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Elizabeth High School - Frank J Cicarell Academy

ELIZABETH · NJ · Elizabeth Public Schools · Public

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📚AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally 📖15 AP courses 🎓95% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 15 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 15 calculus classes · 13 physics · 15 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 86th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 95% (75th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How Elizabeth High School - Frank J Cicarell Academy compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 14% nationally with 15 AP courses.
  • LocallyNJ students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+12 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy, Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. Health & Public Safety Academy, John E. Dwyer Technology Academy and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

86th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
15
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
31
15 calculus · 16 advanced
Lab science classes
28
13 physics · 15 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Gifted/talented program

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

86th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
327
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
25.8
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.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

75th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
95%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
301
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
16.1%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
19.6%
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

76.8%
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
3.2%
Below 10% — strong attendance culture. Chronic absence is a leading indicator of dropout and disengagement; a low rate signals families staying connected to the school.
Students absent 15+ days
40
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: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability. 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
423:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
3.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
59
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 293 in 2021 to 297 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+1.4%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,268 students:

2025
1,262
2027
1,249
2029
1,237

≈ 31 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.

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

Revenue at risk

At $23,938 per student in district revenue, the 31 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $742,078/year in funding at risk.

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
Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy
Elizabeth
Public 0.1 1,144 +14.4%
Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. Health & Public Safety Academy
Elizabeth
Public 0.3 1,272 +2.6%
John E. Dwyer Technology Academy
Elizabeth
Public 0.3 1,348 +1.8%
K. Johnson D. Vaughan and M. Jackson STEM Academy
Elizabeth
Public 0.5 740 +167.1%
Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy
Elizabeth
Public 0.7 1,015 +5.6%
Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy
Elizabeth
Public 0.9 842 +16.0%
J. Christian Bollwage Finance Academy
Elizabeth
Public 1.3 415 +29.3%
Bruriah High School For Girls
Elizabeth
Private 1.3 240 -36.7%

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