1
What's something Central High School does better than most schools?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,051
High
DISTRICT 670 · STATE 929
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341134002192
Central High School
250 18TH AVENUE, NEWARK, NJ 07103 · (973) 733-6378 · Essex County
GRADES 09–12HIGH11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,051 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 4% of New Jersey public high schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded New Jersey public high schools
Student : Teacher
13.6:1
78 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.4:1 · STATE 12.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
75%
783 students
DISTRICT 80% · STATE 41%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 261 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 273 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 277 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 240 | 23% |
Student demographics
53%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · STATE 71% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
NJSLA 2024-25 . % Meeting or Exceeding ExpectationsEnglish Language Arts
11.6%
NJ avg 53.1% . +0.7pp since 2023
Math
3.3%
NJ avg 41.6% . +0.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 12 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 3 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all New Jersey schools, those numbers are about 53 and 42. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 11.6% | 3.3% |
| 2023-24 | 10.9% | 3.2% |
% Meeting or Exceeding Expectations, all students and all tested grades.
Source: NJSLA. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of NJ schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
6.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
25.4%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-19.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 6% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 25% typical for New Jersey schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Central High School
Central High School's state test result (6.3% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central High School this school | 1,051 | 74.5% | 6.3% |
| Essex County Donald M. Payne Sr. School of Technology NEWARK | 1,230 | 73.4% | 43.0% |
| Abraham Clark High School ROSELLE | 926 | 75.4% | 14.1% |
| Lincoln High School JERSEY CITY | 767 | 75.6% | 11.4% |
| Hillside High School HILLSIDE | 911 | 66.5% | 16.7% |
| Orange High School ORANGE | 1,368 | 64.8% | 16.0% |
Matched among New Jersey high schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Central High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Essex County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 6.3% | #385 of 397 | #36 of 39 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 3.3% | #385 of 400 ▼ 5 | #36 of 39 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 11.6% | #374 of 395 ▲ 11 | #35 of 39 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,051 | #162 of 442 | #16 of 42 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.6:1 | #287 of 388 | #23 of 37 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 52.6% | #210 of 389 | #15 of 37 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 74.5% | #48 of 405 | #13 of 40 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +23.2% | #32 of 173 | #6 of 19 |
Ranked against other public high schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
1,051
+322 (+44%) vs 2020
+7% since 1990-91, when it was 984
Student : Teacher
13.6:1
was 9.8:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,051 | 77.5 | 13.6:1 | 75% (783) |
| 2023-24 | 826 | 76 | 10.9:1 | 76% (624) |
| 2022-23 | 894 | 70.5 | 12.7:1 | 75% (669) |
| 2020-21 | 729 | 74 | 9.8:1 | 77% (564) |
| 2017-18 | 853 | 80 | 10.7:1 | 81% (690) |
| 2015-16 | 834 | 81 | 10.3:1 | 82% (687) |
| 2010-11 | 764 | 58 | 13.2:1 | 87% (664) |
| 2000-01 | 387 | 39 | 9.9:1 | 62% (240) |
| 1990-91 | 984 | 87 | 11.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Central High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 23% (853 to 1,051); teachers down 3% (80 to 77.5).
About Central High School
Central High School is one of the public schools in NEWARK, New Jersey. It is a medium-sized high school. The school reports 1,051 students in grades 9 through 12.
Central High School is part of a district of 65 schools: Newark Public School District, with 41,502 students.
Black students account for 53% of enrollment at Central High School. Other students are 44% Hispanic. That is higher than the 36% Black share among all Essex County residents. Central High School has a diversity index of 53%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Federal records show a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.6:1 at Central High School, with 77.5 full-time-equivalent teachers. The 12.7:1 average for high schools in New Jersey is lower than this school's figure. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility, a common measure of family income, is 75%. For comparison, public schools in Essex County average 54%.
Central High School is graded F by allk12, scoring above 4% of New Jersey public high schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
The school's average proficiency rate on state tests, 6.3%, is 19.1 points below the 25.4% the model predicts from its free or reduced-price lunch share. That result is in the bottom 10% of New Jersey schools.
Within Essex County, median household income is about $80,789, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 39% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 11%. Federal data list 249 public schools in Essex County, with a combined enrollment of about 145,473.
Nearby, Grover Cleveland Elementary School is about 0.2 miles away. Central High School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Central High School at 9th of 9.
NCES describes the area around Central High School as City: Large, meaning inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
In 2020-21 the school reported 729 students, and in 2024-25 it reported 1,051. Grade changes, mergers, or boundary shifts can explain gaps this large. By 2024-25, the school had 13.6 students per teacher, compared with 9.8 in 2020-21.
To ask about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater, start a discussion on this page. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Essex County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
863,002
Census ACS
Median income
$80,789
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
249
145,473 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Newark Public School District
- East Side High SchoolHigh · 2,046 students
- Barringer High SchoolHigh · 1,894 students
- Ann Street SchoolElementary · 1,294 students
- Lafayette Street SchoolElementary · 1,213 students
- First Avenue SchoolElementary · 1,084 students
- Early Childhood School - NorthElementary · 1,076 students
Other schools in NEWARK
- North Star Academy Charter SchoolCombined · 6,714 students
- TEAM Academy Charter SchoolCombined · 6,406 students
- Great Oaks Legacy Charter SchoolCombined · 2,169 students
- East Side High SchoolHigh · 2,046 students
- Barringer High SchoolHigh · 1,894 students
- Marion P. Thomas Charter SchoolCombined · 1,410 students
Other Central High schools
70 other US public schools in 32 states are named Central High. Central High School is the 30th largest of the 71.
- Central High SchoolSAN ANGELO, TX · 2,985 students
- CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOLOMAHA, NE · 2,587 students
- Central High SchoolKELLER, TX · 2,410 students
- CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOLLITTLE ROCK, AR · 2,371 students
- Central High SchoolPhiladelphia, PA · 2,329 students
Nearby schools
- Grover Cleveland Elementary School0.2 mi · 321
- Newark Vocational High School0.2 mi · 591
- Bard Early College High School0.4 mi · 395
- American History High School0.4 mi · 386
- Camden Street Elementary School0.4 mi · 685
- Quitman Street School0.4 mi · 706
Frequently asked questions
About Central High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Central High School?
Central High School enrolls approximately 1,051 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Central High School serve?
Central High School serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Central High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Central High School is approximately 13.6:1 (78 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Central High School?
At Central High School, the student body is approximately 1% White, 44% Hispanic, 53% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Is Central High School public or private?
Central High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Newark Public School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.