2016 Grade 3 PARCC Mathematics and Language Arts Results for the City of Hoboken- Traditional Public and Public Charter Schools

SUMMARY: Every Hoboken charter school scored above the state average in 2016 Grade 3 PARCC Language Arts and in Grade 3 PARCC Mathematics; Every Hoboken charter school scored above every Hoboken Traditional Public School on 2016 in Grade 3 PARCC Language Arts and in Grade 3 PARCC Mathematics exam. 

Results for the 2016 New Jersey State Testing (PARCC) were released recently and are available on the New Jersey Department of Education website. I thought it would be interesting to look at how all of the public schools in Hoboken are doing at the early grades level in Mathematics and in Language Arts. Grade 3 is the earliest fully tested grade so I decided to look at that grade (for Grade 5 Results CLICK HERE). All 6 Hoboken public schools are included in the analysis including the 3 traditional public schools (Calabro, Connors, and Wallace) as well as the 3 public (free) charter schools (Hola, Elysian, and Hoboken Charter). 

Grade 3 was also selected because these students in the traditional Hoboken Public Schools have been under the full stewardship of the Kids First/Forward Progress/Reach Higher Board (recall, this group gained full majority of the Board of Education in May of 2009). The students tested were infants and toddlers when Kids First/Forward Progress took control of the Hoboken Board of Education. So, it is both fair and reasonable to say that these students have been exposed to nothing educationally other than what the Kids First/Forward Progress board approved and funded (curriculum, staff, instructional resources, school configuration, etc..,). 

A quick summary for new readers: 

Calabro- Traditional Public School 
Connors- Traditional Public School
Elysian- Charter School
Hoboken Charter- Charter School 
Hola- Charter School  
Wallace- Traditional Public School

Here is the raw data presented as mean scale scores by the New Jersey department of Education for the 2016 PARCC Grade 3 Language Arts for all charter and traditional public schools in the City of Hoboken. State average mean scale score for Grade 3 Language Arts is 746. 

School	Mean SS
Hola	772
Calabro	741
Connors	736
Wallace	760
Hob. Chart	773
Elysian	771

Here is the raw data presented as mean scale scores by the New Jersey department of Education for the 2016 PARCC Grade 3 Mathematics for all charter and traditional public schools in the City of Hoboken. State average mean scale score for Grade 3 Mathematics is 750.  

School	Mean SS
Hola	770
Calabro	726
Connors	739
Wallace	757
Hob. Chart	765
Elysian	763

* Every Hoboken charter school scored above the state average for 2016 Grade 3 PARCC Language Arts and for Grade 3 PARCC Mathematics. 

* Every Hoboken charter school scored higher than any Hoboken Traditional Public School on 2016 Grade 3 PARCC Language Arts and on Grade 3 PARCC Mathematics exam. 

* Wallace School scored above the Hoboken Schools trend line for Grade 3 PARCC Mathematics. 

Sometimes to get a better understanding of data it is best to display the data in a chart or graphically. When we plot the mean scale scores in Grade 3 Mathematics and in Grade 3 Language Arts and use a  trend line to statistically divide the population into schools above and below the trend line we see a definite pattern emerge. Think of data points above the trend line as "above the population trend" and data points below the trend line as "below the population trend" when the population include the children being educated in Hoboken by both the traditional and charter public schools. For example, in the 2016 PARCC Grade 3 Language Arts chart below we can plainly see Hoboken Charter above the trend line, Wallace School slightly below the population trend, and Calabro below the trend line. 

2016 Grade 3 PARCC Language Arts All Hoboken Schools 

Figure 1: 2016 PARCC Grade 3 Language Arts
CLICK TO ENLARGE 

2016 Grade 3 PARCC Mathematics All Hoboken Schools

Figure 2: 2016 PARCC Grade 3 Mathematics
CLICK TO ENLARGE 

Soon we will take a look at some other grades in a similar fashion to see whether the Grade 3 score distributions are the norm or not. Here is some preliminary data on the 2016 5th Grade Language Arts Results (NJ state average mean scale score = 751) where we see similar distributions.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Click to Enlarge 

2016 PARCC Scores in Grade 5 Mathematics and Language Arts Scores for all Hoboken Charter and Traditional Public Schools

Proposed American Legion Development- Hoboken, NJ 

SUMMARY: Every Hoboken charter school scored above the state average for the 2016 Grade 5 PARCC Language Arts and for Grade 5 PARCC Mathematics; Every Hoboken charter school scored above every Hoboken Traditional Public School on 2016 Grade 5 PARCC Language Arts and for Grade 5 PARCC Mathematics exam; Every Traditional Hoboken Public School scored below the state average in Grade 5 PARCC Language Arts and for Grade 5 PARCC Mathematics exam.

