the Hopewell Valley Regional School District:
How are we doing?
The State of NJ Department of Education puts all the data from the School Report Cards online. I've downloaded the data and done some preliminary analysis. This page has a brief summary of what I've found; each subhead below is linked to a page with tables, graphs, and more detailed discussion. Throughout, I compare HVRSD with some other districts in Mercer County: Lawrence, Princeton Regional, and West Windsor-Plainsboro (WWP), which are in the same "DFG" (socio-economic group) we are; and Ewing, which is adjacent but in a lower DFG. I specifically did not use Montgomery because they are in DFG "J", for the wealthiest districts in New Jersey, while HVRSD is in DFG "I". If anyone wants to do the work of extracting the data for Montgomery, East Amwell or some other district for comparison purposes, let me know and I can put the numbers up here.
Enrollment: Currently there are about 3800 children enrolled in HVRSD. Enrollment has grown by about 28% since 1996. The odd thing about our enrollment figures is how the number of children listed as in "Special Education" fluctuates wildly from year to year. Why? I don't know.
Spending: Generally speaking, HVRSD spends as much or more on classroom instruction per pupil as nearby districts do, but less on administration and operations. Administrative costs have been going up in recent years from a low in 1998.
SATs: Average SAT scores for Hopewell Central HS students are high, but they have not been going up consistently the way they have at WWP, Princeton, or in our DFG as a whole. Is this because we haven't had SAT prep courses on the curriculum before, or for some other reason? I don't know. I would love to hear from people at ETS about whether they think any of these statistics are meaningful.
Students: Though most Hopewell Central HS students head for 4-year colleges, it's not an overwhelming proportion: we have significant minorities going to 2-year colleges or to work.