By Charley Falkenberg, Packet Media Group
The latest rankings for New Jersey’s top public high schools are in and the Princeton, Montgomery and South Brunswick school districts have all seen their numbers dip since 2010.
In its September issue, the New Jersey Monthly magazine recently ranked the top 328 of the state’s public high schools for 2012 based on data the schools reported to the New Jersey Department of Education for the 2010-2011 school year.
The publication revamped its methodology by dropping the ratio of students to computers and placing greater weight on test results, graduation rates and class size. It also used the new state formula for the graduation rate — a factor that impacted some of the moves.
”They changed the methodology but continued to compare it to (last year’s) methodology,” South Brunswick Superintendent Gary McCartney said after seeing his district fall from 89 to 138 in this year’s ranking. “We were usually in the top 75.”
Mr. McCartney said that many of the schools that either maintained their position, or advanced, in the rankings represented smaller, more affluent districts that were not as tied to aid from the state.
”We got clobbered by the Go. Chris Christie budget cuts,” Mr. McCartney said.
According to Mr. McCartney, the district lost some $13 million in state aid and has lost 112 positions in recent years as compared to other districts in the rankings that lost a lot less in aid.
Those staff losses drove up the student to teacher and class size ratios, which the survey used in the rankings, according to Mr. McCartney.
”Our budget this year is at the 2008 level,” Mr. McCartney said. “We’ve been particularly hard hit (by state budget cuts).”
Although all the schools in Princeton, Montgomery and West Windsor-Plainsboro have all stayed within the top 100, they each have dropped down the rank — some more drastically than others.
Montgomery High saw the biggest drop, plummeting 51 points from No. 10 to No. 61 — causing some of the district parents to become concerned.
”This is awful. I know ratings can be a bit odd at times, but they matter deeply to parents and colleges,” said resident Lisa Dominick who moved to Montgomery 10 years ago when the high school was No. 2. “The current Board of Education and past Superintendent Earl Kim have done an awful job.”
Ms. Dominick emphasized that other residents need to know, get involved and hold the board responsible.
Montgomery Superintendent Nancy Gartenberg attributed the shift in rank to the reduction of the professional staff when district was forced to “tighten their financial belt” over the past two years.
Ms. Gartenberg pointed out Montgomery High’s students continue to be among the highest performers in state tests with a high college acceptance rate and a graduate rate at nearly 100 percent.
”It is our belief that exceptional teaching is a greater influence and predictor of student achievement than class size or student to teacher ration,” she said. “Montgomery remains one of the top performing districts in the state, while remaining one of the lowest per-pupil spending districts.”
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, Princeton High and West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North dropped 46 spots, 15 spots and 3 spots respectively. This places the High School South at 62 from 16, Princeton High at 59 from 44 and the High School North at 32 from 29.
Hemant Marathe, the Board of Education president of West Windsor-Plainsboro schools, attributed their high schools’ decline mainly to their larger class sizes and the necessary cuts made to school budget — factors he could not control.
”We are one of the top districts in the state — we are doing more with less people and not getting recognized in the rank because of that,” said Mr. Marathe. “We are trying to as much as possible with what we can.”
Judy Wilson, the superintendent of Princeton Public School, echoed Mr. Marathe and added that the weight placed on class size and graduation rate gave schools with smaller class size averages and lower test scores an advantage.
This year, Princeton High is receiving 375 incoming freshmen — the largest class the school has seen in decades.
”The swing in rank from year to year is perhaps not based on what we should truly value in education and not reflective of the quality of instruction or of student performance,” said Ms. Wilson. “Like rating the best brunches, airlines or hospitals, ranking schools is a tricky business — it all depends on what you value.”
For Ms. Wilson, it’s all about depth and consistency in helping their students become confident, capable learners — values which has earned Princeton High a spot in the top 1 percent of U.S. high schools, according to the recent “U.S. News and World Report” rankings.
”This ranking highlights the work high schools do to insure that students of poverty are reaching high levels of academic study and performance — a factor we value deeply,” said Ms. Wilson.
The New Jersey Monthly rankings didn’t appear to phase Tim Quinn, the president of Princeton’s Board of Education, either.
”I think that the fact we are an open enrollment school and very diverse in our demographics makes Princeton High’s accomplishments all the more meaningful and relevant,” said Mr. Quinn. “The rankings detract from the central fact, which is Princeton High is an excellent high school — I don’t think anyone in the school community feels otherwise.”
Not all the nearby districts experienced a decline in New Jersey Monthly’s ranking system.
Lawrence High School secured the 82nd spot, up from 120 in 2010. Hopewell Valley Central High School went up from 38 to 32, Hightstown High School moved from 180 to 161 and Ewing High School went from 245 to 212.

