Hoboken High School Drops 48 Spots in 2018 NJ Monthly's Bi-Annual Ranking of New Jersey Public and Charter High Schools to 260th out of 305

Hoboken High School- Hoboken, NJ 

In 2015 a new superintendent was hired by the Hoboken Board of Education and inherited a high school ranked 212th in the bi-annual NJ Monthly ranking of New Jersey High Schools.  Jump ahead a few years and the 2018 NJ Monthly rankings of 305 Public High Schools have been released. The rankings are comprehensive, using sound statistical and psychometric weightings to objectively evaluate the quality of high schools in NJ. Charter schools are public schools— free to all students who attend—and are included among the 305 ranked high schools. 

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Hoboken High School is now ranked 260th out of New Jersey’s 305 public high schools. The NJ Monthly Report indicates that the school has an 8:1 student-teacher ratio (among the lowest in the state), offers 11 AP/IB courses, and about 40% of student take at least one art course. Unfortunately, the data also indicates that only 15% of the student scored at or above 530 of the Math SAT (53rd percentile) and 37% scored at or above 480 (31st percentile) in reading and writing. 

Hoboken Board of Education Meeting - Circa 2017

This compilation of data by New Jersey Monthly further supports the general thesis that black students are not leaving Hoboken High School college ready. Hispanic students are not leaving Hoboken High School college ready. White students are not leaving Hoboken High School college ready. Free or Reduced Lunch Qualified students are not leaving Hoboken High School college ready. Medium family income students are not leaving Hoboken High School college ready. This is also evident by the fact that less than 75% of Hoboken High School students are enrolled in college 16 months after high school according to NJ Monthly. 

Perhaps most telling of the instruction and leadership offered at Hoboken High School is with the Advanced Placement (AP) students. While 54.5% of 11th and 12th graders took an AP/IB course and 68% took at least one AP/IB test for college credit, only 6.9% of students scored at least a 3 on the AP or a 4 on the IB. Such scores are required to receive college credit at most accredited four year colleges and universities in the United States. Few other schools in the state have such high percentages of students taking an AP/IB course while failing to receive any college credit for their effort. 

Various "reform" members of the
Hoboken Board of Education Between 2008-2018

The current ranking represents a drop of 48 spots since 2016. Superintendent Johnson took over leadership of the school district in 2015. This is a significant and non trivial drop in quality of an already struggling high school. As a point of reference, Hoboken High School was ranked 139th in 2008 under the leadership of Superintendent Raslowsky, Principal Lorraine Cella, and a non-“reform” Board of Education. Back then Hoboken High School had 1) Similar percentages of Black and Latino/a students, 2) a higher percentage of students qualifying for Free or Reduced Lunch, 3) higher enrollment and 4) less money per student in inflation adjusted dollars. What did it have? It had no excuses. It had quality leadership. And it didn't have a self proclaimed "reform" Board of Education.

Despite antidotes and unsubstantiated claims of “improvement” and “excellence” - try as they may- the Hoboken Board of Education, Superintendent Johnson, and the educational leadership and staff at Hoboken High School are failing to offer a quality secondary education as assessed by NJ Monthly for the students and families of Hoboken. Any claim otherwise is either made in ignorance, intentional misrepresentation, or magical thinking. 

This is what New Jersey Monthly had to say about Hoboken High School BEFORE a self proclaimed political group under the guise of "reform" took complete control of the Hoboken public schools....read what NJ Monthly had to say about Hoboken High School before the district was in the hands of "reform" and before it ever hired a public relations firm: 

NJ Monthly's 2008 Description of Hoboken HS under Non-Reform Leadership
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Here is the complete list of NJ Monthly's 2018 rankings of NJ's Top Public High Schools

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