Hillside Innovation Academy

Hillside Innovation Academy is a rural-scale 6-8 campus in Hillside, New Jersey, overseen by Hillside Public School District. The school educates 97 students in grades 7 through 8. By comparison, New Jersey's public schools average about 578 students each, so Hillside Innovation Academy sits 83% leaner than that benchmark.

Hillside Innovation Academy is one of 7 schools operated by Hillside Public School District, a district that hosts 2,957 students overall.

On demographics, Hillside Innovation Academy shows that the largest single group is Black, at 62% of enrollment; the rest is composed of 26% Hispanic, 8% White, 2% Asian. By comparison, Union County as a whole is about 20% Black, so the school skews visibly more Black than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 6 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.2:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 10.9:1 average. An estimated 67% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Union County (around 52%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Hillside Innovation Academy sits in the top 10% of New Jersey schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 29.5%; actual is 45.6%, +16.1 points clear of the demographic baseline.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Union County put median household earnings sit near $103,202, about 39% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Union County runs 180 public schools (combined enrollment of about 99,046 students), of which Hillside Innovation Academy is one.

Abram P. Morris Early Childhood Center is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Hillside Innovation Academy at 1st of 8; the average score across the group is 28.7%.

Geographically, the school is in a suburban area.

On this page, members of the Hillside Innovation Academy community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.