Dropping in the rankings and a new Superintendent in the same year, WHAT A COINCIDENCE!

Continued overcrowding and virtually no new classrooms in sight, WHAT A COINCIDENCE!

And a drop in rankings preceding strong, comprehensuve leadership in the central office-- these changes should have been calculated into curricula, culture and forecasted into what the high school would need., by Bandlow, by Calabro and a strong central office and previous BOE. This is more evidence that upper level planning, anticipation of affect and forecasting needs of children - between the new superintendent (Engravalle took the helm in November 2011) and his new leadership team, a stronger and cohesive BOE, this should be bettered in significant measure by next years rankings.

dropping in the ratings and a new board president in the same week, WHAT A COINCIDENCE. lol. you can't make this stuff up

The report shouldn't surprise anyone that has their pulse on the District's educational issues. The current administration was vocal in it's needs and the modifications that were to be made - notwithstanding opposition from a handful of dangerously uninformed obstructionists. The report should be clear and convincing proof that it is time to allow the professionals to deal with the issues at hand. The current administration disclosed that the District does not have curricula for all courses - prior adminis and boards should receive failing grades for their refusal to address this critical and mandated requirement. The report uses Advanced Placement grades as a critical component. Why are students who should not be in AP classes permitted to take such courses at the expense of the District to the detriment of those who earned the right to be there? It's a disservice to the students who truly belong and a disservices to the District for lowering it's rank and expending funds needlessly. No more coddling, no more "feel good" decision making. Finally, if we stop blaming the Superintendent for every malfunction it would move us closer to resolving the issues of concern.

I was less than enthusiastic about Mr E becoming the Superintendent. I was opposed to it. But I have to point out that when the middle school was recognized, the Principal was given praises. So why does the same not hold true when the High School drops in ranking. If we are to blame why does it lay with the Superintendent as opposed to the Principal? Fair is Fair. Either praise / blame the Office of the Superintendent for everything or lay it at the hands of the Principals. Let us stop with the blame game when it suits our objectives.

Yes dear I know. It was a figure of speech.

Is this all accurate? I just looked at the NJ Magazine schools ranking
http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/highschoolrankings/top-high-schools-2010.html
and see Fort Lee ranked 72 in 2010. That is improvment from 75 in 2008 !!!
2010 2008 High School
72 75 Fort Lee

The BOE has consistently stated that Fort Lee education has been steadily improving in the rankings. Clearly, this news is extremely disappointing. Mr. Engravalle clearly has his work ahead of him. If the Board members were to support him unilaterally, and if they were to make an effort to support each other, there may be hope on the horizon.
It is understandable that BM is so critical of the BOE: he claims to be a product of the Fort Lee School system which obviously failed him completely.

Let's look at the Data. I looked at the Data for the Top 100 High Schools and noticed a couple of trends.
First and I believe the most important was that class size matters. Fort Lee has a class size average of 23.1 students per class. Of the 96 schools ranked higher (Montville, #39, being the highest ranked), only seven had an average class size larger than Fort Lee.
Second was the percentage of students who achieved a score of 3 or higher on their AP tests. A total of 82 schools scored higher than our 69.3%. This was a hugh drop from the 86% we had in the 2010 rankings. This could indicate that perhaps we did not prepare our students as well for AP tests or that maybe many more students took AP classes and tests and therefore less scored 3 or above.
Our SAT average scores dropped from 1654 in 2010 to 1610. 52 schools had a higher SAT average than Fort Lee.
The percentage of students ranking advanced proficient in the HSPA language and math tests improved from 19% to 28% in language and stayed basically the same 33% to 32% in math. Since these tests are taken by all students, I believe the SAT and AP changes are the result of more non-traditional students taking those tests.
After review, it is clear that if we want to see our High School ranked higher, we need to reduce class size and evaluate why our AP and SAT score dropped.