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What advice would you give to incoming students at Dunn Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
703
Middle
DISTRICT 562 · STATE 578
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TRENTON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341629003210
Grace A Dunn Middle School
401 DAYTON STREET, TRENTON, NJ 08610 · (609) 656-4700 · Mercer County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL703 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.2:1
50 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.9:1 · STATE 10.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
77%
542 students
DISTRICT 81% · STATE 41%
Community
1
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 7 | 382 | 54% |
| Grade 8 | 321 | 46% |
Student demographics
24%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 46% · 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
9.9%
NJ avg 53.1% . +1.4pp since 2023
Math
5.2%
NJ avg 41.6% . -0.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 10 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 5 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 1 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 9.9% | 5.2% |
| 2023-24 | 8.5% | 5.8% |
% 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
7.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
24.0%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-16.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 7% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 24% 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 Grace A Dunn Middle School
Grace A Dunn Middle School's state test result (7.0% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grace A Dunn Middle School this school | 703 | 77.1% | 7.0% |
| Maxson Middle School PLAINFIELD | 721 | 76.7% | 16.8% |
| Hedgepeth Williams Intermediate School TRENTON | 668 | 78.0% | 5.7% |
| Thomas W. Wallace Jr. Middle School VINELAND | 695 | 75.4% | 13.1% |
| Hubbard Middle School PLAINFIELD | 737 | 86.4% | 19.7% |
| Red Bank Middle School RED BANK | 600 | 83.3% | 35.4% |
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 Grace A Dunn Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Mercer County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 7.0% | #423 of 433 | #13 of 20 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 5.2% | #429 of 437 ▼ 9 | #15 of 20 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 9.9% | #430 of 437 ▼ 3 | #14 of 20 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 703 | #131 of 445 | #11 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.2:1 | #395 of 417 | #16 of 20 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 24.4% | #393 of 419 | #20 of 20 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 77.1% | #47 of 436 | #8 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -22.7% | #37 of 282 | #2 of 8 |
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
703
-226 (-24%) vs 2020
+52% since 1990-91, when it was 463
Student : Teacher
14.2:1
was 13.3:1
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 | 703 | 49.5 | 14.2:1 | 77% (542) |
| 2023-24 | 681 | 53 | 12.8:1 | 41% (277) |
| 2022-23 | 670 | 53 | 12.6:1 | 60% (402) |
| 2020-21 | 929 | 70 | 13.3:1 | 55% (510) |
| 2017-18 | 909 | 70 | 13.0:1 | 87% (789) |
| 2015-16 | 971 | 67 | 14.5:1 | 91% (883) |
| 2010-11 | 445 | 41 | 10.8:1 | 91% (406) |
| 2000-01 | 714 | 53 | 13.5:1 | 76% (545) |
| 1990-91 | 463 | 51 | 9.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Grace A Dunn Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 23% (909 to 703); teachers down 29% (70 to 49.5).
About Grace A Dunn Middle School
Grace A Dunn Middle School is a medium-sized middle-grades school located in TRENTON, New Jersey. Students in grades 7 through 8 attend, and enrollment is 703 students. The typical figure for middle schools in New Jersey is about 578 students.
Across its 25 schools, Trenton Public School District enrolls 13,549 students. Grace A Dunn Middle School is one of those schools.
About 86% of the student body at Grace A Dunn Middle School is Hispanic. The remaining students are 12% Black. Among people living in Mercer County, the Hispanic share is about 23%. Pick two students at random and there is a 24% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
With 49.5 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, the ratio at Grace A Dunn Middle School was 14.2:1. On average, middle schools in New Jersey have 10.9:1, compared with 14.2:1 here. Grace A Dunn Middle School's free or reduced-price lunch eligibility rate is 77%. It compares with 48% for public schools in Mercer County.
Compared with New Jersey schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Grace A Dunn Middle School scores 16.9 points lower than predicted. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 7.0%; the prediction is 24.0%.
Mercer County has these Census figures: the median household income is $100,645, roughly 45% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Mercer County is home to 110 public schools and about 58,647 public school students.
The nearest public school is Lalor Elementary School, at about 0.3 miles. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. The school's 7.0% average proficiency ranks 9th among 9 nearby schools.
NCES assigns Grace A Dunn Middle School the locale City: Small, meaning inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment has fallen by 226 students since 2020-21, to 703.
The allk12 site hosts a discussion page for Grace A Dunn Middle School covering things like sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Mercer County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
385,864
Census ACS
Median income
$100,645
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
45%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
110
58,647 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Trenton Public School District
- Trenton Central High School - Main CampusHigh · 2,097 students
- Trenton Central High School-9th Grade AcademyHigh · 890 students
- Capital City High SchoolHigh · 756 students
- Hedgepeth Williams Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 668 students
- Dr. Martin Luther King Middle SchoolMiddle · 650 students
- Grant Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 610 students
Other schools in TRENTON
- Trenton Central High School - Main CampusHigh · 2,097 students
- Foundation Academy Charter SchoolCombined · 1,155 students
- Trenton Central High School-9th Grade AcademyHigh · 890 students
- Capital City High SchoolHigh · 756 students
- Hedgepeth Williams Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 668 students
- Dr. Martin Luther King Middle SchoolMiddle · 650 students
Nearby schools
- Lalor Elementary School0.3 mi · 351
- Franklin Elementary School0.3 mi · 372
- William Harrison Elementary School0.5 mi · 243
- Pace Charter School of Hamilton0.5 mi · 463
- International Charter School0.5 mi · 108
- George Washington Elementary School0.7 mi · 321
Frequently asked questions
About Grace A Dunn Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Grace A Dunn Middle School?
Grace A Dunn Middle School enrolls approximately 703 students in grades 07-08.
What grades does Grace A Dunn Middle School serve?
Grace A Dunn Middle School serves grades 07-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Grace A Dunn Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Grace A Dunn Middle School is approximately 14.2:1 (50 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Grace A Dunn Middle School?
Student demographics at Grace A Dunn Middle School are roughly 1% White, 86% Hispanic, 12% Black, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Grace A Dunn Middle School?
Grace A Dunn Middle School is overseen by Trenton Public School District in Mercer County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.