Using NJ Department of Education (DOE) data, summarized by NJ.com here, we created a data visualization of the summative scores for all available Jersey City schools.
The following table, an excerpt from the NJ School Performance Reports Reference Guide, describes the weightings used in the NJ DOE summative score calculations.
Note that it is thus inappropriate to compare scores across school types because the calculation methodology differs for each school type. For example, scores for elementary and middle schools are heavily weighted toward Academic Progress, while scores for high schools are heavily weighted toward Graduation Rate.
Furthermore, because these calculations are based on school-wide data, the scores belie the performance reports that individual programs within the school might receive if evaluated independently. For example, we have reason to believe that the AEP program housed within MS 4 would score more comparably to Academy I (also an AEP program school) if it was evaluated in isolation. Following the same logic, we suspect that the remainder of MS 4 would score lower if evaluated in the absence of its AEP program. These hypothetical scenarios highlight a concern that might not be immediately obvious – that the great dispersion of scores among Jersey City schools is at least partially the result of the creation of special programs designed to challenge high performing students.
Jersey City Ed 