STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges

As a rural-scale 9-12 campus in South Orange, New Jersey, STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges serves 180 students from grades 9 through 12, overseen by ORANGE BOARD OF EDUCATION School District. That puts it 81% below the typical public school in New Jersey, which averages around 929 students.

Within ORANGE BOARD OF EDUCATION School District, which oversees 12 schools and 5,527 students, STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges is one campus in the system.

On the student-mix side, STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges records that 53% of students identify as Black, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school logs 45% Hispanic. That is considerably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 36%.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.6:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 12.7:1 average. Roughly 71% of students at STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Essex County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 27.2%; this one delivers 73.1%, a residual of +45.8 points.

In the broader community, Essex County reports that the typical household earns roughly $80,789 per year, 39% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Across Essex County's 249 public schools (combined enrollment of about 145,473 students), STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Montrose Early Childhood Center, roughly 0.2 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 44.6%.

The campus sits in a residential setting.

On allk12, members of the STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.