New Jersey Department of Education Releases 2007 School Report Card

NJDOE News

For More Information Contact the Public Information Office:
    Faith Sarafin
    Kathryn Forsyth, Director
    609-292-1126

For Release: February 14, 2008

New Jersey Department of Education Releases 2007 School Report Card

The New Jersey Department of Education today released the 2007 School Report Card, which contain detailed statistical profiles of all public schools in the state in the areas of school environment, student information, student performance indicators, staff information, and district/charter financial information.

The annual reports enable members of the public to measure the progress of their local schools in all of these aspects. The 2007 School Report Card can be found online here: http://education.state.nj.us/rc/.

“As we acknowledge that education is more important than ever in the 21st century global economy, it is imperative that we demand accountability from the state and our local districts for delivering a world-class education for every student,” said Commissioner of Education Lucille E. Davy. “The state-mandated New Jersey School Report Card issued annually provides the districts and the public with an assessment of how each school is doing in serving our students’ academic needs.”

The report cards, established by legislation in 1995, are produced for all elementary and secondary schools, as well as vocational schools, special education schools, charter schools, and Special Services School Districts.

In addition to providing useful information on the school level, some statewide trends that can be identified from the data in the report card. For instance, the 2006-2007 data indicate that:

The graduation rate has held around 92 percent for the last three years, while the number of students who graduated via the alternative Special Review Assessment dropped from about 15 percent in 2004-05 to about 12 percent in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Results for the High School Proficiency Assessments (HSPA) that students must pass in order to graduate show that in language arts literacy in 2006-07, over 85 percent of the students scored proficient or above while in 2005-06, 83 percent scored proficient or above. In math, in 2006-07, over 73 percent scored proficient or above, with 76 percent scoring proficient or above in 2005-06. In the first year of the HSPA science test program, 73 percent scored proficient or above.

There are 20,714 more students in New Jersey’s public schools in 2006-07 than there were five years ago in 2002-03, an increase of only 1.5 percent. The number of classroom teachers grew from 105,561 to 110,964 in that same five-year period – an increase of about 5 percent.

There have been significant increases in the number of Hispanic students from 227,147 in 2002-03 to 261,058 in 2006-07 for a total increase of almost 34,000 students in the past five years or approximately 15 percent.

The report cards released today are the thirteenth to be produced under the 1995 state law that specifies much of the information to be reported and requires its annual distribution. They also represent the 17th time New Jersey has issued a report on its public schools, since the first report cards were distributed in 1989.

For more information, please contact the Department of Education Public Information Office at (609) 292-1126.