Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • April 24. 2013 Area NJDOE issues report cards for local, regional schools by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes School District and the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District have received the new 2011-12 school year report cards issued by the New Jersey Department of Education. The report cards include brand new data in areas including academic achievement, college and career readiness, and student growth. A new feature of the report cards is the comparison of the schools to their “peer schools” in order to provide a more complete picture of school performance for educators and the general public. The NJDOE advised that the peer school methodology compares schools to approximately 30 similar schools from across the state with similar grade configurations and which are educating students with similar demographic characteristics, such as free/reduced lunch eligibility, limited English proficiency, or special education program participation. The data provides information about how similar schools are performing to help identify strengths and areas for improvement. “These new school performance reports were developed with the input of stakeholders across the state and provide a significant amount of new data to present a more complete picture of school performance,” said Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf. “We hope this data will help schools and stakeholders engage in local goal setting and improvement to help all students graduate from high school ready for college and career.” The report cards also contain detailed statistical profiles of the schools, including enrollment data, Advanced Placement test participation and results, SAT participation and results, graduation rates, student to staff ratios, and the names of the schools included in each school’s peer group. “While the evaluation of student outcome data is crucial for school improvement, we know that these data alone cannot capture the dozens of other essential elements of schools such as a positive school climate, participation in extracurricular programs and the development of non-cognitive skills,” said Chief Performance Officer Bari Erlichson. “However, by focusing on college and career readiness and including meaningful comparisons for schools, we hope that these new reports will inform conversations at the local level about where schools are doing well and where they can continue to improve.” The report cards can be viewed in their entirety on the NJDOE website: http://education.state.nj.us/pr/. The NJDOE’s basic ratings are listed below. The academic performance of the Franklin Lakes Middle School, which includes grades six through eight, was rated “very high” when compared to schools across the state, and “about average” in comparison to its peers. However, the college and career readiness of the middle school “lags” in comparison to schools across the state and when compared to peers. The school’s student growth performance also “lags” in comparison to schools across the state and “significantly lags” in comparison to its peers. The academic performance of the Colonial Road School, which includes pre-K through grade five, was rated “very high” when compared to schools across the state and “high” in comparison to its peers. The college and career readiness of the school, however, “significantly lags” when compared to schools across the state and when compared to peers. Student growth performance was rated “very high” when compared to schools across the state and when compared to its peer schools. The academic performance of the High Mountain Road School, which serves pre-K through grade five, was rated “very high” when compared to schools across the state and “high” in comparison to its peer schools. The college and career readiness of the school, however, “lags” in comparison to schools across the state and “significantly lags” when compared to its peer schools. Student growth performance was rated “high” when compared to schools across the state and in comparison to its peers. Academic performance at Woodside Avenue School, which includes kindergarten through grade five, with two special education classes, was rated “high” when compared to schools across the state but it “lags” in comparison to its peer schools. The school’s college and career readiness also “lags” in comparison to schools across the state and “significantly lags” when compared to its peers. The school’s student growth performance was rated “about average” when compared to schools across the state, but “lags” in comparison to its peers. The academic performance of Ramapo and Indian Hills high schools was rated “high” when compared to schools across the state, but both schools “lag” in comparison to their peers. The college and career readiness of both schools was also rated “high” when compared to schools across the state, but “about average” when compared to peer schools. The graduation and post-secondary performance of Ramapo High was rated “very high” when compared to schools across the state, but its graduation and post-secondary readiness was “about average” when compared to its peer schools. Indian Hills High was rated “high” and “lags” in the same categories, respectively. Ramapo outperforms 70 percent of the schools statewide in academic achievement and 36 percent of the schools educating students with similar demographic characteristics. The school is also meeting 100 percent of its performance targets in the area of academic achievement. Indian Hills outperforms 69 percent of the schools statewide in academic achievement and 33 percent of the schools educating students with similar demographic characteristics. The school is also meeting 100 percent of its (continued on page 14)