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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the School 21 administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
665
Elementary
DISTRICT 457 · STATE 405
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PATERSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341269004914
School 21
322 10TH AVENUE, PATERSON, NJ 07514 · (973) 321-0210 · Passaic County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL665 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.5:1
43 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.2:1 · STATE 11.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
65%
429 students
DISTRICT 71% · 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 | 23 | 3% |
| Kindergarten | 43 | 6% |
| Grade 1 | 56 | 8% |
| Grade 2 | 60 | 9% |
| Grade 3 | 87 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 78 | 12% |
| Grade 5 | 79 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 81 | 12% |
| Grade 7 | 78 | 12% |
| Grade 8 | 80 | 12% |
This year's kindergarten class (43) is 46% smaller than its 8th grade class (80).
Student demographics
35%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 44% · 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
8.6%
NJ avg 53.1% . +0.5pp since 2023
Math
6.3%
NJ avg 41.6% . +2.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 9 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 6 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all New Jersey schools, those numbers are about 53 and 42. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are up about 3 points.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 8.6% | 6.3% |
| 2023-24 | 8.1% | 3.8% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of NJ schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
5.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
30.9%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-25.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 6% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 31% typical for New Jersey schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 School 21
School 21's state test result (5.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| School 21 this school | 665 | 64.5% | 5.6% |
| Octavius V. Catto Community Family School CAMDEN | 593 | 56.5% | 16.7% |
| Cedarbrook Elementary School PLAINFIELD | 671 | 69.2% | 21.0% |
| Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Complex PATERSON | 513 | 66.1% | 11.0% |
| School 13 PATERSON | 499 | 69.9% | 8.5% |
| School 10 PATERSON | 474 | 62.0% | 6.2% |
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 School 21 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Passaic County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 5.6% | #1,283 of 1,290 | #86 of 87 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 6.3% | #1,300 of 1,319 ▲ 15 | #78 of 87 ▲ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 8.6% | #1,306 of 1,319 ▼ 3 | #87 of 87 ▼ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 665 | #148 of 1,562 | #13 of 100 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.5:1 | #1,319 of 1,390 | #85 of 89 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 34.7% | #1,159 of 1,392 | #66 of 89 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 64.5% | #414 of 1,481 | #50 of 97 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.0% | #354 of 798 | #41 of 66 |
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
665
-29 (-4%) vs 2020
-19% since 1990-91, when it was 823
Student : Teacher
15.5:1
was 13.6:1
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 | 665 | 43 | 15.5:1 | 65% (429) |
| 2023-24 | 642 | 42.5 | 15.1:1 | 52% (334) |
| 2022-23 | 690 | 46.5 | 14.8:1 | 53% (363) |
| 2020-21 | 694 | 51 | 13.6:1 | 54% (377) |
| 2017-18 | 756 | 53 | 14.3:1 | 70% (531) |
| 2015-16 | 756 | 45 | 16.8:1 | 80% (603) |
| 2010-11 | 661 | 48 | 13.8:1 | 85% (562) |
| 2000-01 | 818 | 58 | 14.1:1 | 85% (699) |
| 1990-91 | 823 | 56 | 14.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for School 21.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (756 to 665); teachers down 19% (53 to 43).
About School 21
School 21 is one of the public schools in PATERSON, New Jersey. It is a large elementary school. It educates 665 students in pre-K through 8. The school's enrollment is 64% above the 405 average for elementary schools in New Jersey.
Paterson Public School District runs 43 schools with a combined 21,372 students. School 21 is one of them.
School 21's enrollment is 78% Hispanic. Other groups include 21% Black. The county population is about 44% Hispanic. By the diversity index, School 21 comes in at 35%.
The school reports 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 15.5 students per teacher. The 11.4:1 average for elementary schools in New Jersey is lower than this school's figure. The free or reduced-price lunch share, often used to gauge student poverty, is 65%.
School 21 scores 25.2 points below its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests: 5.6% actual versus 30.9% predicted. That puts it in the bottom 10% of New Jersey schools on BeatsExpectations.
Passaic County has about 521,012 residents, and median household income is about $87,522, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 31% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 11%. Federal data list 155 public schools in Passaic County, with a combined enrollment of about 83,237.
The shortest distance from School 21 to another public school is about 0.3 miles, to Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Of the 8 nearby schools with scores, including this one, School 21 is 7th on average proficiency.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Large: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment was 694 in 2020-21 and 665 in 2024-25, a decrease of 29 students. There were more students per teacher in 2024-25 (15.5:1) than in 2020-21 (13.6:1).
Posts about school safety, transportation, and start times are welcome on this page. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Passaic County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
521,012
Census ACS
Median income
$87,522
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
31%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
155
83,237 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Paterson Public School District
- Eastside High SchoolHigh · 2,073 students
- John F. Kennedy High SchoolHigh · 1,846 students
- Joseph A. Taub SchoolMiddle · 976 students
- School 16Elementary · 813 students
- School 5Elementary · 753 students
- Charles J. Riley/ School 9Elementary · 682 students
Other schools in PATERSON
- Eastside High SchoolHigh · 2,073 students
- John F. Kennedy High SchoolHigh · 1,846 students
- Paterson Charter School for Science and TechnologyCombined · 1,708 students
- College Achieve Paterson Charter SchoolCombined · 1,688 students
- Paterson Arts and Science Charter SchoolCombined · 1,330 students
- Joseph A. Taub SchoolMiddle · 976 students
Other School 21 schools
One other US public school is named School 21. School 21 is the largest of the 2.
- SCHOOL 21YONKERS, NY · 328 students
Nearby schools
- Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts0.3 mi · 258
- School 260.5 mi · 419
- School 10.5 mi · 217
- School 130.5 mi · 499
- School 100.5 mi · 474
- Anna Iandoli Early Learning Center0.6 mi · 99
Frequently asked questions
About School 21How large is School 21?
School 21 enrolls approximately 665 students in grades PK-08.
Is School 21 an elementary, middle, or high school?
School 21 is an elementary school covering grades PK-08.
How many teachers does School 21 have?
School 21 employs 43 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.5:1.
What is the student diversity at School 21?
Student demographics at School 21 are roughly 0% White, 78% Hispanic, 21% Black, 0% Asian.
Who oversees School 21?
School 21 is overseen by Paterson Public School District in Passaic County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.