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What do students at South Plainfield High School actually talk about outside of class?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,044
High
DISTRICT 419 · STATE 929
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTH PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341536003632
South Plainfield High School
200 LAKE STREET, SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ 07080 · (908) 754-4620 · Middlesex County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,044 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 54% of New Jersey public high schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
11.2:1
93 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.6:1 · STATE 12.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
36%
379 students
DISTRICT 31% · STATE 41%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 228 | 22% |
| Grade 10 | 257 | 25% |
| Grade 11 | 262 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 297 | 28% |
Student demographics
71%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within South Plainfield School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
NJSLA 2024-25 . % Meeting or Exceeding ExpectationsEnglish Language Arts
42.4%
NJ avg 53.1% . -17.6pp since 2023
Math
32.0%
NJ avg 41.6% . -2.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 42 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 32 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 18 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 42.4% | 32.0% |
| 2023-24 | 60.0% | 34.0% |
% 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
39.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.3%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 40% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 46% 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 South Plainfield High School
South Plainfield High School's state test result (39.8% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Plainfield High School this school | 1,044 | 36.3% | 39.8% |
| Henry P. Becton Regional High School EAST RUTHERFORD | 853 | 40.6% | 38.5% |
| Lawrence High School LAWRENCEVILLE | 1,225 | 37.3% | 41.3% |
| Freehold Borough High School FREEHOLD | 1,376 | 40.8% | 42.5% |
| Colonia High School COLONIA | 1,354 | 42.2% | 24.1% |
| High Tech High School Secaucus | 790 | 36.2% | 72.1% |
Matched among New Jersey high 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 South Plainfield High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Middlesex County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 39.8% | #178 of 397 | #11 of 30 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 32.0% | #178 of 400 ▼ 7 | #12 of 30 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 42.4% | #249 of 395 ▼ 52 | #15 of 27 ▼ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,044 | #166 of 442 | #17 of 31 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.2:1 | #127 of 388 | #5 of 29 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 71.5% | #21 of 389 | #6 of 29 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 36.3% | #207 of 405 | #20 of 30 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +1.5% | #158 of 173 | #21 of 22 |
Ranked against other public high 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
1,044
-32 (-3%) vs 2020
+20% since 1990-91, when it was 867
Student : Teacher
11.2:1
was 12.5:1
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 | 1,044 | 93 | 11.2:1 | 36% (379) |
| 2023-24 | 1,091 | 96.2 | 11.3:1 | 31% (337) |
| 2022-23 | 1,097 | 97.2 | 11.3:1 | 26% (280) |
| 2020-21 | 1,076 | 86 | 12.5:1 | 21% (224) |
| 2017-18 | 1,029 | 76.1 | 13.5:1 | 29% (299) |
| 2015-16 | 1,069 | 91 | 11.8:1 | 29% (305) |
| 2010-11 | 1,192 | 81 | 14.7:1 | 19% (224) |
| 2000-01 | 1,039 | 79 | 13.2:1 | 8% (84) |
| 1990-91 | 867 | 81 | 10.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for South Plainfield High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 1% (1,029 to 1,044); teachers up 22% (76.1 to 93).
About South Plainfield High School
Among the schools in SOUTH PLAINFIELD, New Jersey, is South Plainfield High School, a mid-sized high school. It offers grades 9 through 12 and has 1,044 students enrolled.
South Plainfield School District counts 9 schools and 3,767 students, including South Plainfield High School.
The student body at South Plainfield High School has no majority group. Hispanic students lead at 37%. Enrollment also includes 33% White, 14% Asian, and 13% Black. The school's Hispanic share is 13 points above the 24% share among Middlesex County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 71%.
South Plainfield High School has 93 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff and a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.2:1. The school's 11.2:1 compares with an average of 12.7:1 for high schools in New Jersey. The school has 36% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Among New Jersey public high schools, South Plainfield High School outscored 54%, which works out to a B- on the allk12 Grade.
Based on student poverty, the model expects 46.3% at South Plainfield High School; the school's average proficiency rate across its state test results is 39.8%.
Middlesex County is the school's county. There, the median household earns about $111,549 a year, roughly 46% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Public schools in Middlesex County number 214, with about 129,255 students.
Grant Elementary School is about 0.1 miles from South Plainfield High School, the shortest distance to any other public school. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. South Plainfield High School places 5th of 7 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
South Plainfield High School falls in the Suburb: Large locale category, used for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Over the 4 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment decreased 3%. By 2024-25, the school had 11.2 students per teacher, compared with 12.5 in 2020-21.
The discussion board for South Plainfield High School is open to topics like athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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 South Plainfield School District
- Grant Elementary SchoolMiddle · 568 students
- South Plainfield Middle SchoolMiddle · 553 students
- Roosevelt Elementary SchoolElementary · 472 students
- John E. Riley Elementary SchoolElementary · 367 students
- Franklin Elementary SchoolElementary · 270 students
- John F Kennedy Elementary SchoolElementary · 256 students
Other schools in SOUTH PLAINFIELD
- Grant Elementary SchoolMiddle · 568 students
- South Plainfield Middle SchoolMiddle · 553 students
- Roosevelt Elementary SchoolElementary · 472 students
- John E. Riley Elementary SchoolElementary · 367 students
- Franklin Elementary SchoolElementary · 270 students
- John F Kennedy Elementary SchoolElementary · 256 students
Nearby schools
- Grant Elementary School0.1 mi · 568
- South Plainfield Middle School0.3 mi · 553
- Riley Preschool Annex0.5 mi · 145
- John E. Riley Elementary School0.6 mi · 367
- John F Kennedy Elementary School0.7 mi · 256
- Franklin Elementary School1.0 mi · 270
Frequently asked questions
About South Plainfield High SchoolHow many students attend South Plainfield High School?
South Plainfield High School enrolls approximately 1,044 students in grades 09-12.
Is South Plainfield High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
South Plainfield High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at South Plainfield High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at South Plainfield High School is approximately 11.2:1 (93 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at South Plainfield High School?
At South Plainfield High School, the student body is approximately 33% White, 37% Hispanic, 13% Black, 14% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Who oversees South Plainfield High School?
South Plainfield High School is overseen by South Plainfield School District in Middlesex County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.