Camden's school test scores still lag, but some positives, too

There was some good news and more bad news in results released Wednesday for Camden students in the second year of a new standardized state test.

Nearly all schools in the struggling South Jersey district made slight progress in math and language arts on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam. Students in grades three through 11 across the state took the exam last spring.

Despite the increase, the majority of Camden students in all grades failed to meet the state standard for their grade level. At the high school level, the results were grim, especially in math.

"Test scores are one of many ways we measure progress," Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard said. "We have a long way still to go."

Language-arts scores for Camden's elementary- and middle-school students increased from 6.2 percent proficient last year to 10.9 percent. Math scores rose modestly, from 4.3 percent to 7.4 percent proficient.

The most significant gains, however, were made by students enrolled in six schools managed during the 2015-16 school year by Camden's three "Renaissance" school operators. There are now 10 Renaissance schools in the city.

The scores are the first available since the district, under state takeover, transformed several schools into Renaissance schools.

Just under 10,000 students attended traditional public schools in Camden in the 2015-16 school year, down from about 12,000 in 2013. About 2,200 were enrolled in Renaissance schools, with 4,500 more attending charters.

Gov. Christie has praised Renaissance and charter schools as a way to improve Camden's failing public school system. Critics believe his recent proposal to revamp the state's school-funding formula would hurt poor districts like Camden.

Camden's Renaissance schools are publicly funded but privately operated by KIPP, Mastery, and Uncommon Schools. They are hybrids of public and charter schools. Unlike charter schools, they guarantee seats to every child in the school's neighborhood.

Jason Herbert said he initially was reluctant to enroll his three children at Uncommon's Camden Prep. He said he was pleased with the gains. In language arts at Uncommon, 27 percent of students were proficient, compared with 3 percent of the same students who were enrolled in a district school in 2015. Math scores also improved.

"This is a wonderful thing for a city with negative connotation," said Herbert. "I'm just mad that it takes outsiders to get this done."

Uncommon plans to open four more schools - an elementary, two middle schools, and a high school in about five years.

Rouhanifard said the results released Wednesday should not be seen as a referendum to convert more schools to Renaissance schools.

"Some folks believe there is some secret game plan we are implementing," Rouhanifard said. "We're going to continue to monitor the achievement at our Renaissance school partners."

At East Camden Middle, a Renaissance school operated by Mastery, language-arts proficiency for grades three to eight increased from 5.6 percent to 16.4 percent. The state average is 52 percent.

At Molina, also a Mastery school, math proficiency increased from 1.8 percent to 7.5 percent for grades three to eight. The state average is 43 percent.

Taken together, Renaissance and district schools showed improvement in math from 4.3 percent last year to 7.7 percent in math and from 6.6 percent to 12 percent in language arts.

In some cases, the district compared results from the same students who attended a district school in 2014 and enrolled in a Renaissance school last year.

"It's the best thing they did in years," said Edith Blevins, a retired city teacher whose great-grandson Aahsir attends Uncommon's Camden Prep. "We have a new system and it works."

Some of the Renaissance schools had fewer students take the test than district schools did because their enrollment is still growing, which made comparing the results difficult.

Students at the city's two comprehensive high schools continued to lag on the state test, although incremental gains were made in language arts and math.

At Camden High, for example, only one student out of 110 taking the test was proficient in geometry, while none made the mark in geometry at Woodrow Wilson, where 150 students took the exam. No student at any of the district's five high schools achieved advanced proficiency in math. In language arts, a total of 15 students at the five high schools achieved advanced proficiency.

Districtwide, only 9 percent of students in grades 9 through 11 met proficiency or at least a level three in Algebra II - meaning that they are "approaching" proficiency. In geometry, the number declined from 9.2 percent to 6.9 percent.

"We are still very much behind," Rouhanifard said. "This is a very, very steep mountain to climb."

This is the second year for the controversial test, which is used as one possible path to meet the high school graduation requirement.

Statewide results, released in August, found that a majority of students failed to make the grade on each of the high school exams in math and English. Scores improved from the previous year, with the exception of 11th-grade English.

PARCC has been criticized as too long and too expensive, and as draining money and resources from other subjects and programs. Critics also say the test is flawed and not a fair measurement of public education.

mburney@phillynews.com

856-779-3814 @mlburney