Best N.J. high schools in all 21 counties based on state rating scores

New Jersey has some of the best schools in the nation, but some schools perform better than others, new data released by the state Department of Education shows.

Nearly every school in New Jersey is assigned a score as part of the state’s annual controversial school ratings system.

NJ Advance Media assigned each New Jersey high school a ranking number between 1 and 357 based on the “summative ratings” calculated by the state Department of Education for the 2022-23 school year. (Find a link to your county’s full list of schools below.)

Woodbridge Academy Magnet School, a biomedical magnet school in the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School District, had the highest rating in the state, with a perfect score. The competitive high school requires students to submit an application and take an admissions test.

Magnet schools, technology academies, and other specialized high schools dominate the top of the list, representing 23 of the top 25 schools. The highest ranking general education school is Haddonfield Memorial High School in the 24th spot.

The state ratings released last month as part of the state School Performance Reports measure how each school compares to other schools with the same grade levels when test scores and other factors are considered. The ratings are calculated using standardized test scores, student academic growth, graduation rates and other factors, including chronic absenteeism. Each school is given a score from 0 to 100, called a “summative score.”

Schools with the same grade configurations are compared to each other and given a percentile rating from 0 to 100, called a “summative rating.” The three comparison groups are: high schools; elementary and middle schools; and mixed grade configuration schools.

Parents should approach the ratings with caution, Jack Schneider, director of the Center for Education Policy at University of Massachusetts Amherst told NJ.com.

“Summative ratings, when you are talking about something as multifaceted as a school, is always going to be misleading in some regard,” Schneider said.

“Your best case scenario is that you are measuring every dimension, you’re assessing every aspect of school quality, and then you’re taking this rainbow of performance and you’re turning it in the mud by creating a summative rating,” Schneider said.

The worst case scenario is that only a small slice of school performance gets measured and the rating tells a misleading story, he said.

Find ratings and rankings for schools in your N.J. county here:

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Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieKausch.