Moorestown High School is the highest ranked high school in Burlington County, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis of new school data released by the state Department of Education.
The high school ranks 35th statewide among high schools that offer grades 9 to 12.
NJ Advance Media assigned each New Jersey high school a ranking number between 1 and 357 based on the “summative ratings” calculated by the state Department of Education for the 2022-23 school year. (Use the look-up tool below to find your school.)
The ratings — released last month as part of the state School Performance Reports — measure how each school compares to other schools with the same grade levels when test scores and other factors are considered.
Pemberton Township High School in Pemberton had the highest jump in the high school rankings in Burlington County, rising 53 spots from the previous school year.
Among all Burlington County schools included in the state data, Taunton Forge Elementary School in Medford had the highest summative rating.
The state Department of Education’s controversial school ratings system was released last month, assigning a numerical score to all New Jersey schools with students old enough to take standardized tests.
The ratings are calculated using standardized test scores, student academic growth, graduation rates and other factors, including chronic absenteeism. Each school is given a score from 0 to 100, called a “summative score.”
Schools with the same grade configurations are compared to each other and given a percentile rating from 0 to 100, called a “summative rating.” The three comparison groups are: high schools; elementary and middle schools; and mixed grade configuration schools.
Parents should approach the ratings with caution, Dr. Jack Schneider, director of the Center for Education Policy at University of Massachusetts Amherst said.
“Summative ratings, when you are talking about something as multifaceted as a school, is always going to be misleading in some regard,” Schneider said.
“Your best case scenario is that you are measuring every dimension, you’re assessing every aspect of school quality, and then you’re taking this rainbow of performance and you’re turning it in the mud by creating a summative rating,” Schneider said.
The worst case scenario is that only a small slice of school performance gets measured and the rating tells a misleading story, he said.
Not all schools will appear in the rankings. Schools that only serve students in third grade and below are excluded from the data because standardized tests are not offered for those grades. Some other schools are left off the rankings because the state was not able to collect enough data.
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Stories by Katie Kausch
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Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieKausch.
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