Test scores show schools moving in right direction

There is a lot of good news this week about the Red Bank public school system.

The Red Bank Charter School has released the results of last year’s state-mandated Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment test which shows dramatic improvement in its students’ math test scores.

At the same time, the borough’s traditional K-8 district has released test results showing similar dramatic improvement for its fourth-grade students on the language arts section of the state-mandated Assessment of Skills and Knowledge test.

The charter school says it was able to achieve a doubling of the percentage of students who scored "proficient" on the GEPA math test by focusing on practical applications for what is being taught, and it is working on integrating the program right down to the first grade.

Such an approach is exactly the kind of innovative program that any charter school should be seeking. If the Red Bank Charter School wants to establish itself as a viable component of public education, it must provide a different learning environment suited to students who do not take to the teaching methods in more traditional schools.

At the same time, the success of the Red Bank Primary School in improving the language arts scores of its fourth-graders shows what can happen to students in the presence of a dedicated staff working within the established framework of the educational system.

As students from both schools succeed academically, you can bet that some will put that improvement down to competition.

Don’t believe it. People with a long-enough memory will be able to recall that Red Bank’s traditional K-8 school system was on the road to improving before the charter school ever opened.

While there will always be a competitive aspect to schools that draw their students from the same pool, how well those schools ultimately serve all of those students will have a lot more to do with how well they complement each other, rather than how well they compete with each other.