HS Rating 'Illogical,' Says Haddonfield Superintendent

Haddonfield Memorial High School is consistently ranked as one of the best in the state and region, but a new, apparently somewhat less-than-stellar rating from Inside Jersey magazine (NJ.com) has administrators baffled.

The magazine used a "proprietary formula" that compared test scores—SATs and High School Proficiency Assessments (HSPA)—over a four-year period, from 2008 to 2012, and analyzed not just the scores themselves, but how the schools' scores improved or didn't improve over that period.

Inside Jersey used a letter grade system—much like students receive—to rate the schools. According to the formula, an "A" school has "above average scores, below average growth," while a "B" school has "above average scores, above average growth."

Based on Inside Jersey's rating system, Haddonfield received a "B." Haddonfield's test scores are the highest in Camden County, according to the list, and its HSPA scores improved by 5.7 percent from 2008 to 2012.

According to writer Frederick Kaimann, an A school isn't necessarily better than a B school "because B is on the move and may have reached, or may soon reach, the level of the A school's achievement," he wrote.

That doesn't make sense, said Haddonfield Superintendent Rich Perry.

"The way they laid this out, it just is illogical and doesn't match up with what they're saying," said Perry. "How could we be on the move to get to an A, when we're already above all the As (schools)? ... It's just totally confusing in terms of what he did in evaluating the school."

Perry said he reached out to the writer for clarification, but hadn't heard back as of Tuesday afternoon.

What do you think of the ratings? Tell us in the comments below.