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Does Rafael Hernandez School have enough mental health and stress support?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
713
Elementary
DISTRICT 638 · STATE 405
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341134000091
Rafael Hernandez School
345 BROADWAY, NEWARK, NJ 07104 · (973) 481-5004 · Essex County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL713 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 4% of New Jersey public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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
16.2:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.0:1 · STATE 11.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
83%
591 students
DISTRICT 80% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 109 | 15% |
| Kindergarten | 72 | 10% |
| Grade 1 | 79 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 81 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 72 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 59 | 8% |
| Grade 5 | 63 | 9% |
| Grade 6 | 64 | 9% |
| Grade 7 | 47 | 7% |
| Grade 8 | 67 | 9% |
This year's kindergarten class (72) is 7% larger than its 8th grade class (67).
Student demographics
33%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · 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
13.3%
NJ avg 53.1% . -9.6pp since 2023
Math
8.5%
NJ avg 41.6% . +0.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 13 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 9 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 10 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 13.3% | 8.5% |
| 2023-24 | 22.9% | 8.1% |
% 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
11.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
20.8%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 12% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 21% 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 Rafael Hernandez School
Rafael Hernandez School's state test result (11.5% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael Hernandez School this school | 713 | 82.9% | 11.5% |
| Park Elementary School Newark | 747 | 82.7% | 39.7% |
| Cresthaven Academy Charter School Plainfield | 621 | 82.4% | 27.4% |
| Elmora School No. 12 ELIZABETH | 658 | 81.3% | 31.9% |
| Joseph Battin School No 4 ELIZABETH | 757 | 85.2% | 28.5% |
| John P. Holland Charter School Woodland | 787 | 86.0% | 34.9% |
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 Rafael Hernandez School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Essex County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 11.5% | #1,238 of 1,290 | #126 of 131 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 8.5% | #1,275 of 1,319 no change | #136 of 141 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 13.3% | #1,286 of 1,319 ▼ 105 | #141 of 141 ▼ 20 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 713 | #105 of 1,562 | #22 of 162 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.2:1 | #1,347 of 1,390 | #120 of 140 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 32.6% | #1,197 of 1,392 | #118 of 141 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 82.9% | #173 of 1,481 | #37 of 142 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -9.5% | #445 of 798 | #36 of 73 |
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
713
+9 (+1%) vs 2020
-16% since 2000-01, when it was 848
Student : Teacher
16.2:1
was 13.3:1
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 | 713 | 44 | 16.2:1 | 83% (591) |
| 2023-24 | 653 | 44 | 14.8:1 | 79% (513) |
| 2022-23 | 553 | 48 | 11.5:1 | 80% (440) |
| 2020-21 | 704 | 53 | 13.3:1 | 84% (591) |
| 2017-18 | 788 | 53.5 | 14.7:1 | 95% (752) |
| 2015-16 | 714 | 46 | 15.5:1 | 90% (642) |
| 2010-11 | 599 | 40 | 15.0:1 | 92% (549) |
| 2000-01 | 848 | 50 | 17.0:1 | 96% (818) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Rafael Hernandez School.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (788 to 713); teachers down 18% (53.5 to 44).
About Rafael Hernandez School
Rafael Hernandez School, located in NEWARK, New Jersey, is a large elementary school. A federal count lists 713 students at the school, in pre-K through 8. An average school in this group (elementary schools in New Jersey) has about 405 students.
Newark Public School District enrolls 41,502 students in 65 schools, including Rafael Hernandez School.
Rafael Hernandez School enrolls a student body that is 81% Hispanic. After that, the student body is 15% Black and 3% White. Census figures show Essex County is about 25% Hispanic. The chance that two students picked at random at Rafael Hernandez School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 33%.
Dividing enrollment by its 44 full-time-equivalent teachers gives a ratio of about 16.2:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in New Jersey is 11.4:1, lower than at this school. Rafael Hernandez School reports 83% of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Public schools in Essex County average 54%.
The allk12 Grade for Rafael Hernandez School is F. Compared with New Jersey public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 4% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, Rafael Hernandez School is 9.3 points below its prediction. Actual: 11.5%. Predicted: 20.8%.
Across Essex County, median household income is about $80,789, about 39% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 11%. Rafael Hernandez School is among the 249 public schools in Essex County.
Roberto Clemente Elementary School is the public school closest to Rafael Hernandez School, about 0.2 miles away. Rafael Hernandez School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Rafael Hernandez School at 7th of 7.
Federal data place Rafael Hernandez School in the City: Large locale, which means it is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Rafael Hernandez School had 704 students in 2020-21 and 713 in 2024-25, nearly the same. Federal data show the ratio rising from 13.3:1 to 16.2:1.
Discussions about Rafael Hernandez School may include school safety, transportation, and start times. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Essex County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
863,002
Census ACS
Median income
$80,789
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
249
145,473 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Newark Public School District
- East Side High SchoolHigh · 2,046 students
- Barringer High SchoolHigh · 1,894 students
- Ann Street SchoolElementary · 1,294 students
- Lafayette Street SchoolElementary · 1,213 students
- First Avenue SchoolElementary · 1,084 students
- Early Childhood School - NorthElementary · 1,076 students
Other schools in NEWARK
- North Star Academy Charter SchoolCombined · 6,714 students
- TEAM Academy Charter SchoolCombined · 6,406 students
- Great Oaks Legacy Charter SchoolCombined · 2,169 students
- East Side High SchoolHigh · 2,046 students
- Barringer High SchoolHigh · 1,894 students
- Marion P. Thomas Charter SchoolCombined · 1,410 students
Nearby schools
- Roberto Clemente Elementary School0.2 mi · 742
- Technology High School0.3 mi · 662
- Robert Treat Academy Charter School0.4 mi · 702
- Early Childhood School - North0.5 mi · 1,076
- Branch Brook School0.5 mi · 60
- Washington Elementary School0.6 mi · 557
Frequently asked questions
About Rafael Hernandez SchoolHow many students attend Rafael Hernandez School?
Rafael Hernandez School enrolls approximately 713 students in grades PK-08.
What grades does Rafael Hernandez School serve?
Rafael Hernandez School serves grades PK-08.
How many students per teacher at Rafael Hernandez School?
Approximately 16.2:1 students per teacher at Rafael Hernandez School.
How diverse is Rafael Hernandez School?
Rafael Hernandez School reports a student body of 3% White, 81% Hispanic, 15% Black, 1% Asian, 0% Two or more.
What district is Rafael Hernandez School in?
Rafael Hernandez School is part of Newark Public School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.