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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
842
High
DISTRICT 1,006 · STATE 929
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ELIZABETH PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 340459003045
Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy
625 Summer St, Elizabeth, NJ 07202 · (908) 436-6800 · Union County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL842 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 28% of New Jersey public high schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats 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
14.3:1
59 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.4:1 · STATE 12.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
87%
732 students
DISTRICT 83% · 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 | 245 | 29% |
| Grade 10 | 215 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 187 | 22% |
| Grade 12 | 195 | 23% |
Student demographics
36%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 38% · 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
29.4%
NJ avg 53.1% . -3.7pp since 2023
Math
11.2%
NJ avg 41.6% . +9.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 11 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 10 points.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 29.4% | 11.2% |
| 2023-24 | 33.1% | 1.4% |
% 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
13.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
18.6%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 13% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 19% 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 Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy
Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy's state test result (13.5% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy this school | 842 | 86.9% | 13.5% |
| Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy Elizabeth | 1,144 | 80.5% | 25.9% |
| Technology High School NEWARK | 662 | 80.4% | 61.9% |
| Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. Health & Public Safety Academy Elizabeth | 1,272 | 81.4% | 12.2% |
| K. Johnson D. Vaughan and M. Jackson STEM Academy Elizabeth | 740 | 77.8% | 28.2% |
| John E. Dwyer Technology Academy Elizabeth | 1,348 | 82.0% | 12.6% |
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 Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Union County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 13.5% | #355 of 397 | #28 of 31 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 11.2% | #319 of 400 ▲ 69 | #20 of 31 ▲ 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.4% | #308 of 395 ▲ 25 | #24 of 31 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 842 | #212 of 442 | #17 of 39 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.3:1 | #330 of 388 | #17 of 31 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.9% | #328 of 389 | #28 of 31 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 86.9% | #10 of 405 | #1 of 31 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +6.4% | #108 of 173 | #15 of 24 |
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
842
-19 (-2%) vs 2020
+17% since 2010-11, when it was 718
Student : Teacher
14.3:1
was 16.6:1
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 | 842 | 59 | 14.3:1 | 87% (732) |
| 2023-24 | 816 | 63 | 12.9:1 | 85% (694) |
| 2022-23 | 810 | 61 | 13.3:1 | 88% (710) |
| 2020-21 | 861 | 52 | 16.6:1 | 81% (698) |
| 2017-18 | 791 | 55 | 14.4:1 | 86% (684) |
| 2015-16 | 673 | 68 | 9.9:1 | 88% (593) |
| 2010-11 | 718 | 66 | 10.9:1 | 88% (632) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy.
Since 2017-18: students up 6% (791 to 842); teachers up 7% (55 to 59).
About Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy
Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy is a high school in Elizabeth, New Jersey, according to federal school records. A federal count lists 842 students at the school, in grades 9 through 12.
Elizabeth Public Schools, which runs Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy, has 37 schools and 27,580 students.
Hispanic students make up a majority at Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy, at 78%. The remaining shares are 18% Black and 3% White. Census estimates put the Hispanic share of Union County's population at about 35%. Pick two students at random and there is a 36% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The school's student-to-teacher ratio is about 14.3:1, with 59 full-time-equivalent teachers. That is 1.6 students per teacher above the 12.7:1 average for high schools in New Jersey. Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch make up 87% of enrollment. Public schools in Union County average 52%.
Measured against New Jersey public high schools, Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy receives a C. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy falls in the middle 80% of New Jersey schools: 13.5% actual against 18.6% predicted.
In Union County (population about 579,290), the median household income is $103,202, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 39% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 7%. There are 180 public schools in Union County, enrolling about 99,046 students in all.
The shortest distance from Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy to another public school is about 0.3 miles, to Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy comes in 7th of 9 nearby schools on average proficiency.
The federal government classifies Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy's location as Suburb: Large.
Over 4 years, enrollment stayed close to where it was, going from 861 to 842. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 16.6:1 to 14.3:1.
The Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy community page is open for posts about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Union County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
579,290
Census ACS
Median income
$103,202
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
180
99,046 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Elizabeth Public Schools
- John E. Dwyer Technology AcademyHigh · 1,348 students
- Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. Health & Public Safety AcademyHigh · 1,272 students
- Elizabeth High School - Frank J Cicarell AcademyHigh · 1,268 students
- Thomas Jefferson Arts AcademyHigh · 1,144 students
- William F. Halloran School No.22Middle · 1,140 students
- Terence C. Reilly School No 7Middle · 1,130 students
Other schools in Elizabeth
- John E. Dwyer Technology AcademyHigh · 1,348 students
- Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. Health & Public Safety AcademyHigh · 1,272 students
- Elizabeth High School - Frank J Cicarell AcademyHigh · 1,268 students
- Thomas Jefferson Arts AcademyHigh · 1,144 students
- William F. Halloran School No.22Middle · 1,140 students
- Terence C. Reilly School No 7Middle · 1,130 students
Nearby schools
- Mabel G. Holmes School No. 50.3 mi · 767
- William F. Halloran School No.220.4 mi · 1,140
- J. Christian Bollwage Finance Academy0.4 mi · 415
- Woodrow Wilson School No. 190.5 mi · 563
- Christopher Columbus School No. 150.5 mi · 672
- K. Johnson D. Vaughan and M. Jackson STEM Academy0.6 mi · 740
Frequently asked questions
About Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical AcademyHow large is Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy?
Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy enrolls approximately 842 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy serve?
Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many teachers does Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy have?
Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy employs 59 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.3:1.
What is the student diversity at Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy?
Student demographics at Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy are roughly 3% White, 78% Hispanic, 18% Black, 0% Asian.
What district is Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy in?
Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy is part of Elizabeth Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.