Enrollment
99
Middle
STATE 578
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DISCOVERY CHARTER SCHOOL·NCES 340002000282
Discovery Charter School
240 Halsey St, NEWARK, NJ 07102 · (973) 623-0222 · Essex County
GRADES 04–08MIDDLE11-CITYCHARTERTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL99 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 72% of New Jersey public middle schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+Beats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
15.8:1
6 FTE teachers
STATE 10.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
84 students
STATE 41%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 4 | 14 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 24 | 24% |
| Grade 6 | 23 | 23% |
| Grade 7 | 22 | 22% |
| Grade 8 | 16 | 16% |
Student demographics
30%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
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
68.4%
NJ avg 53.1% . +9.8pp since 2023
Math
36.4%
NJ avg 41.6% . +0.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 68 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 36 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all New Jersey schools, those numbers are about 53 and 42. Reading and writing scores are up about 10 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 68.4% | 36.4% |
| 2023-24 | 58.6% | 36.2% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of NJ schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
43.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
19.7%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+24.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 44% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 20% typical for New Jersey schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 24 points, placing it in New Jersey's top 10%.
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 Discovery Charter School
Discovery Charter School's state test result (43.8% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery Charter School this school | 99 | 84.8% | 43.8% |
| Hillside Innovation Academy Hillside | 97 | 67.0% | 45.6% |
| Young Men's Academy Paterson | 50 | 90.0% | 15.6% |
| Morgan Village Middle School Camden | 203 | 69.0% | 5.0% |
| Pride Academy Charter School EAST ORANGE | 300 | 78.3% | 40.6% |
| Paulsboro Junior High School Paulsboro | 155 | 81.9% | 7.8% |
Matched among New Jersey middle 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 Discovery Charter School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Essex County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 99 | #441 of 445 | #29 of 29 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
99
-7 (-7%) vs 2020
+65% since 2000-01, when it was 60
Student : Teacher
15.8:1
was 17.7:1
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 | 99 | 6.3 | 15.8:1 | 85% (84) |
| 2023-24 | 106 | 6.4 | 16.7:1 | 62% (66) |
| 2022-23 | 105 | 5.5 | 19.1:1 | 68% (71) |
| 2020-21 | 106 | 6 | 17.7:1 | 84% (89) |
| 2017-18 | 114 | 11 | 10.4:1 | 96% (110) |
| 2015-16 | 98 | 1 | 98.0:1 | 94% (92) |
| 2010-11 | 62 | 5 | 12.4:1 | 81% (50) |
| 2000-01 | 60 | 1 | 60.0:1 | 65% (39) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Discovery Charter School.
Since 2017-18: students down 13% (114 to 99); teachers down 43% (11 to 6.3).
About Discovery Charter School
Discovery Charter School is a middle school in NEWARK, New Jersey, reachable at (973) 623-0222. It covers grades 4 through 8, with a total enrollment of 99 students. Statewide, middle schools in New Jersey average about 578 students each.
In federal data, the district for Discovery Charter School is the school itself.
Most students at Discovery Charter School are Black: 82% of enrollment. Smaller groups are 17% Hispanic. For comparison, the population of Essex County is roughly 36% Black. The chance that two students picked at random at Discovery Charter School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 30%.
Discovery Charter School counts 6.3 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 15.8 students for each one. The 10.9:1 average for middle schools in New Jersey is lower than this school's figure. About 85% of students at the school meet free or reduced-price lunch income limits. On average, public schools in Essex County report 54%.
Measured against New Jersey public middle schools, Discovery Charter School receives a B+. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Discovery Charter School posts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 43.8%. Schools with its free or reduced-price lunch share in New Jersey are predicted to post 19.7%, so the school is 24.1 points ahead and in the state's top 10%.
Across Essex County, median household income is about $80,789, roughly 39% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 11%. The public schools of Essex County number 249 and enroll about 145,473.
Nearest public school: Great Oaks Legacy Charter School, about 0.1 miles away. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. On average proficiency, Discovery Charter School is 3rd of 9 nearby schools with test data.
Under the NCES locale system, Discovery Charter School is City: Large. Discovery Charter School operates as a charter school, which is publicly funded and run under a charter.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, Discovery Charter School went from 106 students to 99. Its ratio of students to teachers was 17.7:1 in 2020-21, and 15.8:1 in 2024-25.
Threads on this page can be about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. 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
- 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 Discovery Charter schools
7 other US public schools in 6 states are named Discovery Charter. Discovery Charter School is the 7th largest of the 8.
- Discovery CharterChula Vista, CA · 945 students
- Discovery CharterSan Jose, CA · 555 students
- Discovery Charter SchoolPorter, IN · 536 students
- Discovery CharterBahama, NC · 453 students
- Discovery CharterTracy, CA · 369 students
Nearby schools
- Great Oaks Legacy Charter School0.1 mi · 2,169
- Arts High School0.3 mi · 611
- The Gray Charter School0.4 mi · 317
- Quitman Street School0.6 mi · 706
- Essex County Newark Tech0.6 mi · 606
- Oliver Street School0.6 mi · 1,034
Frequently asked questions
About Discovery Charter SchoolHow many students attend Discovery Charter School?
Discovery Charter School enrolls approximately 99 students in grades 04-08.
What grades does Discovery Charter School serve?
Discovery Charter School serves grades 04-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Discovery Charter School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Discovery Charter School is approximately 15.8:1 (6 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Discovery Charter School?
Student demographics at Discovery Charter School are roughly 17% Hispanic, 82% Black.
Is Discovery Charter School public or private?
Discovery Charter School is a public K-12 school operated as a charter, overseen by Discovery Charter School.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.