BHCW Responds to BHPS Administration’s Problematic Representation of NYT Article
Published 02/09/2024 on TapInto: In 2022, BHCW raised concerns about proficiencies directly to the BHPS Superintendent of Schools and received surface-level responses that did not address important questions. In 2023 BHCW provided an analysis of the most recent NJ DOE performance reports (released after our initial email) that demonstrated BHPS carried the highest per pupil with the lowest performance and most significant declines post-COVID. This...
Fact Checking Dr. Varley’s “Exciting News” Email on NYT Article and BHPSNJ Math Proficiency
BHCW received the following email from a parent to the BOE regarding an email Dr. Varley sent this morning with a NYT PDF. In this email, Dr. Varley appears to celebrate what the NYT data demonstrates. Here is a copy of the email text: Good evening,I’m deeply confused at what you have categorized as “exciting news” in your district-wide email...
Preliminary Results on 2023 Proficiency for the Berkeley Heights Public School District- Math, Science, ELA and Algebra I
Results on the NJSLA have become recently available. Here is the text of the email I sent to the Board of Education on this data. I looked at the raw data on the NJSLA results for Spring this year and completed a year-to-year comparison. A few notes: This is a preliminary report of the data – I am not aware...
Responses to Constructive Feedback and Questions on BHCW’s Reporting on the Declines
During the 10/12/2023 BOE Meeting, I invited all BOE Members present and members of the Administration to a public debate on the declines. I am still waiting to hear from someone on my offer. Over the past month BOE Members and several community members on different forums provided BHCW feedback on our articles and I want to provide these concerns...
Latest Elementary and Middle School Rankings Not Encouraging For Berkeley Heights
The decline in rankings continues under Dr. Melissa Varley as Superintendent -Written by an Educator in the Community The following rankings are using the Berkeley Heights Community Watch (BHCW) seven-district data dashboard. These seven districts include Berkeley Heights, New Providence, Summit, Chatham, Madison, Millburn, and Westfield. The methodology from US News & World Report states: “State assessment data determines how...
A Quick Dive into the Latest High School Rankings
Governor Livingston High School Falls First in Dollars Spent, Last in Rankings -Written by an Educator in the Community Earlier this week, U.S. News and World Reports released their “Best New Jersey High School rankings” for 2023. The ranking methodology includes college readiness (30%), state assessment proficiency (20%), state assessment performance (20%), underserved student performance (10%), college curriculum breadth (10%),...
Dr. Varley’s “School is Opening in One Week!” Email
Oh man.. where do we even start with this? Dr. Varley sent an email today that residents should pay attention to carefully. The item we want to focus on right now connects to goals. On a positive note (depending on how you look at it), there are finally numbers and percentages people can look at in evaluating how well our...
What We Can Do To Reverse The Berkeley Heights Declines In Math, Science, And ELA Part 2: Evidence-Based Decision Making
The Second in a Series of Articles on How Berkeley Heights Can Repair the Damage under Dr. Varley’s Leadership Since BHCW’s analysis of the Berkeley Heights School District’s declines in Math, Science, and English came out, I have had many conversations with different parents, teachers, and other school staff in the community on how to reverse them. In the second...
Thoughts on Thinking Classroom and Proficiency Scores
It’s a late-summer tradition, not only for us, but for many in town: finding out which teachers (or team, for CMS) your students will have for the upcoming year, and texting friends and neighbors to compare. This year has been no different in that respect, but this time it led to some concerns and a look back at last year....
John’s Notes on the 08/10/2023 BOE Meeting Part III
On the NJGPA Portion of the 08/10/2023 BOE Meeting At the last BOE meeting, residents might have gotten a different impression of the District’s proficiencies than reality. That may be because the District was required to present on the NJGPA, which only tracks rising seniors. BHCW has been reporting on data on all grades in all schools within the District. The reason I bring this...
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