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What's the most underrated thing about North Plainfield Middle School that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
538
Middle
DISTRICT 512 · STATE 578
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NORTH PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341164003337
North Plainfield Middle School
34 Wilson Avenue, North Plainfield, NJ 07060 · (908) 769-6040 · Somerset County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL538 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 21% of New Jersey public middle 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.
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
10.3:1
52 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 9.9:1 · STATE 10.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
79%
423 students
DISTRICT 80% · 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 | 260 | 48% |
| Grade 8 | 278 | 52% |
Student demographics
42%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 42% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
North Plainfield Middle School→North Plainfield High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within North Plainfield School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
NJSLA 2024-25 . % Meeting or Exceeding ExpectationsEnglish Language Arts
32.6%
NJ avg 53.1% . +1.1pp since 2023
Math
14.8%
NJ avg 41.6% . +3.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 33 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 15 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 are up about 4 points.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 32.6% | 14.8% |
| 2023-24 | 31.5% | 10.9% |
% 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
21.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
23.1%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-1.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 22% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 23% 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 North Plainfield Middle School
North Plainfield Middle School's state test result (21.7% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Plainfield Middle School this school | 538 | 78.6% | 21.7% |
| Somerset School North Plainfield | 485 | 82.1% | 18.5% |
| Thomas W. Wallace Jr. Middle School VINELAND | 695 | 75.4% | 13.1% |
| Hedgepeth Williams Intermediate School TRENTON | 668 | 78.0% | 5.7% |
| Veterans Memorial Middle VINELAND | 603 | 72.0% | 14.6% |
| Freehold Intermediate School FREEHOLD | 498 | 80.5% | 28.5% |
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 North Plainfield Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Somerset County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 21.7% | #386 of 433 | #19 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 14.8% | #389 of 437 ▲ 12 | #20 of 21 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 32.6% | #383 of 437 ▼ 12 | #19 of 21 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 538 | #225 of 445 | #12 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.3:1 | #151 of 417 | #16 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 42.2% | #320 of 419 | #18 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 78.6% | #39 of 436 | #4 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -0.4% | #280 of 282 | #17 of 17 |
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
538
+11 (+2%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
10.3:1
was 12.0:1
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 | 538 | 52 | 10.3:1 | 79% (423) |
| 2023-24 | 522 | 52 | 10.0:1 | 73% (381) |
| 2022-23 | 489 | 50 | 9.8:1 | 66% (323) |
| 2020-21 | 527 | 44 | 12.0:1 | 65% (341) |
| 2017-18 | 540 | 43 | 12.6:1 | 66% (359) |
| 2015-16 | 445 | 43 | 10.3:1 | 68% (301) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for North Plainfield Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students unchanged (540 to 538); teachers up 21% (43 to 52).
About North Plainfield Middle School
Among the schools in North Plainfield, New Jersey, is North Plainfield Middle School, a medium-sized middle school. School enrollment was 538 students in 2024-25, in grades 7 through 8.
The North Plainfield School District system has 6 schools and 3,487 students.
At North Plainfield Middle School, Hispanic students make up 74% of the student body. The school is also 15% Black and 7% White. That is higher than the 18% Hispanic share among all Somerset County residents. The school's diversity index is 42%, meaning two students picked at random have a 42% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The teaching staff at North Plainfield Middle School is 52 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 10.3:1. For comparison, middle schools in New Jersey average 10.9:1. About 79% of students, or 423, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Somerset County average 28%.
allk12 grades North Plainfield Middle School a C-. The grade compares the school only with New Jersey public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
The model predicts 23.1% for a school in New Jersey with North Plainfield Middle School's free or reduced-price lunch share. North Plainfield Middle School posts 21.7%.
Somerset County census figures show that the median household income is $140,374, roughly 58% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. There are 84 public schools in Somerset County, enrolling about 51,276 students in all.
The closest other public school is Stony Brook School, about 0.1 miles away. North Plainfield Middle School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Local comparison: North Plainfield Middle School ranks 5th of 9 nearby schools, at 21.7% versus a 21.6% average.
Locale: Suburb: Large. In NCES terms, the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The student count changed little between 2020-21 (527) and 2024-25 (538). Its ratio of students to teachers was 12.0:1 in 2020-21, and 10.3:1 in 2024-25.
Questions about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Somerset County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
349,846
Census ACS
Median income
$140,374
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
58%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
84
51,276 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in North Plainfield School District
- North Plainfield High SchoolHigh · 1,141 students
- West End SchoolElementary · 600 students
- Somerset SchoolMiddle · 485 students
- East End SchoolElementary · 451 students
- Stony Brook SchoolElementary · 272 students
Other schools in North Plainfield
- North Plainfield High SchoolHigh · 1,141 students
- West End SchoolElementary · 600 students
- Somerset SchoolMiddle · 485 students
- East End SchoolElementary · 451 students
- Stony Brook SchoolElementary · 272 students
Nearby schools
- Stony Brook School0.1 mi · 272
- North Plainfield High School0.1 mi · 1,141
- Somerset School0.5 mi · 485
- West End School0.8 mi · 600
- The Barack Obama Green Charter School0.8 mi · 358
- Union County TEAMS Charter School1.0 mi · 304
Frequently asked questions
About North Plainfield Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at North Plainfield Middle School?
North Plainfield Middle School enrolls approximately 538 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does North Plainfield Middle School serve?
North Plainfield Middle School serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at North Plainfield Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at North Plainfield Middle School is approximately 10.3:1 (52 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at North Plainfield Middle School?
At North Plainfield Middle School, the student body is approximately 7% White, 74% Hispanic, 15% Black, 2% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Who oversees North Plainfield Middle School?
North Plainfield Middle School is overseen by North Plainfield School District in Somerset County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.