Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies

Set in PLAINFIELD, New Jersey, Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies is a tiny high school, overseen by Plainfield Public School District. It instructs 357 students across grades 7 through 12. That puts it 62% smaller than the typical public school in New Jersey, which averages around 929 students.

Within Plainfield Public School District, which oversees 15 schools and 8,522 students, Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies reports that 67% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Beyond that, the school reports 31% Black. The wider county runs roughly 35% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 8.9:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 12.7:1, putting Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 77% of students at Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Union County runs at roughly 52%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 23.9%; this one delivers 26.0%.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Union County put median household income runs about $103,202, roughly 39% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies is one of 180 public schools in Union County (combined enrollment of about 99,046 students).

Jefferson Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies at 6th of 9; the average score across the group is 33.8%.

Geographically, the school is in a bedroom-community area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 10%: 397 students in 2018 compared to 357 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment decreased from 42% to 31% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 9.9:1 in 2018 to 8.9:1 in 2025.

On allk12, members of the Plainfield Academy For The Arts & Advanced Studies community share and discuss science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.