math proficiency (15 percent), chronic absenteeism (10 percent)
Out of 2088 schools ,Ridgewood schools received the following scores and overall rankings :
90th. Willard Elemetnary School: 87.13
108th. Ridgewood High School: 85.93
155th. Orchard Elementary School: 82.62
192nd. Hawes Elementary School: 80.39
311th. Ridge Elementary School: 75.07
385th. Travell Elementary School: 72.19
402nd. Somerville Elementary School: 71.57
915th. Benjamin Franklin Middle School: 54.64
1,211th. George Washington Middle School: 45.66
Schools that have third grade or higher also have “summative percentile rating,” which shows a comparative rating to other high schools, middle and elementary schools. Those give elementary schools more weight in their scoring system because of a different criteria .A 50th percentile rating is considered average.
Ridgewood ‘s summative percentile ratings, and their statewide rankings are as follows
78th. Willard Elementary School: 96.33
145th. Orchard Elementary School: 93.13
180th. Hawes Elementary School: 91.47
182nd. Ridgewood High School: 91.40
296th. Ridge Elementary School: 85.90
372nd. Travell Elementary School: 82.23
388th. Somerville Elementary School: 81.46
901st. Benjamin Franklin Middle School: 56.87
1,212th. George Washington Middle School: 41.94
What about chronic absenteeism among teachers?
The rankings for George Washington Middle School are quite *concerning*. What are you going to do about this Fishbein?
Of course you know exactly what Fishbein will say and do, announce it’s all due to “false news and schools in Ridgewood were obviously misrepresented in the survey.” That huge budget increase (look at Glen Rock’s whose scores are almost always well above us and the comparison in budget requests is a complete horror.)
For starters, terminate GW Principal Dr K.