Essex County West Caldwell Tech

Essex County West Caldwell Tech is an one-room-style 9-12 campus in West Caldwell, New Jersey, run under Essex County Schools of Technology. The school teaches 353 students in grades 9 through 12. That puts it 62% smaller than the typical public school in New Jersey, which averages around 929 students.

Within Essex County Schools of Technology, which oversees 3 schools and 2,189 students, Essex County West Caldwell Tech is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, Essex County West Caldwell Tech records that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 56% of enrollment. Other groups include 38% Black, 4% White. By comparison, Essex County as a whole is about 25% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Essex County West Caldwell Tech has 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 10.1:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 12.7:1 average. Roughly 66% of students at Essex County West Caldwell Tech qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is higher than Essex County's rate of about 54%.

After controlling for student poverty, Essex County West Caldwell Tech performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 30.0%, the actual is 36.8%, a residual of +6.7 points.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Essex County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $80,789 per year, roughly 39% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Across Essex County's 249 public schools (combined enrollment of about 145,473 students), Essex County West Caldwell Tech is one campus in the mix.

Harrison School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Essex County West Caldwell Tech. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Essex County West Caldwell Tech at 7th of 7; the average score across the group is 55.9%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count expanded 18%: 300 students in 2018 compared to 353 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 45% to 38% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 9.1:1 in 2018 to 10.1:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.