NJSBA Outlines Facts of Aid Freeze; Asks Legislature to Eliminate 2010 Budget Election

State Releases 2009 School Report Cards

Hearings Scheduled on Pension Reform Plan

Court Rules Copying Costs May Not Exceed Actual Costs

NJSBA Advises Patience in Negotiations

NJSBA’s Webcast Series Debuts with Social Media Program

NJSBA Executive Committee Meeting

Calendar

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State Releases 2009 School Report Cards

Last week, the state Department of Education released the 2009 School Report Card, the database that contains statistical profiles of all public schools in the state.

The report card allows the public to compare statistics on each school’s enrollment, the school environment, student performance indicators, staff information and district/charter financial information. The department also released the 2009 statewide assessment reports, which is the state’s annual summary of the results for the testing administered to students in the spring.

Some statewide trends that can be extrapolated from the information:

  • Students graduating via the Special Review Assessment (SRA), the alternate proficiency assessment for the HSPA, or High School Proficiency Assessment, declined slightly for a third year, to 10.9 percent from 11.2 percent in 2006-2007.
  • Per pupil spending in New Jersey in the 2008-2009 school year increased by 7.9 percent (to $13,601) over the previous year. 
  • Average SAT scores increased slightly over last year. The average math SAT score in the state last year was 515; the average score on the verbal portion of the SAT was 494, while the average on the writing portion was 494; comparable figures from the previous year were 514, 492 and 494. (National averages were 515 for math, 501 for verbal and 493 for writing.)

The state assessment for grades three and four show only one year of results because the tests were new. In the second year of the tests administered to students in grades five through eight, overall test results indicated improvement. The biggest gains in language arts were in grade five from 60.1 percent proficient in 2007-2008 to 66.2 percent in 2008-2009, and grade six with 57.4 percent proficient in 2007-2008 to 70.1 percent proficient the following year. The biggest gain in math was in grade eight from 67.7 percent proficient in 2007-2008 to 71.8 percent proficient the next year.

One major addition to the 2009 report card was mandated by the U.S. Department of Education. States were required to report 2007 state and national results in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for grades four and eight, and the 2009 NAEP math results for grades four and eight. In New Jersey’s report card, the NAEP results are in the same section of the report card as the fourth and eighth grade NJ ASK state totals for grades four and eight.

The report cards were established by legislation in 1995; they are produced for all elementary and secondary schools, as well as vocational schools, special education schools, charter schools and special services school districts.

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