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Does Louise A. Spencer Elementary School have enough mental health and stress support?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
774
Elementary
DISTRICT 638 · STATE 405
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341134002304
Louise A. Spencer Elementary School
66 MUHAMMAD ALI AVENUE, NEWARK, NJ 07108 · (973) 733-6931 · Essex County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL774 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 24% of New Jersey public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
12.7:1
61 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.0:1 · STATE 11.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
86%
667 students
DISTRICT 80% · STATE 41%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 83 | 11% |
| Kindergarten | 74 | 10% |
| Grade 1 | 72 | 9% |
| Grade 2 | 66 | 9% |
| Grade 3 | 78 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 83 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 75 | 10% |
| Grade 6 | 83 | 11% |
| Grade 7 | 80 | 10% |
| Grade 8 | 80 | 10% |
This year's kindergarten class (74) is 8% smaller than its 8th grade class (80).
Student demographics
48%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
36.9%
NJ avg 53.1% . +5.7pp since 2023
Math
17.6%
NJ avg 41.6% . +3.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 37 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 18 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 6 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 3 points.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 36.9% | 17.6% |
| 2023-24 | 31.2% | 14.4% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
21.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
19.0%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 21% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 19% typical for New Jersey schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among New Jersey's top nor bottom 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 Louise A. Spencer Elementary School
Louise A. Spencer Elementary School's state test result (21.4% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louise A. Spencer Elementary School this school | 774 | 86.2% | 21.4% |
| Florence Avenue Elementary School IRVINGTON | 694 | 86.6% | 14.9% |
| Robert Treat Academy Charter School NEWARK | 702 | 79.1% | 51.5% |
| Nicholas Murray Butler Academy School No. 23 ELIZABETH | 667 | 84.1% | 16.3% |
| George Washington Academy School No. 1 ELIZABETH | 595 | 87.6% | 23.8% |
| McKinley Elementary School NEWARK | 917 | 85.1% | 17.3% |
Matched among New Jersey elementary 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 Louise A. Spencer Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Essex County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 21.4% | #1,112 of 1,290 | #95 of 131 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.6% | #1,186 of 1,319 ▲ 5 | #113 of 141 ▼ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 36.9% | #994 of 1,319 ▲ 48 | #93 of 141 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 774 | #67 of 1,562 | #15 of 162 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.7:1 | #1,030 of 1,390 | #61 of 140 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 47.6% | #881 of 1,392 | #73 of 141 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 86.2% | #109 of 1,481 | #25 of 142 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
774
+36 (+5%) vs 2020
-40% since 1990-91, when it was 1,299
Student : Teacher
12.7:1
was 11.2:1
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 | 774 | 61 | 12.7:1 | 86% (667) |
| 2023-24 | 835 | 61 | 13.7:1 | 77% (640) |
| 2022-23 | 755 | 63 | 12.0:1 | 83% (625) |
| 2020-21 | 738 | 66 | 11.2:1 | 82% (603) |
| 2017-18 | 774 | 60 | 12.9:1 | 88% (679) |
| 2015-16 | 372 | 34 | 10.9:1 | 82% (306) |
| 2010-11 | 541 | 37 | 14.6:1 | 92% (496) |
| 2000-01 | 941 | 85 | 11.1:1 | 82% (774) |
| 1990-91 | 1,299 | 78 | 16.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Louise A. Spencer Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students unchanged (774 to 774); teachers up 2% (60 to 61).
About Louise A. Spencer Elementary School
Louise A. Spencer Elementary School is a large elementary school with an address in NEWARK, New Jersey. Classes run from pre-K through 8, and the school has 774 students. Against the 405-student average for elementary schools in New Jersey, enrollment here is 91% higher.
Newark Public School District operates 65 schools. Combined enrollment is 41,502 students.
At Louise A. Spencer Elementary School, Hispanic students make up 65% of the student body. The next largest groups are 32% Black. The school's Hispanic share is 40 points above the 25% share among Essex County residents. Pick two students at random and there is a 48% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
A ratio of 12.7:1 comes from the school's 61 full-time-equivalent teachers. That is 1.2 students per teacher above the 11.4:1 average for elementary schools in New Jersey. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 86% in 2024-25. Compared with the 54% average for public schools in Essex County, the school's rate is higher.
Louise A. Spencer Elementary School is graded C- by allk12, scoring above 24% of New Jersey public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
On BeatsExpectations, Louise A. Spencer Elementary School is 2.4 points above its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of New Jersey schools.
In Essex County (population about 863,002), the median household income is $80,789, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 39%, and roughly 11% of residents are in poverty. Louise A. Spencer Elementary School is one of 249 public schools in the county.
The shortest distance from Louise A. Spencer Elementary School to another public school is about 0.4 miles, to American History High School. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Among the 9 closest schools with test data, this one included, Louise A. Spencer Elementary School ranks 2nd on average proficiency.
Federal records code the school's setting as City: Large.
Enrollment climbed 5% from its 2020-21 level of 738. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 11.2:1 in 2020-21 to 12.7:1 in 2024-25.
Questions about school safety, transportation, and start times can be posted here. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
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
Nearby schools
- American History High School0.4 mi · 386
- Link Community Charter School0.4 mi · 343
- Quitman Street School0.4 mi · 706
- Central High School0.4 mi · 1,051
- Malcolm X Shabazz High School0.5 mi · 531
- Newark Vocational High School0.6 mi · 591
Frequently asked questions
About Louise A. Spencer Elementary SchoolHow large is Louise A. Spencer Elementary School?
Louise A. Spencer Elementary School enrolls approximately 774 students in grades PK-08.
What age range does Louise A. Spencer Elementary School serve?
Louise A. Spencer Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Louise A. Spencer Elementary School?
Approximately 12.7:1 students per teacher at Louise A. Spencer Elementary School.
How diverse is Louise A. Spencer Elementary School?
Louise A. Spencer Elementary School reports a student body of 1% White, 65% Hispanic, 32% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Louise A. Spencer Elementary School?
Louise A. Spencer Elementary School is overseen by Newark Public School District in Essex County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.