Test scores provide context alongside other districts
-Written by a non-politically connected Educator in the Community
Following up on a recent post on Berkeley Heights Community Watch from a Board of Education (BOE) candidate and a parent, the main source of school rankings originate from test scores such as the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA for students in Grades 3 to Grade 11), New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA for Grade 11 students), and Advanced Placement (AP) testing. There are also other metrics such as athletics, administration, and clubs/activities.
Below is the context of the rankings from NJSLA in spring 2023.
Presented at the assessment report during the October 17th, 2024 New Providence Board of Education meeting, numbers were reflected showing New Providence’s strength in ELA and math, especially ELA. These numbers originate from the New Jersey School Performance Reports.
The below chart was shared during the most recent New Providence BOE meeting but re-organized from highest to lowest test scores in their nine district summary.
Overall themes from the above chart:
- Berkeley Heights (BHPS) ranks seventh overall out of the nine districts provided.
- In English Language Arts (ELA), BHPS in fifth place (ahead of Westfield and Chatham) while seventh overall in math.
- In summary, BHPS test scores are ‘okay’ (not good, not great, but not bad either).
- However, it is the year-to-year decline of test scores in mathematics, science, and English Language Arts, and therefore a decline in rankings, that are of concern. Recent declines include:
- Decrease of 10 places in Governor Livingston High School rankings from 2021-2022 to 2023-2024 (U.S. News and World Report).
- Decrease of 23 places for BHPS as a whole from 2022-23 to 2023-24 (Niche).
Although this website has provided multiple other data points of rankings (example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4, example 5, example 6, example 7), this is one sample that shows that while BHPS test scores are good, they could be better, especially than a 68% student proficiency rating in math.
These rankings provide the context to why BHPS rankings are lower than some neighboring schools. The math from here is simple:
Questioning past/current BHPS practices = Working to improve math/ELA scores
Working to improve math/ELA scores = Improved test scores
Improved test scores = Improved school rankings
Improved school rankings = Better teacher recruitment/retention
Improved school rankings = Better home/property values
Improved school rankings = Stronger outcomes for students
For more, please see “Video: The BHPS Proficiency Problem Timeline in Two Minutes.”
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