Rafael Hernandez School

Located at 345 BROADWAY, in NEWARK, New Jersey, Rafael Hernandez School is a heavily attended elementary campus that educates 713 students (grades pre-K through 8), one of the schools within Newark Public School District. Compared to the state average of about 405 students per school, that is 76% bigger than typical.

Across the 65 schools in Newark Public School District (41,502 students total), Rafael Hernandez School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Rafael Hernandez School records that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (81%); the rest comes out to 15% Black, 3% White. The wider county runs roughly 25% Hispanic, putting the school's mix noticeably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Rafael Hernandez School lists 44 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.2:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 11.4:1, putting Rafael Hernandez School higher than the state norm the norm. Roughly 83% of students at Rafael Hernandez School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Essex County (around 54%), the school's rate is somewhat above typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Rafael Hernandez School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 20.8% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 11.5%.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Essex County indicate the typical household earns roughly $80,789 per year, 39% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Essex County runs 249 public schools (combined enrollment of about 145,473 students), of which Rafael Hernandez School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Roberto Clemente Elementary School, around 0.2 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Rafael Hernandez School. On composite proficiency, Rafael Hernandez School comes 7th of 7 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 34.3%.

Rafael Hernandez School operates from an urban location.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Rafael Hernandez School has shrank 10%, going from 788 students in 2018 to 713 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share shrank from 25% to 15%. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 14.7:1 in 2018 to 16.2:1 today.

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