Report cards show above average marks in nearly every category
By: Casha Caponegro
The Cranbury school district once again received good grades from the state.
The 2001 State School Report Cards, released annually by the state Department of Education as a way to provide more information to the public about schools, shows that Cranbury School students scored above the state average in nearly every category.
"With the support of the community, Board of Education and our excellent faculty, the Cranbury school district has continued to provide a well-rounded education to all students," said Chief School Administrator Carol Malouf. "Students have an opportunity to be involved in various extracurricular activities, including the performing arts, athletics, year book, school newspaper and student council. I am most impressed not only of their academic work, but also of the students’ ability to take advantage of all other opportunities available to allow them to grow physically, socially and academically."
Categories for the 2000-01 school year included student attendance rate, class size, faculty attendance rate and student to computer ratio.
The report card also showed that Cranbury students’ overall performance on the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment and the Elementary School Proficiency Assessment were well above the state average.
Only 2.1 percent of eighth-graders in Cranbury were partially proficient on the language arts portion GEPA exam, the remainder being advanced proficient or proficient in that subject. There were no eighth-graders who tested partially proficient in the math or science portions of the GEPA.
Throughout the state, however, 17.8 percent of eighth-graders were partially proficient in the language arts portion of the GEPA, 29.9 percent were partially proficient in math and 18.5 percent in science.
In the ESPA, given to fourth-graders, exam, only 3.9 percent of general education students in Cranbury were partially proficient in math. There were no partially proficient students in language arts and science.
Throughout the state, however, 28.7 percent of general education fourth-graders were partially proficient in math, 14.7 percent were partially proficient in language arts and 9.5 percent in science.
The report card also showed that 100 percent of the classrooms in the Cranbury School are wired for Internet access, called Internet connectivity on the report cards, compared to the state average of 89.9 percent.
The Cranbury School also has a student to computer ratio of 2.6 to 1, which is about half of the state average of 5.2 students to one computer.
Ms. Malouf said this technological achievement is the result of the school’s five-year technology plan.
"We are trying to have five to six computers in each classroom for the students to use," said Ms. Malouf, who called these computers "tools to enhance instruction."
The Cranbury School also compared favorably to the state average in attendance with a 95.1 percent student attendance rate, 0.2 percent above the state average; average class size, with 19.9 students per class, 0.9 percent above the average; a student-to-faculty ratio of 10.2 to 1, which is 2.7 below the state average and a 96.6 percent faculty attendance rate, 0.5 percent above the average.
The average class size in Cranbury was 19.9 students per room, which is 4.3 percent lower than the state average.
In addition, less than one percent of students were suspended last year in Cranbury, whereas 4.8 percent of students were suspended throughout the state.
"We have had fewer suspensions over the years," said Ms. Malouf. "We try to work on that using a conflict-resolution approach to solve problems and help the students grow."
Teachers at the Cranbury School also did well last year, according to the report card.
The median salary for teachers in the district in $51,000, $5,623 more that the median statewide salary of $45,377. Teachers in Cranbury also have had one extra year of experience compared to the state’s median of 13 years.
Similarly, Cranbury administrators are earning a superior wage with a $93,000 median salary, $13,000 more than the state median of $80,000.
The gap between the cost of educating a student in Cranbury as opposed to the state average increased by 8.7 percent, according to the report card.
The district cost per pupil of $10,344 is $2,023 more that the state cost per pupil of $8,321. The difference last year between the district and state cost per pupil was $2,216.