Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School, Jersey City NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School

Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School serves kindergarten through eighth grade in Jersey City, a dense, mixed-use urban city that has transformed from a manufacturing base into a major banking and finance hub. The school is a regular charter school, meaning it operates independently of the district school system but remains publicly funded and open to all students via a lottery.

The student body is relatively small for a K-8 school, drawing from the surrounding neighborhoods of Jersey City. A substantial share of students come from low-income households, as indicated by the free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility rate. The racial and ethnic composition is predominantly Black, with a large Hispanic minority; the school enrolls very few students from other backgrounds. This demographic profile is consistent with the city's overall diversity, though the school's composition is more concentrated than the city as a whole. Data on the share of students with disabilities or who are English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the resources it offers for these groups.

On state assessments in math, reading, and science, the school's results are low. Proficiency rates across all tested grades fall well below state averages, and the overall proficiency index, which pulls together all subjects and grades, places the school in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Hudson County. In science, the share of students reaching proficiency was very low at both the fifth-grade and eighth-grade testing points. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Because the school is a K-8 charter without a high school component, it also has no AP, IB, or dual-credit course offerings—those are typically found at upper-grade levels. The district brief turned up little in the way of recent programmatic or policy changes, so a family considering this school should check directly for any new curriculum initiatives or partnerships.

Jersey City itself offers a highly walkable urban environment with multiple commercial corridors, extensive transit connections to Manhattan via PATH, NJ Transit buses, and ferries, and a range of cultural venues including Liberty Science Center and the Loew's Jersey Theatre. Housing values in the area are near the statewide benchmark, with rents similarly high. The city has experienced rapid population growth and ongoing waterfront redevelopment, though this economic dynamism may not be directly reflected in the school's resources or outcomes. Parents weighing this school should consider whether the charter's academic supports match their child's needs and how its test performance compares to other K-8 options in the city. The school's mission and enrollment process are publicly reported, but the available data does not show specific academic enrichment or intervention programs, so a closer look at the school's day-to-day instruction and student support services would be warranted.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 17%

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 15%

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

Grade 616%

School 16% · District 16%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 79%

School 9% · District 9%

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

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 36%

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

Grade 420%

School 20% · District 20%

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

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 26%

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

Grade 727%

School 27% · District 27%

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

Grade 831%

School 31% · District 31%

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

Science

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 6%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 0%

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

This schoolDr Lena Edwards Academic 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.