NCES CCD 2024-25 38 schools NJ

Best-Resourced Schools in Elizabeth, NJ

38 public K-12 schools in Elizabeth from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

38
Schools
27,584
Students
37.1/100
Avg Resource Index
13.6:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Elizabeth has more public-school enrollment than 95% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Elizabeth sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

17 of Elizabeth's 38 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

The composite and staffing measures point in different directions

Elizabeth's average Resource Investment Index sits at the 33rd percentile, while its teacher-staffing measure sits at the 72nd percentile. The 39-point percentile gap is a reminder that the index is not a class-size score: counselors, gifted-program reporting, and attendance also affect it. Compare those components directly when two schools have similar index totals; the same headline score can arise from a different mix of reported resources.

City enrollment
Top 5%
School count
Top 6%
Resource Index average
33rd percentile
Teacher staffing
72nd percentile

Elizabeth school enrollment varies 337× across entities

Elizabeth school enrollment ranges from 4 students (lowest) to 1,348 students (highest), a spread of 1,344 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Elizabeth reports 67.0% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share sits between 62.5% and 75%, above a simple majority but below the highest descriptive band used here. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Elizabeth student-teacher ratio is 13.6:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Simon Youth Academy 65
2. Elizabeth High School - Frank J Cicarell Academy 55
3. Terence C. Reilly School No 7 50
4. William F. Halloran School No.22 49
5. J. Christian Bollwage Finance Academy 49
6. Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy 44
7. Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy 43
8. Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. Health & Public Safety Academy 42
9. Nicholas S. Lacorte-Peterstown School No. 3 41
10. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early Childhood Center No 52 41
11. Thomas a. Edison Career and Technical Academy 40
12. Dr. Antonia Pantoja School No. 27 39
13. Dr. Albert Einstein Academy School No. 29 39
14. Victor Mravlag School No. 21 39
15. Iprep Academy School No 8 39
16. Donald Stewart Early Childhood Center No 51 39
17. Chessie Dentley Roberts Academy School No. 30 37
18. Frances C. Smith Early Childhood Center No 50 37
19. Mabel G. Homes School No. 5 36
20. Dr. Orlando Edreira Academy School No. 26 35
21. Madison Monroe School No. 16 35
22. Sonia Sotomayor School No 25 35
23. Robert Morris School No. 18 35
24. Abraham Lincoln School No. 14 34
25. Woodrow Wilson School No. 19 34
26. Christopher Columbus School No. 15 33
27. Winfield Scott School No. 2 33
28. Joseph Battin School No 4 31
29. Elmora School No. 12 31
30. Toussaint Louverture-Marquis De Lafayette School No. 6 30
31. Juan Pablo Duarte - Jose Julian Marti School No 28 30
32. K. Johnson D. Vaughan and M. Jackson Stem Academy 30
33. Nicholas Murray Butler Academy School No. 23 30
34. John Marshal School No. 20 30
35. George Washington Academy School No. 1 28
36. Benjamin Franklin School No. 13 26
37. John E. Dwyer Technology Academy 25
38. Jerome Dunn Academy No 9 21

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Elizabeth

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Nicholas Murray Butler Academy School No. 23 53.5/100
  2. 2 Winfield Scott School No. 2 53.3/100
  3. 3 Simon Youth Academy 50.0/100
  4. 4 George Washington Academy School No. 1 48.8/100
  5. 5 Madison Monroe School No. 16 48.3/100

What do families ask about schools in Elizabeth?

Which Elizabeth school has the highest Resource Investment Index?

Simon Youth Academy has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Elizabeth schools in this federal-data comparison at 65/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Elizabeth, NJ?

Elizabeth has 38 public schools with a total enrollment of 27,584 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 13.6:1.

Other Cities in New Jersey

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in New Jersey →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.