Superintendent explains US News ranking measures and district priorities after resident questions results

Resident Tom Maris asked the Woodbridge Township Board of Education on Aug. 28 whether a recent US News & World Report ranking of the district's high schools was a fair assessment and what the district planned to do to improve rankings. "Do you think that was a fair assessment, by US News and World Report? And how do you feel that you can improve the rankings in the school?" Maris asked.

Superintendent Doctor Massimino said rankings use different criteria and that US News places significant weight on Advanced Placement testing outcomes. "Their measures put a lot of weight on advanced placement testing," Massimino said. "If you take an AP test, and you get an A in every category, yeah, A in every semester, but you don't get a 4 or 5 ... You're not getting credit for that student success because the measure of success isn't the grade, it's a score on the AP test."

Massimino said district leaders track many factors beyond those in a single ranking, including curriculum review and efforts to lower chronic absenteeism. "There's a whole realm that you can pick from in terms of what you're going to use to measure academic success," he said, adding that socioeconomic factors outside the district's control also influence comparative rankings.

The board did not adopt any new academic policy or funding changes at the meeting. Massimino said the district would continue to review curriculum and other measures to pursue improvement.