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If you could change one rule at Samsel Upper Elementary School, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
870
Elementary
DISTRICT 451 · STATE 405
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAYREVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341464000553
Samsel Upper Elementary School
298 ERNSTON ROAD, PARLIN, NJ 08859 · (732) 316-4050 · Middlesex County
GRADES 04–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL870 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
10.7:1
81 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.3:1 · STATE 11.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
47%
406 students
DISTRICT 45% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 4 | 422 | 49% |
| Grade 5 | 448 | 51% |
Student demographics
75%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 75% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Sayreville School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
NJSLA 2024-25 . % Meeting or Exceeding ExpectationsEnglish Language Arts
57.5%
NJ avg 53.1% . +3.7pp since 2023
Math
45.2%
NJ avg 41.6% . -1.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 58 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 57.5% | 45.2% |
| 2023-24 | 53.8% | 47.0% |
% 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
44.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
40.6%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 45% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 41% 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 Samsel Upper Elementary School
Samsel Upper Elementary School's state test result (44.7% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsel Upper Elementary School this school | 870 | 46.7% | 44.7% |
| Dr. Joyanne D. Miller Elementary School EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP | 980 | 54.8% | 29.8% |
| Horace Mann Community School BAYONNE | 712 | 54.9% | 39.8% |
| Rafael Cordero y Molina JERSEY CITY | 794 | 38.9% | 39.1% |
| Arthur Rann Elementary School GALLOWAY | 635 | 53.9% | 28.7% |
| Van Derveer Elementary School Somerville | 745 | 43.0% | 39.9% |
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 Samsel Upper Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Middlesex County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 44.7% | #639 of 1,290 | #65 of 111 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 45.2% | #686 of 1,319 ▼ 69 | #70 of 111 ▼ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 57.5% | #543 of 1,319 ▲ 48 | #45 of 111 ▲ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 870 | #35 of 1,562 | #2 of 130 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.7:1 | #550 of 1,390 | #46 of 120 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 74.9% | #21 of 1,392 | #5 of 121 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 46.7% | #633 of 1,481 | #46 of 128 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -21.9% | #144 of 798 | #28 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
870
-119 (-12%) vs 2020
-11% since 2010-11, when it was 977
Student : Teacher
10.7:1
was 11.8:1
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 | 870 | 81 | 10.7:1 | 47% (406) |
| 2023-24 | 882 | 84 | 10.5:1 | 39% (348) |
| 2022-23 | 838 | 91 | 9.2:1 | 36% (303) |
| 2020-21 | 989 | 84 | 11.8:1 | 36% (359) |
| 2017-18 | 1,114 | 87.4 | 12.8:1 | 38% (418) |
| 2015-16 | 992 | 79 | 12.6:1 | 35% (351) |
| 2010-11 | 977 | 66 | 14.8:1 | 28% (270) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Samsel Upper Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 22% (1,114 to 870); teachers down 7% (87.4 to 81).
About Samsel Upper Elementary School
Samsel Upper Elementary School is one of the public schools in PARLIN, New Jersey. It is a large elementary school. The school serves 870 students in grades 4 through 5 in 2024-25. For comparison, elementary schools in New Jersey average about 405 students.
Sayreville School District runs 9 schools with a combined 6,215 students. Samsel Upper Elementary School is one of them.
White students form the largest group at Samsel Upper Elementary School, 39% of enrollment. The remaining shares are 20% Hispanic, 17% Black, 16% Asian, and 6% multiracial. The White share in Middlesex County as a whole is similar, at about 41%. By the diversity index, Samsel Upper Elementary School comes in at 75%.
Federal staffing data show 81 full-time-equivalent teachers at Samsel Upper Elementary School and a ratio of 10.7:1. That ratio is under the 11.4:1 average for elementary schools in New Jersey. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility covers 47% of students.
Samsel Upper Elementary School posts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 44.7%, compared with a predicted 40.6%. It is not in the top or bottom 10% of New Jersey schools on BeatsExpectations.
According to the American Community Survey, in Middlesex County, median household income is about $111,549, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 46%, and about 6% of people live in poverty. A total of 214 public schools operate in Middlesex County, serving about 129,255 students.
Madison Park Elementary School is the public school closest to Samsel Upper Elementary School, about 0.6 miles away. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. Ranked by average proficiency, Samsel Upper Elementary School places 5th out of 7 schools in its immediate area.
Federal records code the school's setting as Suburb: Large.
The number of students dropped from 989 to 870 over 4 years. The school's ratio fell from 11.8:1 to 10.7:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Topics for discussion here include school safety, transportation, and start times. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 Sayreville School District
- Sayreville War Memorial High SchoolHigh · 1,764 students
- Sayreville Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,294 students
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary SchoolElementary · 488 students
- Emma Arleth Elementary SchoolElementary · 485 students
- Harry S. Truman Elementary SchoolElementary · 425 students
- Woodrow Wilson Elementary SchoolElementary · 401 students
Other schools in PARLIN
- Sayreville War Memorial High SchoolHigh · 1,764 students
- Sayreville Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,294 students
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary SchoolElementary · 488 students
- Emma Arleth Elementary SchoolElementary · 485 students
- Harry S. Truman Elementary SchoolElementary · 425 students
- Madison Park Elementary SchoolElementary · 328 students
Nearby schools
- Madison Park Elementary School0.6 mi · 328
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School0.8 mi · 488
- Emma Arleth Elementary School0.9 mi · 485
- Sayreville War Memorial High School1.1 mi · 1,764
- Sayreville Middle School1.3 mi · 1,294
- Harry S. Truman Elementary School1.3 mi · 425
Frequently asked questions
About Samsel Upper Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Samsel Upper Elementary School?
Samsel Upper Elementary School enrolls approximately 870 students in grades 04-05.
What age range does Samsel Upper Elementary School serve?
Samsel Upper Elementary School serves students from grade 04 through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Samsel Upper Elementary School?
Approximately 10.7:1 students per teacher at Samsel Upper Elementary School.
How diverse is Samsel Upper Elementary School?
Samsel Upper Elementary School reports a student body of 39% White, 20% Hispanic, 17% Black, 16% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Samsel Upper Elementary School public or private?
Samsel Upper Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Sayreville School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.