Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20

Located at 19 Henry Street, in Passaic, New Jersey, Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 is an average-sized junior high that teaches 742 students (grades 2 through 8), operated by Passaic City School District. By comparison, New Jersey's public schools average about 578 students each, so Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 sits 28% bigger than that benchmark.

Across the 19 schools in Passaic City School District (11,877 students total), Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 records that 93% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Beyond that, the school shows 4% Asian. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 44%.

On the resource side, On paper, Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 has 55 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.5:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 10.9:1, putting Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 100% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Passaic County runs at roughly 61%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 sits in the top 10% of New Jersey schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 11.4%; actual is 56.8%, +45.4 points clear of the demographic baseline.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Passaic County put the typical household earns roughly $87,522 per year, roughly 31% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. In all, Passaic County runs 155 public schools (combined enrollment of about 83,237 students), of which Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 is one.

Sonia Sotomayor School #21 is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 at 1st of 8; the average score across the group is 23.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 14%: 864 students in 2018 compared to 742 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 15.8:1 in 2018 to 13.5:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20 community share and discuss science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.