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Best kept secret at Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
282
Elementary
DISTRICT 389 · STATE 405
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WOODBRIDGE TOWNSHIP SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341812003718
Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School
PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, COLONIA, NJ 07067 · (732) 499-6566 · Middlesex County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL282 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 45% of New Jersey public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+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
9.7:1
29 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.1:1 · STATE 11.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
34%
95 students
DISTRICT 43% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 41 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 47 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 45 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 59 | 21% |
| Grade 4 | 45 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 45 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (41) is 9% smaller than its 5th grade class (45).
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 74% · 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
47.8%
NJ avg 53.1% . +5.3pp since 2023
Math
57.1%
NJ avg 41.6% . +5.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 48 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 57 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 5 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 47.8% | 57.1% |
| 2023-24 | 42.5% | 51.2% |
% 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
46.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
47.7%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-1.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 46% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 48% 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 Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School
Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School's state test result (46.4% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School this school | 282 | 33.7% | 46.4% |
| Chittick Elementary School EAST BRUNSWICK | 338 | 38.5% | 55.1% |
| Project Before at Selover School South Amboy | 233 | 31.3% | N/A |
| John F Kennedy Elementary School SOUTH PLAINFIELD | 256 | 27.0% | 46.3% |
| Susan B. Anthony Elementary School North Arlington | 297 | 33.7% | 51.3% |
| Jefferson Elementary School SUMMIT | 221 | 27.1% | 66.0% |
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 Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Middlesex County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.4% | #609 of 1,290 | #63 of 111 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 57.1% | #459 of 1,319 ▲ 63 | #43 of 111 ▲ 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 47.8% | #772 of 1,319 ▲ 63 | #66 of 111 ▲ 8 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 282 | #1,185 of 1,562 | #106 of 130 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 9.7:1 | #282 of 1,390 | #28 of 120 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.5% | #204 of 1,392 | #45 of 121 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 33.7% | #799 of 1,481 | #72 of 128 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.6% | #367 of 798 | #53 of 84 |
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
282
-74 (-21%) vs 2020
+4% since 1990-91, when it was 271
Student : Teacher
9.7:1
was 14.2:1
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 | 282 | 29 | 9.7:1 | 34% (95) |
| 2023-24 | 290 | 28 | 10.4:1 | 29% (85) |
| 2022-23 | 402 | 29 | 13.9:1 | 38% (154) |
| 2020-21 | 356 | 25 | 14.2:1 | 33% (118) |
| 2017-18 | 319 | 23 | 13.9:1 | 31% (100) |
| 2015-16 | 292 | 21 | 13.9:1 | 33% (96) |
| 2010-11 | 238 | 15 | 15.9:1 | 23% (54) |
| 2000-01 | 344 | 16 | 21.5:1 | 9% (30) |
| 1990-91 | 271 | 15 | 18.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (319 to 282); teachers up 26% (23 to 29).
About Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School
Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School is a small elementary school for students in COLONIA, New Jersey. It enrolled 282 students in pre-K through 5 for the 2024-25 school year. Enrollment is 30% lower than the average for elementary schools in New Jersey, which is about 405.
The 24 schools in Woodbridge Township School District enroll 13,869 students altogether, Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School among them.
No single group makes up more than half of enrollment at Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School. The largest is White students, at 37%. The remaining shares are 37% Hispanic, 20% Asian, 4% Black, and 2% multiracial. The White share in Middlesex County as a whole is similar, at about 41%. Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School's diversity index is 69%, against a US figure of 70%.
Its 29 full-time-equivalent teachers give the school a ratio of 9.7:1. The school has fewer students per teacher than the 11.4:1 average for elementary schools in New Jersey. The school's lunch program data list 34% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. For comparison, public schools in Middlesex County average 42%.
The allk12 Grade for Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School is B-. Compared with New Jersey public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 45% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Compared with New Jersey schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School's results are 1.4 points below predicted: 46.4% against 47.7%.
Census estimates describe Middlesex County this way: the median household income is $111,549, about 46% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 6%. In all, Middlesex County has 214 public schools and roughly 129,255 students.
Colonia Middle School is the closest public school, about 0.4 miles away in a straight line. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School. By average proficiency, Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School is 5th among 9 schools close by.
The NCES locale for Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School is Suburb: Large, which covers schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Federal data show a 21% enrollment decrease, from 356 in 2020-21 to 282 in 2024-25. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio fell from 14.2:1 to 9.7:1.
Community posts for Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School can cover enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Middlesex County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
871,290
Census ACS
Median income
$111,549
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
214
129,255 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Woodbridge Township School District
- Woodbridge High SchoolHigh · 1,681 students
- John F. Kennedy Memorial High SchoolHigh · 1,405 students
- Colonia High SchoolHigh · 1,354 students
- Iselin Middle SchoolMiddle · 794 students
- Lafayette Estates Elementary SchoolElementary · 705 students
- Fords Middle SchoolMiddle · 645 students
Other schools in COLONIA
- Colonia High SchoolHigh · 1,354 students
- Colonia Middle SchoolMiddle · 628 students
- Claremont Avenue Elementary SchoolElementary · 306 students
- Lynn Crest Elementary SchoolElementary · 300 students
- Oak Ridge Heights Elementary SchoolElementary · 292 students
Nearby schools
- Colonia Middle School0.4 mi · 628
- Claremont Avenue Elementary School0.7 mi · 306
- Carl H. Kumpf School0.8 mi · 528
- Colonia High School0.8 mi · 1,354
- Oak Ridge Heights Elementary School1.1 mi · 292
- Frank K. Hehnly1.1 mi · 543
Frequently asked questions
About Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary SchoolHow large is Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School?
Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School enrolls approximately 282 students in grades PK-05.
Is Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School have?
Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School employs 29 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 9.7:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School?
At Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School, the student body is approximately 37% White, 37% Hispanic, 4% Black, 20% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School public or private?
Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Woodbridge Township School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.