Enrollment
385
Elementary
DISTRICT 329 · STATE 405
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·EAST ORANGE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 340423002050
Whitney E. Houston Academy
215 DODD ST, EAST ORANGE, NJ 07017 · (973) 266-5880 · Essex County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL385 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 7% of New Jersey public elementary schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.5:1 · STATE 11.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
14%
54 students
DISTRICT 19% · STATE 41%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 15 | 4% |
| Kindergarten | 18 | 5% |
| Grade 1 | 41 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 44 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 43 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 40 | 10% |
| Grade 5 | 40 | 10% |
| Grade 6 | 57 | 15% |
| Grade 7 | 45 | 12% |
| Grade 8 | 42 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (18) is 57% smaller than its 8th grade class (42).
Student demographics
31%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 37% · 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
Students here typically continue to
Whitney E. Houston 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
44.1%
NJ avg 53.1% . +4.3pp since 2023
Math
23.4%
NJ avg 41.6% . +4.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the NJSLA, New Jersey's statewide test, about 44 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 23 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 5 points.
NJSLA results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 44.1% | 23.4% |
| 2023-24 | 39.8% | 18.6% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of NJ schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
27.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
58.5%
based on NJ schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-31.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 27% 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 →
Schools most like Whitney E. Houston Academy
Whitney E. Houston Academy's state test result (27.1% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitney E. Houston Academy this school | 385 | 14.0% | 27.1% |
| Shelia Y. Oliver Academy EAST ORANGE | 413 | 14.8% | 31.9% |
| Ecole Toussaint Louverture EAST ORANGE | 269 | 21.9% | 21.9% |
| Gordon Parks Academy EAST ORANGE | 268 | 23.5% | N/A |
| Mildred Barry Garvin Elementary EAST ORANGE | 245 | 12.7% | 22.3% |
| Althea Gibson Academy EAST ORANGE | 144 | 3.5% | N/A |
Matched among New Jersey elementary 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 Whitney E. Houston Academy ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New Jersey | In Essex County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 27.1% | #1,022 of 1,290 | #81 of 131 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 23.4% | #1,091 of 1,319 ▲ 26 | #94 of 141 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.1% | #854 of 1,319 ▲ 32 | #83 of 141 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 385 | #754 of 1,562 | #93 of 162 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.8:1 | #1,056 of 1,390 | #66 of 140 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 31.2% | #1,212 of 1,392 | #119 of 141 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 14.0% | #1,163 of 1,481 | #108 of 142 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +5.5% | #363 of 545 | #38 of 61 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
385
+27 (+8%) vs 2020
-37% since 1990-91, when it was 614
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
was 11.9:1
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 | 385 | 30 | 12.8:1 | 14% (54) |
| 2023-24 | 327 | 29 | 11.3:1 | 55% (180) |
| 2022-23 | 324 | 30 | 10.8:1 | 58% (188) |
| 2020-21 | 358 | 30 | 11.9:1 | 72% (256) |
| 2017-18 | 365 | 34.1 | 10.7:1 | 65% (236) |
| 2015-16 | 373 | 38 | 9.8:1 | 64% (240) |
| 2010-11 | 517 | 44 | 11.8:1 | 70% (360) |
| 2000-01 | 613 | 42 | 14.6:1 | 66% (405) |
| 1990-91 | 614 | 39 | 15.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Whitney E. Houston Academy.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (365 to 385); teachers down 12% (34.1 to 30).
About Whitney E. Houston Academy
Whitney E. Houston Academy is a medium-sized elementary school with its address in EAST ORANGE, New Jersey. Enrollment in 2024-25 was 385 students in pre-K through 8.
The district for Whitney E. Houston Academy is East Orange School District, with 19 schools and 8,348 students.
The student body at Whitney E. Houston Academy is 82% Black. Enrollment also includes 15% Hispanic. Among people living in Essex County, the Black share is about 36%. Whitney E. Houston Academy's diversity index is 31%, against a US figure of 70%.
Dividing enrollment by its 30 full-time-equivalent teachers gives a ratio of about 12.8:1. That is higher than the 11.4:1 average for elementary schools in New Jersey. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 14%. It compares with 54% for public schools in Essex County.
allk12 grades Whitney E. Houston Academy a D. The grade compares the school only with New Jersey public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
Whitney E. Houston Academy is 31.4 points below expectations on state tests, given its student poverty level, placing it in the bottom 10% in New Jersey.
County data help place the school in context: in Essex County, the median household income is $80,789, roughly 39% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 11%. Essex County is home to 249 public schools and about 145,473 public school students.
The nearest public school is Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Academy, at about 0.1 miles. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. The nearest schools with test data average 21.1%, lower than Whitney E. Houston Academy's 27.1%.
NCES lists the school's locale as Suburb: Large. That means it sits in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment at Whitney E. Houston Academy climbed 8% between 2020-21 and 2024-25, from 358 to 385 students.
Topics for discussion here include school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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
- Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Academy0.1 mi · 129
- Wahlstrom Early Childhood Academy0.4 mi · 157
- East Orange Campus High School0.4 mi · 1,798
- Watsessing Elementary School0.5 mi · 333
- East Orange STEM Academy High School0.5 mi · 646
- John L. Costley Middle School0.6 mi · 334
Frequently asked questions
About Whitney E. Houston AcademyHow many students attend Whitney E. Houston Academy?
Whitney E. Houston Academy enrolls approximately 385 students in grades PK-08.
What grades does Whitney E. Houston Academy serve?
Whitney E. Houston Academy serves grades PK-08.
How many students per teacher at Whitney E. Houston Academy?
Approximately 12.8:1 students per teacher at Whitney E. Houston Academy.
How diverse is Whitney E. Houston Academy?
Whitney E. Houston Academy reports a student body of 1% White, 15% Hispanic, 82% Black, 0% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Who oversees Whitney E. Houston Academy?
Whitney E. Houston 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.