Tag: SPR

The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) has just released the annual performance accountability reports for schools across the state. These reports, called the New Jersey School Performance Reports (SPR), reflect achievement on assessments administered in the spring of 2014. Test results are reported in terms of student achievement (based on testing scores), college readiness (based on attendance records and MS/HS enrollment in advanced math courses) and student growth percentiles (based on an algorithm, which calculates increases in test scores compared to students with a similar history of performance). The state has explained the student growth percentile (SGP) calculation in a fifteen-minute video, which can be found at the following website: https://survey.pcgus.com/njgrowth/player.html

The School Performance Report is in its third year of use throughout the state and is significantly different from the prior New Jersey Report Card, which compared districts by their district factor group (DFG). District Factor Groups linked school districts by various socioeconomic indicators, as well as the education and employment levels of their residents. As you will note on the current reports, the first paragraph on Page One compares the school to its “peers” rather than to schools in its DFG. Schools are now evaluated based on a comparison of what the state determines is a peer group. The state has developed a peer group for each school, which you can find on the last page of the report, by combining 30 schools across the state that have similar percentages of Limited English Proficient, Special Education and free and reduced lunch students. Due to the fact that most schools in Ridgewood are not in the same peer group, comparisons between our schools are not made in these reports. Peer groups appear to change year to year.

Moreover, each school has different targets to meet, which are based on school test results in the baseline year (2010-2011). These proficiency targets can be found beginning on Page Three of the reports. Therefore, when reviewing the percentage of targets met on the chart on Page One, it should be noted that these targets are different for each of our schools.

The SPR data is now available for viewing. You can access the Ridgewood Public Schools’ performance reports through our district website: www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us where you will find links to the reports on our home page, on your school webpage and on the Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment webpage. You may also access the reports for all schools in New Jersey on the NJDOE website at https://education.state.nj.us/pr. To aid you in fully understanding the performance reports, it is important to read the Peer School Methodology White Paper and the NJ School Performance Reports – Interpretive Guide, found on the NJDOE website. I am proud of the district’s accomplishments, as well as all the accomplishments of our students in each and every school. Our educators work toward constant improvements as part of our ongoing mission of excellence for each and every student in the Ridgewood Public Schools.

Sincerely yours,

Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools