South Orange–Maplewood · entering kindergarten · 2020–21 to 2024–25
Did the district's assignment policy make kindergarten classes more socioeconomically balanced?
The district's published measure improved sharply after the policy began; these descriptive data alone cannot prove the assignment policy caused the change.
Before III, 0 of 5 schools were within the ±5-point target used in the published Year 1–4 reports in all three tiers. In 2024–25, 5 of 6 were; Clinton's High tier was the lone miss at 7 points below the district share.
These are kindergarten assignments, not each school's full enrollment.
Each variance compares one school's tier share with the districtwide kindergarten share that year.
Each year is a cohort distribution. The series does not follow the same children over time.
The before-and-after pattern does not isolate the assignment policy from enrollment or other changes.
Where the target held — and where it missed
The target used in the published Year 1–4 reports was for each school's Low, Medium, and High tier shares to sit within 5 percentage points of the district's kindergarten mix. A school counts here only when all three tiers are inside or on that band.
| Entering year | Within target | Tier misses beyond ±5 points |
|---|---|---|
| 2020–21Before III | 0 of 5 | Seth Boyden: Low +43, Medium −13, High −30; South Mountain: Low −19, High +19; Tuscan: Medium +9, High −9; Clinton: Medium +17, High −17; Marshall: Low −8, Medium −10, High +18 |
| 2021–22Year 1 | 2 of 5 | Seth Boyden: Low +8, High −7; Tuscan: Low −6, Medium +6; Clinton: High −6 |
| 2022–23Year 2 | 5 of 5 | All schools met the target |
| 2023–24Year 3 | 4 of 6 | Seth Boyden: Low +6, High −7; Delia Bolden: Low −6 |
| 2024–25Year 4 | 5 of 6 | Clinton: High −7 |
What schools were measured against
| Year | Low | Medium | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | 30% | 31% | 39% |
| 2021–22 | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| 2022–23 | 35% | 30% | 36% |
| 2023–24 | 31% | 34% | 35% |
| 2024–25 | 32% | 29% | 39% |
What the tiers mean. The reports assign Low, Medium, and High SES tiers using neighborhood family income and adult educational attainment from Census block-group estimates. Low SES is a constructed tier, not a poverty or free/reduced-lunch count, and may not match each family's circumstances.
Why race is not shown. Race is not the assignment metric and is not substituted here as a proxy for socioeconomic status.
School-by-year evidence
Each cell shows the share of that school's entering kindergarten class in the tier, followed by its percentage-point variance from the district share. Shaded cells are beyond ±5 points. Missing years stay missing, never zero.
Seth Boyden
| Year | Low | Medium | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21Missed target | 73% (+43) | 18% (−13) | 9% (−30) |
| 2021–22Missed target | 43% (+8) | 31% (−1) | 27% (−7) |
| 2022–23Within target | 39% (+5) | 29% (0) | 31% (−4) |
| 2023–24Missed target | 37% (+6) | 35% (+1) | 28% (−7) |
| 2024–25Within target | 36% (+4) | 30% (+1) | 34% (−5) |
South Mountain
| Year | Low | Medium | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21Missed target | 11% (−19) | 31% (0) | 58% (+19) |
| 2021–22Within target | 30% (−5) | 32% (0) | 38% (+5) |
| 2022–23Within target | 32% (−2) | 30% (0) | 38% (+2) |
| 2023–24Within target | 29% (−2) | 32% (−2) | 39% (+4) |
| 2024–25Within target | 27% (−5) | 30% (+1) | 43% (+4) |
Tuscan
| Year | Low | Medium | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21Missed target | 30% (0) | 40% (+9) | 30% (−9) |
| 2021–22Missed target | 29% (−6) | 38% (+6) | 32% (−1) |
| 2022–23Within target | 36% (+2) | 33% (+3) | 31% (−5) |
| 2023–24Within target | 31% (0) | 38% (+3) | 31% (−4) |
| 2024–25Within target | 30% (−2) | 30% (+1) | 40% (+1) |
Clinton
| Year | Low | Medium | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21Missed target | 30% (0) | 48% (+17) | 22% (−17) |
| 2021–22Missed target | 40% (+5) | 35% (+3) | 27% (−6) |
| 2022–23Within target | 38% (+4) | 29% (−1) | 33% (−3) |
| 2023–24Within target | 34% (+3) | 34% (0) | 32% (−3) |
| 2024–25Missed target | 36% (+4) | 31% (+2) | 33% (−7) |
Marshall
| Year | Low | Medium | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21Missed target | 22% (−8) | 21% (−10) | 57% (+18) |
| 2021–22Within target | 38% (+3) | 27% (−4) | 35% (+2) |
| 2022–23Within target | 32% (−3) | 28% (−1) | 40% (+4) |
| 2023–24Within target | 30% (0) | 32% (−3) | 38% (+3) |
| 2024–25Within target | 32% (0) | 27% (−2) | 41% (+2) |
Delia Bolden
| Year | Low | Medium | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | Not reported — this school was not K-serving in this series | ||
| 2021–22 | Not reported — this school was not K-serving in this series | ||
| 2022–23 | Not reported — this school was not K-serving in this series | ||
| 2023–24Missed target | 25% (−6) | 38% (+4) | 37% (+2) |
| 2024–25Within target | 30% (−2) | 26% (−3) | 44% (+4) |
Sources and coverage
The values above are transcribed from the district's published Alves Group reports. Percentages may not sum to 100 because the reports round them; the displayed variances are the reports' values.
- Official SOMSD Intentional Integration presentation libraryAlves Group Year 1, Year 2, and Year 4 reports
- Download the exact school-by-year data used hereLow, Medium, and High percentages, variances, and source labels
- South Orange–Maplewood district profileSeparate whole-district and whole-school context
Coverage ends in 2024–25. This page does not infer 2025–26 tier results or describe the ±5 band as the district's current 2026–27 target. Delia Bolden appears when it began serving kindergarten in 2023–24.
Baseline rounding note. The Year 1 report's narrative summarizes the 2020–21 district mix as 29% Low, 32% Medium, and 40% High and Seth Boyden's Low variance as +42. Table 1 displays 30%, 31%, 39%, and +43. This page follows the report's Table 1 values and stated variances, as transcribed in the downloadable data; it does not recompute variances from rounded shares.