Results for the 2016 New Jersey State Testing (PARCC) were released recently and are available on the New Jersey Department of Education website. I thought it would be interesting to look at how all of the public schools in Hoboken are doing at the early grades level in Mathematics and in Language Arts. Grade 5 is a very important grade and curriculum becomes increasingly discipline specific. All 6 Hoboken public schools are included in the analysis including the 3 traditional public schools (Calabro, Connors, and Wallace) as well as the 3 public (free) charter schools (Hola, Elysian, and Hoboken Charter). 

The following are the Grade 5 2016 PARCC Scores in Mathematics and Language Arts Scores for all Hoboken Charter and Traditional Public Schools.

Click to Enlarge 

Click to Enlarge 

Grade 5 was selected because these students in the traditional Hoboken Public Schools have been under the full stewardship of the Kids First/Forward Progress Board (recall, this group gained full majority of the Board of Education in May of 2009). The students tested were not even in school yet when Kids First/Forward Progress took control of the Hoboken Board of Education. So, it is fair to say that these students have been exposed to nothing educationally other than what the Kids First/Forward Progress board approved and funded (curriculum, staff, instructional resources, school configuration, etc..,). 


Recall, beginning in 2008, the political group known as "Kids First/Forward Progress" began their take over of the Hoboken Pubic Schools by decrying issues of low student test scores along with the cost of educating each student, and the fact that teachers paid little to no money for their health benefits.

Mary Tremitiedi- Hoboken School Administrator - Longtime Resident

Ms. Mary Tremitiedi

Mary Catherine Tremitiedi, age 66, retired school administrator, a longtime resident of Hoboken NJ, passed away Saturday August 26th 2017. Visiting hours will be on Tuesday, Aug. 29th 2- 4 pm and 7- 9 pm at the Failla -McKnight Memorial Home, 533 Willow Ave, Hoboken NJ. Valet parking available in rear of memorial home off Sixth Street. 

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 am on Wednesday, August 30th at St. Francis R.C. Church in Hoboken at 10 AM. Interment will be at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington NJ. 

Born in Hoboken NJ, Mary was a daughter of Joseph and Catherine Lisa. She earned her Bachelor and Masters Degrees at Jersey City State College. She served the Hoboken School District for 38 years as a Teacher, Vice Principal, Principal, and Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent of Schools and retired in 2010. Mary came out of retirement to serve as Principal of Holy Family Academy preparatory school for young women. 

During her Career, Mary served as President of the Hoboken Teachers Association, member of the Negotiating Team, and President of the Hoboken School Administrators Association. Mary also served on the Board of Directors of the Hoboken’s School Employees Federal Credit Union for 30 years. She was member of the NJ Education Association, Hoboken Elks, Hoboken Municipal Drug Alliance, and The North Hudson Latin American Kiwanis. 

She is survived by her husband, Richard Tremitiedi, retired Hoboken Fire Chief; her children, Mary Margaret Tremitiedi, Michael Tremitiedi and wife Gioia; her grandchildren, Holli, Nicholas, and Natalie; her great grandchild, Lincoln; her brother Gerard Lisa and wife Yesmid; her sister in law Nancy Lisa ; her nephew Joseph Lisa III; and her Niece Kaylah Lisa. Mary was predeceased by her parents Catherine and Joseph Lisa; her brother Joseph Lisa and daughter Christine Tremitiedi.

Agenda for the August 22, 2017 meeting of the Hoboken Board of Education

The following is the full agenda for the August 22, 2017 meeting of the Hoboken Board of Education.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

AGENDA

HOBOKEN BOARD OF EDUCATION
158 FOURTH STREET, HOBOKEN, NJ 07030
(MEETING HELD IN DEMAREST AUDITORIUM, 158 FOURTH STREET, HOBOKEN, NJ 07030)
7:00 P.M.

