Grade 8 maths results are the district's weakest spot

What happened

Collingswood beats the state in every grade from 3 to 8 in English and in most grades in maths, but grade 8 maths is the exception and has been for three years. In 2024-25, 13.2% of grade 8 pupils met or exceeded expectations in maths against a state figure of 20.7%, after 9.1% in 2023-24 and 11.7% in 2022-23. The split inside Algebra 1 is stark: 93.5% of the middle schoolers taking it were proficient against 19.5% of the high schoolers taking it. Grade 9 English is the only grade below the state, at 44.6% against 49.9%, and fell 10.8 points in a year. On the eleventh-grade graduation assessment, readiness slipped in both subjects, to 78.6% in English and 56.7% in maths, both now just below the state.

Why it matters to families

Grade 8 maths and high school Algebra 1 are the gateway to every later maths and science course, and a student who does not clear them is set back for years. The gap by group is wider still: in 2024-25 only 5 students with an individualised education programme were graduation ready in maths and 11 in English, against 101 and 136 of those without one. Across its elementary schools the district's lowest results are at Thomas Sharp, at 44.6% in English and 27.7% in maths, which is also the school with the highest share of economically disadvantaged pupils and the one the state identified for additional targeted support.

The evidence

The district's 2024-25 state testing report gives grade 8 maths proficiency of 13.2% against a state figure of 20.7%, with 11.7% in 2022-23 and 9.1% in 2023-24; middle school Algebra 1 at 93.5% against high school Algebra 1 at 19.5%; grade 9 English at 44.6% against a state 49.9% and 55.4% the year before; graduation-readiness of 78.6% in English and 56.7% in maths; the counts of graduation-ready students with and without an individualised education programme; and the school-by-school elementary comparison placing Sharp lowest and Zane North highest.

The source