Data for the New Jersey Monthly ranking of the state’s high schools was obtained from the state Department of Education’s most recent New Jersey School Performance Reports (covering the 2016-2017 school year). Only public high schools were included in the rankings. Among the 305 high schools ranked were six charter schools. Schools lacking sufficient data were excluded.
Leflein Associates, an independent research company in Ringwood, analyzed the data by first standardizing individual indicator scores so that small differences did not have a disproportionate impact on the ranking, but very large differences were not minimized in the relative scores. These indicators were grouped into three categories: School Environment, Student Performance and Student Outcomes. Certain indicators were given extra weighting, as described below. The weighted summary scores for each category were added together to arrive at an overall score. The schools were ranked according to that score.
Here are the categories and indicators used in the ranking:
School Environment: The sum of the standardized rank scores for student/teacher ratio; number of AP and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) subjects offered; percentage of 11th- and 12th-grade students taking at least one AP or IB test in any subject; total number of AP or IB tests taken as a percentage of total 11th- and 12th- grade students; and percentage of students grades 9-12 taking at least one course in visual or performing arts. (Grade 12 enrollment is shown in the published chart for reference only; it is not part of the scoring.)
Student Performance: The percentage of students scoring at or above the benchmark for the math SAT; percentage of students scoring at or above the benchmark for the reading and writing SAT; and the percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher on AP tests or 4 or higher on IB tests.
Student Outcomes: The sum of standardized rank scores for four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (the number of four-year graduates divided by the number of first-time ninth-graders who entered the cohort four years earlier); and the percentage of students enrolled in a two- or four-year college 16 months after high school graduation.
Weighting: The overall student performance score has a weight of 2.67.
is there any research or articles written on what colleges/universities that NJ students ultimately choose to goto year-after-year?
I don’t know, but many of them go to Rutgers University!
https://www.rutgers.edu/about/facts-figures