Columbia Middle School Pulls Ahead in U.S. News & World Report Rankings

Nov 16, 2024Nov 16, 20241 Comment on Columbia Middle School Pulls Ahead in U.S. News & World Report Rankings

And there’s even better news for Berkeley Heights on the horizon.

Columbia Middle School has shown resilience amid the proficiency declines reported two years ago. While the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings reflect data from the 2021-2022 school year, our internal proficiency reporting is more current—and it tells a promising story.

Let’s start with the US News and World Report Rankings based on the 2021-2022 Data.

CMS climbed 11 points in the rankings, as other middle schools on the dashboard experienced declines. This aligns with proficiency trends during the 2021-2022 period, when CMS demonstrated a smaller drop in scores compared to other schools within Berkeley Heights.

Specifically, CMS reported a 3-percentage-point decline in Math and a 4-percentage-point decline in ELA—outcomes that were better, and in some cases significantly better, than other BHPSNJ schools.

For context, Governor Livingston High School saw a 26-percentage-point drop in ELA and a 15-percentage-point drop in Math during the same period, underscoring CMS’s relative strength.

Now for the better news.

CMS made measurable improvements in 2022-2023:

Math: Up 3 percentage points from 2021-2022