The Queen City Academy Charter School, Plainfield NJ

Original Research by School Decision on The Queen City Academy Charter School

The Queen City Academy Charter School is a K-12 public charter school in Plainfield, New Jersey, serving a student body that is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school operates under its own district, the Queen City Academy Charter School District, and is classified as a regular school. Its enrollment is modest for a K-12 school, with the majority of students concentrated in elementary and middle grades; the high school is new and currently has small numbers in grades nine through eleven, with no twelfth graders enrolled.

Academically, the school shows a clear pattern across the state assessments. In English language arts, performance is a strength: across grades three through eight, proficiency rates reach high levels, with the strongest results in the middle grades. Mathematics proficiency is more moderate, landing around the middle range for most tested grades. Science results are notably lower, especially at the eighth-grade level, where very few students met the proficiency standard. A parent considering this school may want to ask about the science curriculum and any support for students in that subject. Overall, when measured against other districts in Union County, the school’s combined proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint of the field, which is a solid position for a charter school serving a high-poverty population.

The high school program, launched in 2021, is still developing. It grows one grade per year and includes a dual enrollment partnership with the local community college, allowing students to begin earning college credits as early as ninth grade. Because the high school has not yet graduated its first class, a graduation rate is not available. This is not a sign of weakness but reflects the school’s growth stage. The district has also been granted an enrollment expansion that will allow the school to double in size, and it is currently undertaking a facility development initiative to build dedicated middle and high school spaces, creating a full K-12 campus. This expansion signals a significant investment in the school’s future capacity.

The school sits in Plainfield, a city that functions as both a bedroom suburb of New York and a regional urban center. Plainfield has a traditional downtown with a train station providing rail service to Newark and Manhattan, and its population became majority Latino in the 2020 census. The city is experiencing substantial redevelopment, with publicly reported plans for over a billion dollars in new projects. The local context is one of demographic change and economic revitalization, which shapes the community that the school serves.

Several pieces of information that families often look for are missing from the available data. There is no reported information on special education enrollment, English learner status, chronic absenteeism, or discipline. Staffing and course access data were also not available. A parent who values transparency on these topics may wish to ask the school directly about its support for students with disabilities, English learners, and its attendance and discipline climate.

Overall, Queen City Academy offers a K-12 pathway with stronger English language arts outcomes than math or science, a new high school with early college opportunities, and a location in a diverse, redeveloping city. Its academic performance relative to other Union County districts is above the midpoint, though the elementary and middle grades drive that picture while the high school is still ramping up. For a family seeking a small charter environment with a college-going emphasis and a growing high school program, this school merits attention, with the caveat that some areas of student support and high school outcomes are still taking shape.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 49%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 43%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 37%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 47%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 451%

School 51% · District 51%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 566%

School 66% · District 66%

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 678%

School 78% · District 78%

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 787%

School 87% · District 87%

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 861%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 83%

School 3% · District 3%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

This schoolThe Queen City Academy Charter School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.