Paul W Carleton
School pathway
Test scores
NJSLA 2024-25 . % Meeting or Exceeding ExpectationsWhat this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 16 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 13 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all New Jersey schools, those numbers are about 53 and 42. Reading and writing scores are down about 3 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyWhat this means: About 13% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 25% 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%.
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25About Paul W Carleton
Set in PENNS GROVE, New Jersey, Paul W Carleton is a close-knit elementary school, run under Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District. It serves 322 students across grades 4 through 5. Compared to the state average of about 405 students per school, that is 20% below typical.
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District comprises 5 schools with combined enrollment of 2,182 students; Paul W Carleton is among them.
In terms of who attends, Paul W Carleton logs that 46% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school reports 38% Black, 15% White. The wider county runs roughly 11% Hispanic, putting the school's mix visibly more Hispanic than the area baseline.
Looking at the economic backdrop, Paul W Carleton shows 26 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.4:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 11.4:1 average. Roughly 75% of students at Paul W Carleton qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Salem County runs at roughly 45%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.
With demographic context factored in, Paul W Carleton tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 25.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 13.4%.
Around the school, Salem County reports that median household earnings sit near $79,960, roughly 25% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. Paul W Carleton is one of 33 public schools in Salem County (combined enrollment of about 11,156 students).
Nearest neighbor: Penns Grove Middle School, around 0.1 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 4 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Paul W Carleton ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, below the local average of 15.9%.
The campus sits in a suburban setting.
Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 5%: 340 students in 2018 compared to 322 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 34% to 46% across the same window.
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Salem County at a glance
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