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South Amboy Middle/High School

SOUTH AMBOY · NJ · South Amboy School District · Public · K-12 combined

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🎓97% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 3 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 1 calculus classes · 1 physics · 6 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 54th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 30% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 97% (90th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How South Amboy Middle/High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 54th percentile nationally with 3 AP courses.
  • LocallyNJ students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+12 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Perth Amboy Magnet School, Sayreville War Memorial High School, New Road School Of Parlin and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

54th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
3
Science ✓
Advanced math classes
2
1 calculus · 1 advanced
Lab science classes
7
1 physics · 6 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment 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

Bottom 30% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
28
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
8.4
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.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
97%
Range: 95–100%
4-year cohort size
63
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)
20.0%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
75.6%
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

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

58.6%
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)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

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
4.1%
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
25
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
308:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
2.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
44
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 62 in 2021 to 86 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+38.7%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +1.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 616 students:

2025
627
2027
650
2029
673

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

Revenue upside

At $21,153 per student in district revenue, the 57 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $1,205,721/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
Perth Amboy Magnet School
PERTH AMBOY
Public 2.3 269 -1.8%
Sayreville War Memorial High School
PARLIN
Public 2.5 1,764 +5.3%
New Road School Of Parlin
Parlin
Private 2.7 24
Academy for Urban Leadership Charter School
Perth Amboy
Public · charter 2.8 206 -36.4%
Center for Lifelong Learning
PARLIN
Public 3.3 91
Perth Amboy High School
PERTH AMBOY
Public 3.6 2,769 +8.7%
Woodbridge Academy Magnet School
WOODBRIDGE
Public 4.1 288 +2.9%
Edison Academy Magnet School
EDISON
Public 5.3 173 +0.6%

For Parents

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