Pride Academy Charter School

Pride Academy Charter School is a middle-grades school of modestly sized scale in EAST ORANGE, New Jersey, one of the schools within Pride Academy Charter School District, works with 300 students in grades 5 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 48% smaller than the state mean of about 578.

Pride Academy Charter School is a school of Pride Academy Charter School District, the district that handles curriculum, staffing, and budget for the campus.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Pride Academy Charter School shows that nearly all students (94%) are Black. Beyond that, the school shows 6% Hispanic. By comparison, Essex County as a whole is about 36% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Pride Academy Charter School has 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 16.0:1. The state averages around 10.9:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 78% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Essex County (around 54%), the school's rate is north of typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Pride Academy Charter School is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 23.3%; this one delivers 40.6%, a residual of +17.3 points.

Across the wider county, Essex County reports that the typical household earns roughly $80,789 per year, about 39% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. Pride Academy Charter School is one of 249 public schools in Essex County (combined enrollment of about 145,473 students).

Nearest neighbor: Langston Hughes Elementary School, around 0.1 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Pride Academy Charter School ranks 1st on composite proficiency, above the local average of 21.6%.

Geographically, the school is in a bedroom-community area. Pride Academy Charter School is a charter school, which puts it inside the public-school system but outside the standard district-managed model.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Pride Academy Charter School has climbed 5%, going from 287 students in 2018 to 300 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 11.5:1 in 2018 to 16.0:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Pride Academy Charter School community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.