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College Achieve Central Charter School

Plainfield · NJ · College Achieve Central Charter School · Public charter · K-12 combined

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 5 AP courses offered — Strong
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 58th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 55th percentile by test-taker volume

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How College Achieve Central Charter School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 58th percentile nationally with 5 AP courses.
  • LocallyNJ students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+12 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Pinnacle Academy High School, The Barack Obama Green Charter School, First Children School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

58th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
5
Science ✓
Advanced math classes
5
0 calculus · 5 advanced
Lab science classes
11
6 physics · 5 chemistry
Other rigor signals
No dual-enrollment or gifted program reported

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

55th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
83
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
16.4
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
75.6%
Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
13.3%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

84.4%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
12.2%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
191
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
524:1
Well above the US median — a real constraint on individualized college and course planning.
Counselor FTE
3.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
83
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 86 in 2021 to 112 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+30.2%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +3.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,572 students:

2025
1,625
2027
1,737
2029
1,856

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue upside

At $15,245 per student in district revenue, the 284 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $4,329,580/year in additional funding.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Pinnacle Academy High School
PLAINFIELD
Public 0.6 67 +11.7%
The Barack Obama Green Charter School
Plainfield
Public · charter 1.3 236 +2.2%
First Children School
Fanwood
Private 1.4 85 +26.9%
Plainfield High School
PLAINFIELD
Public 1.6 2,077 +21.1%
Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School
SCOTCH PLAINS
Public 1.8 1,562 +1.8%
Union County TEAMS Charter School
PLAINFIELD
Public · charter 1.9 99 -34.0%
UNION REGIONAL SCHOOL
Scotch Plains
Public 2.0 7
North Plainfield High School
North Plainfield
Public 2.0 1,141 -1.0%

For Parents

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