State Scrutinizes Glenfield School for Achievement Gaps

Glenfield Middle School is getting special attention from the state after a recent report found large achievement gaps among its students.  

Those achievement gaps have led to Glenfield School being labeled a "Focus School" in the New Jersey Department of Education's “School Performance Reports." Charles H. Bullock Jr. Elementary School is the only other school in Montclair to be labeled a Focus School. 

The Focus School label will require the school to develop solutions to increase student achievement under the close watch of the state Department of Education. 

The largest achievement gaps in the school was seen in sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade student test scores in math.

In addition, economically disadvantaged students fell short of their performance targets. Only 52.9 percent of economically disadvantaged students were proficient in language arts, compared to 92.6 percent of white students and 68.9 percent of black students.

And 47.2 percent of economically disadvantaged students were proficient in math, compared to 91.6 percent of white students and 60.8 percent of black students. 

Schoolwide, 83 percent of Glenfield School students were proficient in language arts, and 81 percent of students were proficient in math. 

Overall, the school met its performance targets in student growth, and college and career readiness, but fell short of its target for academic achievement. (See chart below.)

Glenfield School's college and career readiness was labeled "very high" compared to about 30 similar schools in the state or "peer schools" and schools statewide.

In addition, while it missed its academic achievement performance goals, its academic performance was labeled "high" when compared to both its peer schools and schools statewide. 

However, when it came to student growth, Glenfield School "lags in comparison" to its peer schools and schools statewide.  

The report, which replaces the state’s annual School Report Card, factors in a host of never-before-used data, such as whether students are on track for college and a career, and the percent of elementary and middle school students chronically absent. 

One of the most significant additions is the “peer school comparisons.” Schools are now compared to about 30 similar peer schools from across the state that share comparable student grades, how many students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, English proficiency and students with special needs. 

The following chart is where Glenfield Middle School ranked compared to schools in its peer group and statewide. For example, Glenfield School has a peer percentile rank of 22 when it comes to student growth, which means that its students scored higher than only 22 percent of schools in its peer rank. 

Demographics

The school population in 2011-12 was 717 students, which was 57.2 percent white, 30 percent black, 8 percent Hispanic, .1 percent Asian, .4 percent American Indian, .1 percent Pacific Islander and 4 percent of two or more races.

The school that year had 104 students with disabilities (15 percent of the school), 100 are economically disadvantaged (14 percent of the school), and zero students with limited English proficiency. 

Montclair Patch will analyse the data from the state for each of Montclair's 11 schools in the coming weeks.

Click here to read rankings for Bradford Elementary School. 

Click here to read Charles H. Bullock Jr. Elementary School's rankings.

Click here to read Edgemont Elementary School's rankings.

Click here to read Montclair High School's rankings. 

Click here to read Hillside Elementary School's rankings.

Click here to read Mt. Hebron Middle School's rankings.

Click here to read Northeast Elementary School's rankings.

Click here to read Renaissance Middle School's rankings.

Click here to read Watchung Elementary School's rankings.