Benjamin Banneker Preparatory Charter School, Willingboro NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Benjamin Banneker Preparatory Charter School

Benjamin Banneker Preparatory Charter School is a public charter school in Willingboro, New Jersey, serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade. As a charter school, it operates independently as its own school district, separate from the Willingboro Public Schools system. The school is located on South Sunset Road, in a suburban residential area of the township.

Willingboro was developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a large planned community by Levitt & Sons, and it later became a predominantly African American suburb. The township is laid out in twelve sections called parks, with a Town Center and a network of curvilinear streets and sidewalks. Street life is auto-oriented, and most commercial activity is along the main route rather than in a walkable downtown. The population has been stable in recent decades, and a couple of new apartment complexes have been added, diversifying a housing stock that was historically almost all single-family homes. Housing values here are moderate for New Jersey, sitting below the statewide figure but near the national one. Rent also reflects that pattern. The township maintains significant park space, a nature preserve, and recreational facilities such as the Kennedy Center.

The school enrolls roughly three hundred sixty students, with class sizes that are consistent across every grade: each grade level from kindergarten through eighth has the same number of students, suggesting a planned and stable structure. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Black, with a notable Hispanic share and small numbers of Asian and white students. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported.

State assessment results from the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment reveal a clear pattern. In mathematics, the proportion of students scoring proficient or above is low across every tested grade, with the highest share reaching about a quarter and the lowest falling well below that. In English language arts, performance is more variable: the share of students meeting proficiency reaches about half in fifth and sixth grades, drops to about a quarter in third, fourth, and seventh grades, and rises again to just under half in eighth grade. Science results show about a quarter of fifth graders proficient, but falls to roughly one in eight by eighth grade. Overall, when these results are combined into a single proficiency index, the school sits in the bottom quarter of districts in Burlington County. Because the school serves only kindergarten through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data was not available either, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about attendance patterns and how it supports students who miss school.

The school’s district-level information did not turn up any recent major changes or new priorities, so a parent may want to check the school’s own communications or ask about any current initiatives. The locale is a settled suburb with a modest housing market and a stable population. This is a small K-8 charter where the student body is nearly all Black with a Hispanic minority, where about half of families qualify for income-based meal assistance, and where state test results, especially in math and science, are well below the county median. Families considering Benjamin Banneker Preparatory would want to explore what academic supports and interventions are in place, particularly in math, and to understand the school’s approach to preparing students for high school, since it ends at eighth grade.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 416%

School 16% · District 16%

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 610%

School 10% · District 10%

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 78%

School 8% · District 8%

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 16%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 845%

School 45% · District 45%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Science

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 13%

even with state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

This schoolBenjamin Banneker Preparatory Charter School, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income35%Higher-income24%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income63%25 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income65%Higher-income39%26 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income27%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income41%Higher-income50%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income29%Higher-income5%25 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income19%Higher-income32%13 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income24%Higher-income0%23 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income7%Higher-income8%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income9%Higher-income25%16 pp gap