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What's the biggest difference between Union County Tech and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
502
High
DISTRICT 217 · STATE 929
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·UNION COUNTY VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 341804005738
Union County Tech
1776 RARITAN RD, SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ 07076 · (908) 889-8288 · Union County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBCAREER AND TECHNICAL SCHOOL502 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 93% of New Jersey public high schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
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
20.4:1
25 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.9:1 · STATE 12.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
10%
51 students
DISTRICT 15% · 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 | 125 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 115 | 23% |
| Grade 11 | 132 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 130 | 26% |
Student demographics
72%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 74% · 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
98.3%
NJ avg 53.1% . +0.8pp since 2023
Math
68.7%
NJ avg 41.6% . +9.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 98 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 69 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 10 points.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 98.3% | 68.7% |
| 2023-24 | 97.5% | 58.9% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of NJ schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
75.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
60.6%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+14.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 75% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 61% typical for New Jersey schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 15 points, placing it in New Jersey's top 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 Union County Tech
Union County Tech's state test result (75.3% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union County Tech this school | 502 | 10.2% | 75.3% |
| New Milford High School NEW MILFORD | 584 | 21.2% | 49.4% |
| Dumont High School DUMONT | 704 | 16.6% | 49.5% |
| Jonathan Dayton High School Springfield | 654 | 19.7% | 37.5% |
| Rutherford High School RUTHERFORD | 727 | 4.0% | 46.4% |
| Academy For Performing Arts SCOTCH PLAINS | 242 | 5.0% | 68.3% |
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 Union County Tech ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Union County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 75.3% | #22 of 397 | #4 of 31 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 68.7% | #37 of 400 ▲ 29 | #5 of 31 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 98.3% | #10 of 395 ▲ 4 | #4 of 31 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 502 | #322 of 442 | #24 of 39 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.4:1 | #385 of 388 | #30 of 31 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 72.2% | #16 of 389 | #3 of 31 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 10.2% | #337 of 405 | #23 of 31 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +12.3% | #71 of 173 | #7 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
502
+4 (+1%) vs 2020
+2290% since 1990-91, when it was 21
Student : Teacher
20.4:1
was 21.6:1
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 | 502 | 24.6 | 20.4:1 | 10% (51) |
| 2023-24 | 507 | 23.8 | 21.3:1 | 9% (46) |
| 2022-23 | 511 | 23.9 | 21.4:1 | 12% (63) |
| 2020-21 | 498 | 23 | 21.6:1 | 13% (65) |
| 2017-18 | 447 | 22.8 | 19.6:1 | 14% (64) |
| 2015-16 | 377 | 55 | 6.8:1 | 9% (34) |
| 2010-11 | 408 | 34 | 12.0:1 | 44% (179) |
| 2000-01 | 322 | 44 | 7.3:1 | 0% (0) |
| 1990-91 | 21 | 34 | 0.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Union County Tech.
Since 2017-18: students up 12% (447 to 502); teachers up 8% (22.8 to 24.6).
About Union County Tech
Union County Tech is a low-enrollment high school in New Jersey, with an address in SCOTCH PLAINS. Students in grades 9 through 12 make up the school's enrollment of 502 students. That compares with an average of about 929 students for high schools in New Jersey.
Union County Vocational-Technical School District is responsible for 8 schools, Union County Tech included, with 1,737 students in all.
The largest group at Union County Tech is White students, at 37%. Smaller groups are 32% Hispanic, 15% Black, 11% Asian, and 4% multiracial. Census estimates put Union County at about 39% White, close to the school's figure. The diversity index for Union County Tech is 72%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
There are 24.6 full-time-equivalent teachers at Union County Tech, giving a ratio of 20.4:1. By comparison, the average for high schools in New Jersey is 12.7:1. A total of 51 students, or 10%, are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The rate at public schools in Union County averages 52%, higher than here.
Among New Jersey public high schools, Union County Tech outscored 93%, which works out to an A on the allk12 Grade.
Given its lunch-eligibility share, the predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results for Union County Tech is 60.6%. It actually posts 75.3%, which is 14.7 points higher and in the top 10% of New Jersey schools.
American Community Survey estimates for Union County show that the median household earns about $103,202 a year, about 39% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 7%. Across Union County, 180 public schools serve about 99,046 students.
The closest school to Union County Tech is Academy For Performing Arts, located less than a tenth of a mile away. Union County Tech is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Union County Tech's average proficiency of 75.3% compares with 74.9% for its nearest scored neighbors.
Locale data from NCES put Union County Tech in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more (Suburb: Large).
Enrollment was essentially flat over 4 years: 498 in 2020-21, 502 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio dropped from 21.6:1 in 2020-21 to 20.4:1 in 2024-25.
The Union County Tech discussion page is a place for open houses, carpools, and field trips. You can also rate the school on this page.
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 Union County Vocational-Technical School District
- Academy For Allied Health SciencesHigh · 308 students
- Academy For Information TechnologyHigh · 307 students
- Union County Magnet High SchoolHigh · 297 students
- Academy For Performing ArtsHigh · 242 students
- Union County Career & Technical InstituteHigh · 67 students
- Raymond J. Lesniak Experience Strength & Hope Recovery HSHigh · 10 students
Other schools in SCOTCH PLAINS
- Scotch Plains-Fanwood High SchoolHigh · 1,562 students
- Malcolm E Nettingham Middle SchoolMiddle · 913 students
- Terrill Middle SchoolMiddle · 822 students
- William J. McGinn Elementary SchoolElementary · 543 students
- J. Ackerman Coles Elementary SchoolElementary · 526 students
- Evergreen Elementary SchoolElementary · 449 students
Nearby schools
- Academy For Performing Arts0.0 mi · 242
- Union County Career & Technical Institute0.0 mi · 67
- Academy For Information Technology0.0 mi · 307
- Union County Magnet High School0.0 mi · 297
- Academy For Allied Health Sciences0.0 mi · 308
- Terrill Middle School1.2 mi · 822
Frequently asked questions
About Union County TechWhat is the total enrollment at Union County Tech?
Union County Tech enrolls approximately 502 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Union County Tech serve?
Union County Tech serves grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Union County Tech?
Approximately 20.4:1 students per teacher at Union County Tech.
How diverse is Union County Tech?
Union County Tech reports a student body of 37% White, 32% Hispanic, 15% Black, 11% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Union County Tech in?
Union County Tech is part of Union County Vocational-Technical School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.