by Matt Chiappardi, Special Writer
The annual school Report Cards released by the state Department of Education reveal much success for area schools, with some middle-schoolers in all four area districts scoring significantly higher than the state average in the advanced proficient category.
But, a few grade levels in Plumstead are lagging behind state averages in some categories.
The numbers, released Feb. 4, are from the 2007-2008 school year and measure the performance of students from grades three through eight as well as high school juniors who took the High School Proficiency Assessments tests.
While schools in three of the four area districts had fewer students failing standardized tests than the state averages, New Egypt High School students have failure rates above those numbers in both language arts and mathematics. On the bright side, those grade levels scored above the state average in terms of those categorized as proficient, and a majority of students passed the tests in each subject.
In addition, Plumstead’s eight-graders scored much higher than the state average for science in the advanced proficiency category.
On state standardized tests, students can score advanced proficient, proficient or partially proficient (failing).
The other two area high schools — Robbinsville and Allentown — not only beat state averages for student performance in both language arts and mathematics, but also saw improvement in the percentage of passing students from last year.
Robbinsville
In Robbinsville, at the high school level, 74.7 percent of students scored proficient on the language arts portion of the HSPA, up from 68 percent the year before. However, students scoring advanced proficient dropped 11 points from last year to 15.7 percent, and those scoring partially proficient rose from 5.3 percent to 9.6 percent in the same period.
In mathematics, 58.4 percent of Robbinsville High School students scored proficient, up a little more than 3 points. Students scoring advanced proficient measured 27.7 percent, down from 34.2 percent, and the partially proficient percentage grew about 3 points to 13.9 percent.
The High School saw a 100 percent graduation rate with two-thirds of seniors planning to attend a four-year college or university, 30 percent planning to go to a two-year college, and 2 percent considering military service.
At the middle school level, fewer students scored partially proficient at Pond Road Middle School than the state averages in every grade level and category. In areas where students scoring proficient was below the state average — fourth-grade science and fifth- grade math — the percentage was made up by students scoring advanced proficient.
In those categories, 47 percent of Pond Road fourth-graders scored advanced proficient compared to the state average of 39.4 percent, and 38.2 percent of fifth-graders scored advanced proficient compared to the 27.9 percent state average.
At Sharon Elementary School, 90.3 percent of students scored proficient in language arts, 4.2 percent scored advanced proficient, and 5.6 percent scored partially proficient. That compares to the state average of 81.5 percent proficiency, 4.6 percent advanced proficiency, and 13.9 percent partially proficiency.
In math, 49.5 percent scored proficient, 44.9 scored advanced proficient, and 5.6 percent partially proficient. That compares to the state average of 53.4 percent proficiency, 33.4 percent advanced proficiency, and 13.9 percent partial proficiency.
Upper Freehold
At Allentown High School, 80.9 percent of students scored proficient on the language arts portion of the HSPA test, up from 67.7 percent last year. Similar to Robbinsville, advanced proficient scores went down 17 points to 9.2 percent, and partially proficient scores went up nearly 4 points to 9.9 percent.
For mathematics, 59.5 percent of students scored proficient, up about three points. Students scoring advanced proficient measured 26.1 percent, down slightly from last year’s 27.5 percent. And partially proficient scores dropped from 15.7 percent last year to 14.4 percent.
The High School saw a 97.4 percent graduation rate with 70.3 percent of students planning to attend a four-year college or university, 23.8 percent going to a two-year college, 3.4 percent planning to go directly into the job market, 1.4 percent considering some other type of post-secondary education, and .9 percent planning to join the military.
The middle school level picture is also similar to the one in Robbinsville. Again, fewer students scored partially proficient in every grade level and subject than the state averages. In two areas — eighth-grade language arts and science — students scored below the state averages in proficiency, but made up the deficit with advanced proficient scores. In language arts, 22.7 percent of eight-graders scored advanced proficient compared to the 11.5 percent state average. In science, 60.2 percent of students scored advanced proficient, nearly double the state average of 32.3 percent.
At the elementary school, 89.3 percent of students scored proficient in language arts, 4.6 percent scored advanced proficient, and 6.1 percent scored partially proficient.
In math, 60.9 percent scored proficient, 30.1 percent scored advanced proficient, and 9 percent partially proficient.
Millstone
The same held true for the middle school in the Millstone Township School District. At each grade level at the middle school, fewer students failed the test than the state average. In two categories — eighth-grade language arts and science — students scored below the state average in proficiency, but like in Upper Freehold and Robbinsville, made up for it with advanced proficient scores.
In language arts, 29.2 percent scored advanced proficient, while 58.9 percent of eighth-graders scored advanced proficient in science. At Millstone Elementary School, 85.7 percent of students scored proficient in language arts, 8.9 percent scored advanced proficient, and 5.4 percent scored partially proficient.
In math, 54.5 percent scored proficient, 40.7 percent scored advanced proficient, and 4.8 percent partially proficient.
Plumsted
The story was altogether different in the Plumstead Township School District.
While New Egypt High School did slimly beat the 71.1 percent state average with 72.7 percent of students scoring proficient in language arts, there was a higher percentage of students scoring partially proficient than the 16.6 percent state average. The High School saw 18 percent of its students score partially proficient, up from 12.8 percent. The percentage of students scoring proficient was down slightly from last year’s 72.9 percent, and advanced proficient scores were down from 14.3 percent to 9.4 percent.
In mathematics, 59.7 percent scored proficient and 12.9 percent scored advanced proficient compared to the state averages of 51.8 percent and 23.6 percent respectively. However, 27.3 percent of students scored partially proficient, higher than the state average of 24.6 percent. Last year, 63.2 percent scored proficient, 15 percent advanced proficient, and 21.8 percent partially proficient, with the latter figure lower than the state average at the time of 26.6 percent.
The school has a lower graduation rate than both its neighbors, at 89.7 percent, with only 35.8 percent of students planning to attend a four-year college or university, and 42.5 percent considering two-year institutions. Nearly 12 percent of students were undecided about their post-high school future, 6.6 percent considering a non-collegiate post-graduate school, 2.2 percent joining the military, and .9 percent entering an apprenticeship program for a trade.
At the middle school, however, the same general pattern held a sin its neighboring districts. In three subjects — seventh-grade math and eighth-grade language arts and science — lower than average proficient scores were made up by advanced proficient scores.
For seventh-grade math, 17.9 percent of students scored advanced proficient, slightly lower than the state average of 19.9 percent.
In the eighth grade, 23 percent of students scored advanced proficient in language arts compared to the 11.5 percent average. In science, 54.1 percent of students scored advanced proficient, significantly higher than the 32.3 percent average.
At the elementary level, 84.6 percent of students scored proficient in language arts, 1.4 percent scored advanced proficient, and 14 percent scored partially proficient.
In math, 66.4 percent scored proficient, 25.2 percent scored advanced proficient, and 8.4 percent partially proficient.
Area school superintendents did not return calls seeking comment.

