Stanford Study Indicates Hoboken District Students Completing Grades 3 to 8 Are FAR BELOW Grade Level Compared to All Hudson County Public School Districts from Similar Socio-Economic Background

Reader Comments Enabled for this post....

An 8th grader educated in the Hoboken Pubic Schools has acquired the education of a student in roughly March of the 6th Grade, 1.27 grade levels below the 8th grade level of students from similar socioeconomic strata. An 8th grader educated in the Union City Public Schools has acquired the education of a student roughly in December of the 10th grade, roughly 1.24 grade levels above the 8th grade for students from similar socioeconomic status. 

I recently created a post centered around a Stanford University report which showed that students educated in the Hoboken Public School completing Grades 3 to Grades 8 are now 1.27 grade level lower than students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Note, it is important to remember that this is an "apples to apples" comparison since the students come from similar socioeconomic status.

Thanks to a couple of regular followers, I was asked basically how does the 1.27 grade level lower then students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds compare to other districts in Hudson County?

I thought that was a reasonable question and so I had some colleagues explore the data in greater depth and compiled similar data for Hudson County Public Schools Districts. The results indicate a few things- for instance, a majority of Hudson County School District are doing quite well and their students completing Grades 3 to 8 are scoring well above grade level when compared to students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds.

Unfortunately, the data also indicates just how poor of an education the students completing Grades 3 to 8 in the Hoboken School District are receiving. I presented the data in both tase form as well as in chart form. It is in chart form where we see the extent of how poorly the results are when compared with students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds.

DISTRICT	GRADE LEVELS
BAYONNE	0.67	Higher
GUTTENBERG	0.06	Higher
HARRISON/E. NEWARK	-0.09	Lower
HOBOKEN	-1.27	Lower
JERSEY CITY	-0.24	Lower
KEARNY	0.21	Higher
NORTH BERGEN	0.54	Higher
SECAUCUS	-0.03	Lower
UNION CITY	1.24	Higher
WEEHAWKEN	0.6	Higher
WEST NEW YORK	0.87	Higher

These results seem to fly in the face of various declaration and pronouncements of how well the Hoboken Public Schools are doing. These results indicate that there is a systemic problem in the Hoboken Public Schools in the elementary and middle school grade levels. These results seem to indicate that despite one of the highest per pupil expenditures in the State of New Jersey, results lag significantly behind every pubic school district in Hudson County. 

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 What is especially surprising is look at the comparison between Hoboken and Union City. The Union City District has students who are completing Grades 3 to Grade 8 at 1.24 grade levels ABOVE students from districts with similar socioeconomic status. Placed in common terms, an 8th grader educated in the Hoboken Pubic Schools has acquired the education of a student in roughly March of the 6th Grade. An 8th grader educated in the Union City Public Schools has acquired the education of a student roughly in December of the 10th grade. 

The following is the raw data which helped prepare this report: 

  Hudson County- Educational Opportunity Project by Tony Petrosino on Scribd