2 Morris Schools Named to State's 'Focus' List

Two elementary schools in the Morris School District have been named to the state's "Focus School" list, according to the Department of Education (DOE).

Normandy Park School and Sussex Avenue School are among 183 schools named as Focus Schools in the state. These two have among the highest within-school gaps, according to the state.

Schools with these gaps have a gap of 43.5 percentage points or higher between the highest-performing and lowest-performing subgroups.

Focus schools have room for improvement specific to those schools. The state offers "targeted and tailored solutions to meet the school's unique needs," according to the DOE website.

Other reasons why schools get named to the Focus list are:

• Low Graduation Rates: High schools with a 2011 graduation rate lower than 75%.
• Lowest Subgroup Performance: schools whose two lowest-performing subgroups rank among the lowest combined proficiency rates in the state. Schools in this category have an overall proficiency rate for these lowest-performing subgroups of 29.2% or lower.