State report shows local districts making the grade Allentown, Millstone, Roosevelt, U.F. students scoring at high levels BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer The 2007 New Jersey School Report Card issued last week reflected well on local school districts. For the report, school districts are divided into district factor groups that relate to their socioeconomic status. The district factor groups range from A to J, with J describing the most affluent communities. The Millstone Township School District for grades K-8 belongs to the I district factor group. The district gets 76 percent of its funding from the local tax levy, which is the county average, according to the report. The total cost per pupil in Millstone amounts to $8,842, which is the lowest in the county. The county's average cost per pupil is $11,484 and the state's average is $12,150, according to the report. The median faculty salary inMillstone is $48,250, and the median administrative salary is $104,500. The county median faculty salary is $51,705, while the state median salary is $53,003. The county median administrative salary is $101,538, while the average administrative salary in the state is $102,033, according to the report. Last year, Millstone Township Elementary School had 865 students and an average class size of 19. The report card stated that Millstone Township Elementary School students in grades K-4 scored above state averages in all assessments. Students also scored above the averages in their district factor group in third-grade language arts and fourth-grade science, mathematics and language arts. Last year, Millstone Township Middle School had 813 students and also scored above state averages on all assessments, according to the report. Fifth-grade students scored above district factor group averages in language arts, as did sixth-grade students in mathematics. Seventh graders scored above district factor group averages in language arts and science and eighth graders scored above these averages in science and language arts, according to the report. Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Donahue said at the Feb. 11 Board of Education meeting that she thinks the district is doing extremely well. Roosevelt Public School has a GH district factor group rating and a per pupil cost of $13,785. The school for grades K-6 has 91 pupils and an average class size of 11. The median faculty salary in Roosevelt is $41,746, and the median administrative salary is $70,122. Fifty percent of the school's funding comes from the local tax levy, whereas the county average is 76 percent, according to the report. During the 2006-07 school year, all tested Roosevelt Public School students passed language arts, with 14 percent of students scoring at the advanced proficient level. Ninety-one percent of tested students passed mathematics, with 34 percent scoring at the advanced proficient level. Science test results were not available, according to the report. The Upper Freehold Regional School District for grades K-12 has a district factor group rating of GH and an average per pupil cost of $10,512. Fifty-eight percent of its funding comes from the local tax levy, according to the report. The median faculty salary in the regional school district is $51,966, and the median administrative salary is $101,891. The elementary/middle school enrolled 1,209 last year and had an average class size of 21. The student mobility rate amounted to 4.1 percent, according to the report. Of the students tested, 89 percent passed language arts, with 12 percent scoring at the advanced proficient level. In mathematics, 85 percent of students passed, with 24 percent scoring in the advanced proficient range. In science, 90 percent of the students tested passed, with 42 percent scoring at advanced proficient levels. These percentages were just below the county medians of 90 percent passing language arts, 88 percent passing mathematics, and 92 percent passing science. Allentown High School students scored above the county median in language arts, with 94 percent passing and 26 percent scoring at the advanced proficient level. The county median showed 92 percent of students passing and 24 percent scoring at advanced proficient levels. Of the high school students tested, 84 percent passed mathematics, which is the same as the county median. Of those who passed, 28 percent scored at the advanced proficient level. The county median is 26 percent. In the regional school district 81 percent of students took the SAT last year. The district's average SAT score was 512 in verbal, 511 in math and 496 in writing, for a total of 1,519. The county median was 501 in verbal, 515 in math and 501 in writing, for a total of 1,515.