   August 22 2017 HBOE Full Agenda by Anthony Petrosino on Scribd

Hoboken Dual Language School- Ranked 2nd Best Elementary School in Hudson County Among ALL Schools- Elysian Charter #3 and Hoboken Charter #11 County Wide Among Public Elementary Schools

Recently, the Hoboken Dual Language Charter School ("HoLa") was ranked the 2nd Best Elementary School in Hudson County NJ by Niche. HoLa is a free, public charter school where students attend for no cost- it is a free public elementary school. In existence only since 2011, HoLa has quickly gained city, state and regional recognition as being a model dual language school as well as delivering excellence in K-6 subject matter in all disciplines. In addition to HoLa being ranked 2nd in Hudson County,  Elysian Charter School was ranked the 3rd Best Elementary School in Hudson County and the Hoboken Charter School was ranked 11th Best Elementary School in Hudson County. No traditional Hoboken Public School finished higher than any of Hoboken's charter elementary schools in Niche's rankings. 

The Hoboken Dual Language School was also ranked the 6th top Elementary Charter School in all of New Jersey and among New Jersey's top 15% of Best Public Elementary Schools (Public and Charter). 

Hoboken Public Schools - 2018 District and School Information by Niche

Niche is a small company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a team with a unique blend of data scientists, engineers, parents, and “yinzers” who are passionate about helping you discover the schools and neighborhoods that are right for you.

Recently their 2018 rankings were released and offer some interesting and objective 3rd party independent appraisal of local school districts. In this case, we take a look at the Hoboken Public School District in Hoboken, New Jersey.

For instance, the Hoboken School District received an overall rating of C+ (click here for Methodology on how school and district grades are derived) and we find that about 29% of the students are proficient in Reading and 22% of the students are proficient in Math as measured by NJ state testing. The average SAT score is 1010 (SAT User Percentile- National: 36%). The district has a very diverse student body and enjoys a 14:1 Student-Teacher ratio. According to Niche, the  district spends approximately $32,842 dollars per student. 

https://www.niche.com/k12/d/hoboken-public-schools-nj/

You can investigate more for yourself about Hoboken or any school district in the country by visiting the Niche website at: https://www.niche.com/

What Research Says About Homework

10 Important Studies You Need to Know About Concerning Video Games and Learning

Dr. Constance Steinkuehler

Can students and teachers learn from computer games and gaming? Many people say yes-- but sometimes parents and policymakers who wield influence in how education is funded, built, or enacted need more convincing. My colleague Constance Steinkuehler is a professor at the informatics department at the University of California, Irvine (and who formerly was a games advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) offered 10 studies that all skeptics—and anyone talking to them—should read and reference. -Dr. Petrosino

1. Research conducted by SRI and commissioned by GlassLab found that kids playing educational games showed a 23 percent gain over their peers learning via traditional materials.


2. Cooperative play can also lead to higher gains, according to a 2013 meta-analysis (PDF) in the Journal of Educational Psychology. “Collaborative play outperforms individual play by over two standard deviations,” says Steinkuehler.


3. The most effective games are those where “the educational content is married to the game mechanics,” she adds, referencing a 2011 study (PDF). “You don’t study the content and play the game as a reward; they’re embedded.”


4. All the surrounding activities and online communities that are built around a game offer learning moments, Steinkuehler states, referring to findings from a 2011 study published in Personnel Psychology. Watching other people play video games may seem lame and boring, she admits, but the popularity of Twitch has tapped into a valuable (and lucrative) market.

5. Games can also enhance attentional control. According to these researchers, “the true effect of action video game playing may be to enhance the ability to learn new tasks.” Steinkuehler adds: “The capacity to enhance attentional control means games are training the executive centers of attention. That means games have the capacity to train people how to learn.”


6. “Across all domains, language gains are one of the biggest effect sizes,” she says, referencing a 2012 study published in the Review of Educational Research. “Even when the game was not intended to increase vocabulary or language, games improve language and literacy.”


7. Steinkuehler’s own research found that a student’s interest is a “key variable” in the level of reading gains he or she enjoys. “When students are allowed to choose the text, when they cared about the topic, they fixed their own comprehension problems on the fly,” she says. “When you care about something, you will sit and persist through the challenges because you care.”


8. Games can change minds and challenge stereotypes, according to this study. “Games that allow for reflection and cause players to challenge their bias are more engaging,” she explains.


9. “Even if we treat games as a single category—which they’re not—you’ll find that games are correlated with intellectual performance and social competence,” Steinkuehler says, referring to this 2016 study.

10. This is probably the most concerning: “Games on the market have almost no relationship with research. And research have almost no relationship with games on the market,” Steinkuehler says, referring to a forthcoming study she will co-author. “If we are going to make products that are not just beautifully designed, but also make good on the claims that they’re for impact, then we have to be able to marry design and research in some fashion,” she implores.