Factors: population, demographics, income, poverty rates, teacher effectiveness, dropout rate, and salaries: teachers, administrators, superintendents.
Granular Data: Summit, Princeton, Hoboken, Clifton, and Bridgeton.
The highest contributor to low graduation rates was dropout rate; but because this is a direct result comparison. The income is the most prevalent component affecting graduation rates in NJ. The question becomes, are the high income cities performing well because their citizens have the ability to pay higher property taxes, and thereby more money is going to the schools? Or, are people with high incomes attracted to the best schools? Most likely both. It’s a virtuous cycle and the next question would be, how do the lower performing schools create that cycle for themselves?
