NJ School Report Card

There are several tools that parents can use to measure their school’s yearly performance in a comparative way. One is the New Jersey School Report Card produced annually since mandated by law in 1995. Report cards are issued for every public school, including charter schools and vocational and special services school districts. The report card contains statistical, demographic, programmatic, and local information in order to inform parents and other citizens about the progress of public schools throughout the state. Each school also is required to add a two-page narrative to the School Report Card to inform parents about exemplary programs and noteworthy achievements of that school. The school district may distribute the report card to parents, but all of the school data is accessible on the Department of Education’s Web site.
Beginning in August 2003 as required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the department has issued disaggregated reports for each of the state assessments that include NJ ASK 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA); and the High School Proficiency Assessment HSPA). One measure of how well your school is doing is to look at past years’ scores for your school and determine whether the scores show an upward trend or not.