BelovEDCommunityCharter School

BelovED Students Continue to Achieve Faster Learning Gains

Than Their Peers Throughout New Jersey

The best measure of a school’s quality is the pace at which its students grow in learning. 

Academically selective schools that admit students on the basis of test scores point to their high proficiency rates, but these rates do not tell you about the learning growth students achieve after being admitted. 

What measures the comparative pace of student learning at different schools is a metric that the New Jersey Department of Education (“NJDOE”) calls Median Student Growth Percentile.

BelovED is a free public school that is open to all.  It is not academically selective….

But in one demographic after another, BelovED’s students are consistently achieving greater average learning gains than their peers statewide.

This is remarkable because EVERY demographic subgroup at BelovED has a far higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students than its matching local or statewide subgroup.  In fact, the percentage of BelovED students who are economically disadvantaged is TWICE as high as the statewide percentage.

A large “proficiency achievement gap” has existed between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantage students statewide -- and nationwide -- for the entirety of the sixty years such data has been tracked.  Compared to non-economically disadvantaged students, New Jersey’s statewide proficiency rate for economically disadvantaged students is 28% lower in English Language Arts and is 32% lower in Math. 

The fact that BelovED is enabling its students to beat the odds and make faster learning gains than their more economically advantaged demographic peers statewide is proof positive that BelovED’s education program is extremely effective.

Helping every child, regardless of race, disability, English proficiency – and yes, family income – obtain a GREAT education is what BelovED is all about!

School Year 2022-2023 State Assessment Results Are In
PROVING STUDENTS LEARN FASTER AT BELOVED

At the end of every school year, New Jersey traditional and charter public schools are required to administer state Department of Education created English Language Arts ("ELA") and Math learning assessments.

BelovED's results for School Year 2022-2023 are in and proficiency rates at BelovED - which have been increasing EVERY year since BelovED opened - have increased ONCE AGAIN!

When a school has an excellent education program causing its students to learn faster than students at other schools, the more years they attend the school, the further they move ahead of their local and statewide peers, just as you see happening at BelovED, where our oldest scholars have moved far ahead of their peers. 

Review the article and data below and you'll see that students of ALL incomes, ethnicities, and demographic characteristics learn faster at BelovED.

If you want your children to learn faster than they would at other schools, then BelovED is the place they belong from Kindergarten through high school.

New Jersey Department of Education Data
Proves Students of All Ethnicities and Backgrounds Do Better at BelovED

BelovED’s strong education program has resulted in its scholars continually outperforming their local and statewide peers on the New Jersey Department of Education’s end-of-year assessments measuring student mastery of state English Language Arts and Math learning objectives for students.

BelovED serves a student population which mirrors that of the Jersey City Public Schools district (“JCPS”) in its demographic composition, but that is MORE economically disadvantaged than the JCPS district -- and FAR MORE economically disadvantaged than New Jersey’s statewide student population.

 Historical statewide achievement gaps associated with economic disadvantage would predict schoolwide and demographic sub- group performance levels at BelovED being slightly below JCPS District levels and far below statewide levels….

But as shown in the tables below, BelovED scholars significantly outperformed their Jersey City and statewide peers on the state’s School Year 2021-2022 end-of-year state assessments.

This is nothing new. Almost since the day it first opened its doors, BelovED students of all ethnicities and backgrounds have been outperforming their statewide peers. Economically disadvantaged students do better with us. Non-economically disadvantaged students do better with us.

The New Jersey Department of Education suspended testing at traditional and charter public schools in School Year 2019-2020 and School Year 2020-2021 because of the Coronavirus pandemic. But you can click here to review state end-of-year assessment data from School Year 2018-2019: the school year before the pandemic struck. Then, as now, BelovED scholars out-performed their statewide peers in almost all sub-groups in spite of every BelovED sub-group having a far higher percentage of economically disadvantaged scholars.

Our goal at BelovED is to provide our scholars a high quality education that overcomes any disadvantages and expands opportunity. We have lofty goals and are not where we want to be yet…but we are well on our way!