The New Jersey Department of Education has released its School Performance Reports for 2021-2022. These reports are designed to give parents, students and school communities a wide variety of information about each school and district. The reports are also meant to be used to ensure all students have equitable access to a high-quality education.
In the reports, each school is assigned a numerical score that measures how well it is doing compared to other schools. Interestingly, the top-performing schools in NJ are all magnet schools, which offer specialized programs designed to challenge students. In fact, the top-performing schools allow students to focus on subjects including math, engineering, science and technology.
“Summative scores” are a number from 1-99, and are based on factors such as graduation rates and proficiency in English and math.
Schools are compared to one another in the “summative ratings.” These are percentile ratings from 1-100.
Here are the top 10 high schools according to their report card scores:
1. High Technology High School (Middletown)
Summative score: 97.38
Summative rating: 100
2. Monmouth County Academy of Allied Health and Science (Neptune Twp.)
Summative score: 97.23
Summative rating: 99.72
3. Edison Academy Magnet School (Edison)
Summative score: 97.08
Summative rating: 99.44
4. Biotechnology High School (Freehold Twp.)
Summative score: 96.93
Summative rating: 99.17
5. Bergen County Technical High School (Teterboro)
Summative score: 96.89
Summative rating: 98.89
6. Union County Magnet High School (Scotch Plains)
Summative score: 96.17
Summative rating: 98.61
7. Academy for Mathematics, Science and Engineering (Rockaway)
Summative score: 96.08
Summative rating: 98.33
8. Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science (Stafford Twp.)
Summative score: 96.06
Summative rating: 98.06
9. STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges (South Orange)
Summative score: 95.34
Summative rating: 97.78
10. Hunterdon County Academies (Annandale)
Summative score: 94.93
Summative rating: 97.50
Here are the top 10 non-magnet high schools:
1. Liberty High School (Jersey City school district)
Summative score: 90.60
Summative rating: 94.72
2. Tenafly High School (Tenafly)
Summative score: 89.96
Summative rating: 93.61
3. Chatham High School (Chatham)
Summative score: 89.37
Summative rating: 93.06
4. Glen Rock High School (Glen Rock)
Summative score: 89.03
Summative rating: 92.78
5. Livingston High School (Livingston)
Summative score: 88.48
Summative rating: 92.50
6. Cedar Grove High School (Cedar Grove)
Summative score: 87.02
Summative rating: 91.94
7. New Providence High School (New Providence)
Summative score: 86.62
Summative rating: 91.67
8. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (West Windsor-Plainsboro)
Summative score: 85.21
Summative rating: 91.11
9. Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest (Northern Valley)
Summative score: 84.25
Summative rating: 90.56
10. Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (Rumson-Fair Haven)
Summative score: 83.97
Summative rating: 90.28
