Newark Charter School Test Performance

How are charter schools doing in Newark? It’s a fair question.

Students in Newark's charter schools take the same standardized tests as those in traditional public schools. Students in grades 3-8 take the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK), while students in 11th grade take the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). The results are  compiled by the state every year and are made available through the Department of Education (DOE) website popularly known as the School Report Card. The data on this website was downloaded from the state website and presented in a way that we hope makes comparison easier.

While test scores are a limited window on school quality and student performance, they do provide some measure by which relative comparisons can be made. A more thorough analysis, such as the tracking of an individual student’s progress over time (known as a longitudinal study), would provide a better picture of school performance, but such data is not yet available for analysis.

The 8th grade assessment (NJ ASK8) provides a good benchmark for assessing performance since it comes at the end of elementary or middle school, providing the individual schools and their teachers enough time to shape and influence their students. Additionally, how students perform on their 8th grade assessment will often determine their success in high school and beyond.

We invite you to explore Newark's charter school performance by grade and by school.