The top reported proficiency rate is 27% in English language arts. The lowest is 3% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School
Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School is a single-school district in Hudson County, New Jersey, serving kindergarten through eighth grade. Because it is an all-grades-in-one-building charter district, a parent reading about it should understand the school and the district as the same entity. The school does not serve high school grades, so it has no four-year graduation rate to report, and its state testing results only cover the grades it actually teaches.
The student body is small. The enrollment is roughly evenly distributed across grades, with each grade from kindergarten through eighth grade carrying a similar number of students. Racially, the student population is predominantly Black, with a substantial share of Hispanic students, and counts of students who identify as two or more races or as American Indian or Alaska Native are very small. Data on students with disabilities, English learners, and students eligible for free or reduced-price meals was not reported, so a family may want to ask the school directly about the supports it provides for those groups.
On the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments, proficiency rates across math, English language arts, and science are below the midpoint for the county. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above falls in the low double digits at most tested grades, and by seventh and eighth grade the rate drops further. English language arts results are higher than math across the board, with the strongest showing in third grade, where roughly a third of students met the proficiency bar. By eighth grade, about three in ten students were proficient in ELA, which is a relative bright spot. Science results are thin: at fifth grade a very small share of students scored at proficient levels, and at eighth grade none of the tested students reached that mark. The district's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among the twenty-seven Hudson County districts for which that measure was available.
The picture is not uniform, though. The school's chronic absenteeism rate sits in the top quartile among county districts, meaning it is lower than most of its neighbors. That is a strength worth noting, as it suggests students are showing up consistently. Per-pupil spending is in the upper range compared to other Hudson County districts, indicating a higher-than-typical investment per student.
The school offers no high school programs, AP courses, or career pathways by definition of its grade band. No data was available on course access, staffing ratios, or discipline, so a family considering this school would want to ask about enrichment offerings in the middle grades, such as electives, arts, or any advanced coursework, since the testing results suggest that academic support in math and science may be an area to probe further. The district brief turned up no reported substantive changes in the recent span, so the school appears to be operating on a stable footing without major restructuring or leadership turnover in the public record.
For a family, this is a small, majority-Black and Hispanic charter middle-elementary district in a dense urban county. The academic results are clearly lower than those of many surrounding districts, especially in math and science. A parent moving to Hudson County who values high test scores would likely look elsewhere. But the school has a low chronic absenteeism rate, which can signal a safe and consistent school environment, and per-pupil spending is above average. A family focused on a close-knit, single-building setting and willing to be highly engaged in supplementing math and science instruction might find this a plausible fit, though they should ask pointed questions about how the school plans to lift achievement before enrolling.
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