The New Jersey Department of Education recently made the New Jersey School Performance Reports for the 2021-2022 school year publicly available, according to an advisory. The reports may be found on the NJDOE’s School Performance Report website.
The School Performance Reports reflect the NJDOE’s commitment to providing parents, students, and school communities with a variety of information about each school and local education agency. While these reports do not fully capture the circumstances and efforts of each school community, the NJDOE believes that it is critical to use the available data in the reports, along with other information collected directly within each LEA and community, to start conversations, identify gaps in information and continue to find ways to address the impacts of COVID-19 while ensuring all students receive support.
“Our annual School Performance Reports provide a wealth of information that can be used by the community to engage in thoughtful conversations,” said Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan, acting commissioner of education, in a news release. “While this data does not fully capture the unique circumstances and efforts of each school community, these reports are one important tool that can be used to identify successes and challenges, engage in dialogue, and work collectively toward improving the education and supports provided to all students.”
Important Notes about the 2021-2022 Reports
The 2021-2022 School Performance Reports include nearly all data that was included prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as assessment results and accountability data. The 2021-2022 reports do not include student growth data as measured by median student growth percentiles. This is because individual student growth percentiles were not calculated for the 2021-2022 school year due to lack of prior year test results because the assessments were not administered in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. The student growth section of the reports will include a link to an alternate measure of academic progress that was used for accountability determinations for the 2021-2022 school year. The NJDOE plans to resume reporting median student growth percentiles for the 2022-2023 school year.
What’s New in the Reports
The focus of the 2021-2022 reports was to resume reporting all assessment and accountability data. This will be the first time since the 2018-2019 reports that the following data will be included in the School Performance Reports:
- English language arts, mathematics, and science assessment results.
- English language progress toward proficiency.
- ESSA accountability indicators, updated status, and progress toward meeting long-term goals.
Additionally, a few changes were made to respond to updated state requirements and stakeholder feedback:
- Additional student group breakouts for postsecondary enrollment showing the enrollment rates by gender and for students experiencing homelessness, students in foster care, military-connected students and migrant students.
- Expanded staff data, including staff counts and student to staff ratios for school psychologists, school social workers, student assistance coordinators and school safety specialists.
Sharing the Reports with Your School Community
To help LEAs share the information in the School Performance Reports and support conversations with their school communities, the NJDOE has developed optional tools that LEAs can use to help communicate about the reports.
Get more information about the NJDOE’s School Performance Reports toolkit and additional information about the school performance reports in the full advisory.
The NJDOE continues to seek public input on how to improve future reports and encourages stakeholders to complete the feedback survey.