These Are The Top Middle Schools In NJ Based On State Report Cards

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey's middle schools have been rated based on performance and growth in English and math, as well as other academic and attendance markers. Which ones are performing the best?

New Jersey's Department of Education released school performance reports in the first week of April. The report cards include school-by-school summative scores for each school as well as ratings, which assign each school a number score that measures how well the building is doing in academic achievement and progress compared with its peers.

Elementary and middle school scores are based on absenteeism, standardized test scores and student progress, according to the state Department of Education. This includes both growth and proficiency in English language arts and math, and students' English language proficiency.

The ratings for high schools are based on graduation and absenteeism rates and standardized scores.

"Summative scores" provide a number from 1-99, and are based on factors such as graduation rates, proficiency and progress in English language arts and math, and chronic absenteeism rates (students absent more than 10 percent of school days).

Higher scores are better, and certain schools with lower scores are put into categories for support and improvement. Due to the cancellation of statewide assessments in 2019-20 and 2020-21, student growth data are not available for those school years.

Schools are compared to one another based on grade level, as well, in the "summative ratings." For example, schools that only serve elementary students 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.

Jersey City's Infinity Institute is one of these; this magnet school serving grades 6-12 had a summative score of 85.55 and ranked in the 100th percentile.

Many of New Jersey's 2,364 public schools are included on the ratings list, though some were left off if there was not enough data to calculate a proper score.

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Here are the top 10 middle schools in the state based on the NJ DOE’s reports for 2021-22.

Top 10 NJ middle schools by report card score:

Explore Middle School (Hudson Co. Schools of Technology SD)
Summative score: 86.92
Summative rating: 95.82

Manapalan-Englishtown Middle School (Manalapan-Englishtown Regional SD, Monmouth Co.)
Summative score: 82.32
Summative rating: 92.33

Maple Place Middle School (Oceanport SD, Monmouth Co.)
Summative score: 81.97
Summative rating: 92.04

Pearl R. Miller Middle School (Kinnelon SD, Morris Co.)
Summative score: 81.41
Summative rating: 91.53

Lewis F. Cole Middle School (Fort Lee SD, Bergen Co.)
Summative score: 81.10
Summative rating: 91.01

William Annin Middle School (Bernards Township SD, Somerset Co.)
Summative score: 81.09
Summative rating: 90.96

Thomas Jefferson Middle School (Fair Lawn Public SD, Bergen Co.)
Summative score: 80.85
Summative rating: 90.56

Memorial Middle School (Point Pleasant Borough SD, Ocean Co.)
Summative score: 78.76
Summative rating: 88.21

Memorial Middle School (Woodland Park SD, Passaic Co.)
Summative score: 78.73
Summative rating: 88.09

River Dell Middle School (River Dell Regional SD, Bergen Co.)
Summative score: 78.67
Summative rating: 88.04

The scores were established to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act. The state did not score schools in 2019-20 and 2020-21, because the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted state testing and New Jersey was granted a waiver from accountability- related requirements under ESSA.

In every state, ESSA requires school districts to measure student performance and develop a “State Report Card” which parents can explore online, with quantifiable measurements like a score or a letter grade for how schools are performing. ESSA also requires states to report how much money, on average, they spend per student.

The summative scores are included in the NJ school performance reports, but not on the front page.