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What do students at Shelia Y. Oliver Academy actually talk about outside of class?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
413
Elementary
DISTRICT 329 · STATE 405
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·EAST ORANGE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 340423002046
Shelia Y. Oliver Academy
404 North Grove Street, EAST ORANGE, NJ 07017 · (973) 266-5860 · Essex County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL413 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.5:1 · STATE 11.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
15%
61 students
DISTRICT 19% · 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
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
Shelia Y. Oliver Academy→East Orange Campus High School
Based on grade levels within East Orange School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
NJSLA 2024-25 . % Meeting or Exceeding ExpectationsEnglish Language Arts
49.4%
NJ avg 53.1% . +6.8pp since 2023
Math
28.7%
NJ avg 41.6% . +6.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 49 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 29 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 7 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 7 points.
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
31.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
58.1%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-26.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 32% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 58% 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
413
+94 (+29%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
was 11.4:1
% White
2%
was 2%
% Hispanic
16%
was 8%
% Black
78%
was 90%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Shelia Y. Oliver Academy
As a mid-sized primary school in EAST ORANGE, New Jersey, Shelia Y. Oliver Academy educates 413 students from grades pre-K through 8, operated by East Orange School District.
Across the 19 schools in East Orange School District (8,348 students total), Shelia Y. Oliver Academy accounts for its share of the district's footprint.
On the student-mix side, Shelia Y. Oliver Academy shows that Black students make up the majority at 78%. Other groups include 16% Hispanic, 2% multiracial, 2% White. That is visibly more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 36%.
On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Shelia Y. Oliver Academy has 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.8:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 11.4:1 average. About 15% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is lower than Essex County's rate of about 54%.
On a demographically-adjusted basis, Shelia Y. Oliver Academy is in the bottom 10% of New Jersey public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 58.1%; Shelia Y. Oliver Academy posts 31.9%, -26.2 points below that line.
Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Essex County indicate median household earnings sit near $80,789, about 39% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, 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 Shelia Y. Oliver Academy is one.
The closest other public school is Patrick F. Healy Middle School, roughly 0.5 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Shelia Y. Oliver Academy comes 2nd of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 15.8%.
Geographically, the school is in a bedroom-community area.
Looking at the recent track record. Shelia Y. Oliver Academy's enrollment has ticked up 29% since 2018, when it stood at 319 (now 413). Over the same period, the Black share contracted from 90% to 78%. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 11.4:1 in 2018 to 13.8:1 today.
On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 East Orange School District
- East Orange Campus High SchoolHigh · 1,798 students
- Cicely L. Tyson Community Middle/High SchoolHigh · 701 students
- East Orange STEM Academy High SchoolHigh · 646 students
- Edward T. Bowser Sr. School of ExcellenceElementary · 612 students
- Langston Hughes Elementary SchoolElementary · 554 students
- Cicely L. Tyson Community Elementary SchoolElementary · 481 students
Other schools in EAST ORANGE
- East Orange Campus High SchoolHigh · 1,798 students
- Cicely L. Tyson Community Middle/High SchoolHigh · 701 students
- East Orange STEM Academy High SchoolHigh · 646 students
- Edward T. Bowser Sr. School of ExcellenceElementary · 612 students
- Langston Hughes Elementary SchoolElementary · 554 students
- Cicely L. Tyson Community Elementary SchoolElementary · 481 students
Nearby schools
- Patrick F. Healy Middle School0.5 mi · 322
- Sojourner Truth Middle School0.5 mi · 264
- John L. Costley Middle School0.5 mi · 334
- East Orange STEM Academy High School0.6 mi · 646
- Edward T. Bowser Sr. School of Excellence0.6 mi · 612
- East Orange Campus High School0.6 mi · 1,798
Frequently asked questions
About Shelia Y. Oliver AcademyWhat is the total enrollment at Shelia Y. Oliver Academy?
Shelia Y. Oliver Academy enrolls approximately 413 students in grades PK-08.
What age range does Shelia Y. Oliver Academy serve?
Shelia Y. Oliver Academy serves students from grade PK through grade 08.
How many teachers does Shelia Y. Oliver Academy have?
Shelia Y. Oliver Academy employs 30 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.8:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Shelia Y. Oliver Academy?
At Shelia Y. Oliver Academy, the student body is approximately 2% White, 16% Hispanic, 78% Black, 0% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Who oversees Shelia Y. Oliver Academy?
Shelia Y. Oliver Academy is overseen by East Orange School District in Essex County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.