N.J. school chiefs take issue with 'peer group' rankings in revamped reports
ByStar-Ledger Staff
on April 11, 2013 at 7:00 AM, updatedApril 11, 2013 at 1:00 PM
ByJeanette RundquistandJessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger
TRENTON— The state shook up the New Jersey education world Wednesday.
The Department of Education released new multi-page "School Performance Reports," that provide an analysis of the state’s schools in detail never before seen. The reports look at the percentage of middle school kids chronically absent; the percentage that took algebra in middle school; and the percentage of high school graduates still in college or other secondary education 16 months after the grads tossed their caps in the air at commencement
All of those are said to be factors in determining how well kids will fare in college or careers.
But the biggest bombshell may have been a new concept called "peer group ranking." For the first time, the state is comparing each school with about 30 others deemed to be demographically similar.
Not everyone was ready for new the report cards.
While superintendents largely said they welcome the new information, many took issue with the state’s use
of data to compare schools with "peers" deemed similar based on levels of students’ poverty and special needs. In some cases, schools with nearly identical test scores, in the same peer groups, have wildly different percentile ranks.
"The problems are pervasive throughout the report," said Paul Pineiro, Westfield’s assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and programs. "These reports are designed to inform parents about how well the public schools are serving their children, and all of the new indicators listed are important and strong, but the ranking methodology is questionable."
The new reports, which replace the old state "school report cards," were more than a year in the making. They are intended to "fully and transparently categorize schools" and identify those that need support or deserve recognition, according to the state Department of Education.
"Every school in New Jersey has some area that needs improvement," read a document released by the state, along with the data on more than 2,000 New Jersey schools. "The performance reports … will assist every school in taking the next step."
The state also released school spending information, showing the average spending per pupil rose from $17,322 in 2010-11, to $18,047 in 2011-12.
The new reports — and the peer groupings — brought surprises for some schools that have the reputation of being at the top of the academic heap.
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Millburn High School, long considered one of New Jersey’s leading schools, scored a more modest ranking for academic achievement — in the 68th percentile — when compared with the 30 similar schools in its "peer group ranking," according to the reports. Compared statewide, it was in the 83rd percentile.
Millburn Superintendent James Crisfield said he was initially concerned about the high school showing in the 68th percentile for "academic achievement," until he saw that the mark was based only on the state’s High School Proficiency Assessment and biology test results. He said in Millburn — a school where about 10 percent of the current senior class of 400 is headed to Ivy League colleges — students don’t take those state tests very seriously.
"The measures they use are the wrong measures for high-achieving schools .There’s lots of other things, SAT scores, AP scores, that are better mesaures," he said. "If they’re trying to get at some things that are important — we want the state’s high school seniors to do as well as they can in either college or career — why don’t we do something to make that happen rather than start comparing schools?"
Metuchen Superintendent Vincent Caputo said the new performance reports are an improvement over the old school report cards state officials had released in the past, but said the peer group rankings will be a "big change" requiring adjustment.
At Metuchen High School, 94 percent of students passed the language arts section of the High School Proficiency Assessment, yet the school ranked in the sixth percentile on that measure compared with other schools in its peer group.
"We have a very educated community," Caputo said. "I think they’ll look at the first page of the report and see our academic achievement peer rank, but then they’ll dig deeper and see that Metuchen schools are doing well."
South Brunswick High School is among the roughly 30 schools in Metuchen High School’s peer group. Ninety eight percent of students there passed the language arts section of the High School Proficiency Assessment, but it’s percentile rank within the peer group is much higher than Metuchen.
Some school officials also criicized the state’s method of calculating a school’s academic achievement peer rank, which required averaging two averages — taking an average of schools’ percentile ranks among their peers in language arts and their percentile ranks for math.
The peer group rankings replace the old "District Factor Groups" that educators have used since 1975, which placed all school districts in groups — labeled "A" through "J" — according to factors such as income, education level and occupational status of the adults. The state says the new peer groups , which are based on the percentage of kids who get free and reduced lunch, plus the percentage in special education and with limited English proficiency, are better because they more accurately reflect the students in the schools . They also measure data school-by-school, instead of district-by-district.
The new peer groups, which are unique for every school, can also be readjusted every year, while the former DFGs were recalculated about every 10 years, based on Census data.
Schools in each group of 30 can be anywhere in the state, in places where parents may know little about the other schools, so it may make comparing difficult.
Mountain Lakes High School, in Morris County, and Moorestown High School, in Burlington County, are in the same peer group , for example.
In Chatham, Superintendent Michael LaSusa said he’s pleased his district’s residents will have more data available to them, but he took issue with the accuracy of some parts of the new reports. For example, his district has three K-3 elementary schools, yet each school wound up in a different peer group.
"Communities 100 miles away from Chatham seem to have schools with characteristics that align more closely to our schools that other schools within the district that are half a mile down the road from one another."
Star-Ledger staff writer Frederick Kaimann contributed to this report.
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