How Cherry Hill Schools Rate In The State's New Performance Reports

CHERRY HILL, NJ — New Jersey's school rankings are back. And for the first time since the COVID-19 emergency, Cherry Hill and other school districts can measure year-to-year progress.

The New Jersey Department of Education's School Performance Reports evaluate schools and districts through metrics such as standardized test scores, student academic growth and graduation rates. The recent scores, released Wednesday, reflect the 2022-23 school year. See all school ratings here.

For the first time since the pandemic began, the NJDOE measured student growth, which compares standardized test scores from the current year and prior year. Since the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) were cancelled in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, the education department wasn't able to measure student growth.

"The NJDOE's School Performance Reports provide communities with a starting point for discussion, and they can also be a valuable tool for school leaders to identify successes and areas for improvement," said Kevin Dehmer, the state's acting education commissioner. "Our educators are particularly interested in the student growth data because when focusing on academic growth, rather than solely test scores, we get a better understanding of how well our students are progressing and opportunities for improvement."

Calculating Summative Scores

Schools are broken down into categories by configuration, or what grade levels they serve, and compared to others in that category. These include elementary/middle school, high school, and a mixed configuration school which combines many grades into one building.

Elementary schools which only teach children under grade three are not included, as there is no state testing at this level.

Based on the configuration, the NJDOE looks at the schools’ four-year graduation rate, five-year graduation rate, English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency, math proficiency, ELA growth, math growth, and progress towards English language proficiency (ELP). A school needs to have data on three of these elements to have its score reviewed in the standard manner.

The rate of chronic absenteeism is also included in the score. Student performance is measured overall, but also focuses on how students are doing in underserved subgroups classified by race, nationality, economic situation, and special education.

How The Scores And Ratings Work

"Summative scores" provide a number from 1-99, and are based on factors listed above such as graduation rates and progress in English and math. Higher scores are better, and certain schools with lower scores are put into categories for support and improvement.

Schools are compared to one another based on grade level, as well, in the "summative ratings." For example, schools that serve high school students only are compared with one another. These are percentile ratings from 1-100, so a school with a rating closer to 100 is among the best of its peers.

It is possible for a school to have a higher summative rating than summative score, and vice-versa.

Cherry Hill Schools

Here's an overview of how each school in the Cherry Hill district fared last year:

Here's some additional district data from the 2022-23 school year:

• total students: 10,753
• English learners: 4.3 percent
• students with disabilities: 17.8 percent
• average teaching experience: 14.8 years
• economically disadvantaged students: 18.8 percent
• student-to-teacher ratio: 12 to 1

How students performed on assessments:

• English Language Arts: 62.4 percent proficient (within state-standard range of 51.3 to 79.9 percent)
• Math: 48.3 percent proficient (within state-standard range of 38.2 to 79.9 percent)

How does Cherry Hill's student growth compare to other students?

• English Language Arts: student growth percentile of 52 (within state-standard range of 40 to 59.5 percent)
• Math: student growth percentile of 53 (within state-standard range of 40 to 59.5 percent)

Are students at risk?

In Cherry Hill, 15.3 percent of students were "chronically absent," meaning they missed at least 10 percent of school days. The state rate was 16.6 percent of students.

Are students graduating?

• four-year graduation rate: 94.1 percent (within state-standard range of 91.1 to 94.9 percent but below the state goal of 95 percent)
• five-year graduation rate: 93.5 percent (within state-standard range of 92.7 to 95.9 percent but below the state goal of 96 percent)

Are students college- or career-ready?

• Enrollment in advanced-placement (AP) or international baccalaureate (IB) courses: 53.7 percent for the district, 34.9 percent for the state
• Dual enrollment: 64.4 percent in the district, 24 percent for the state
• Industry-valued credentials: 0 percent for the district, 1.8 percent for the state

For more information, view the state's report on the district and its schools.