Camden Prep Inc., Camden NJ - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Camden Prep Inc.

Camden Prep Inc. serves students from kindergarten through twelfth grade as a single public school, not a charter or magnet. It sits in the city of Camden, a dense, post-industrial urban center across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. The school’s profile is tied to the city’s recent redevelopment push and its position within a district that has been expanding its own grade span.

The student body draws from Camden’s neighborhoods and reflects the city’s demographics. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This is a school where the vast majority of students are Black or Hispanic, consistent with the surrounding community. The school is relatively large for a single-site K-12 building, with enrollment spread across all grades from kindergarten through the upper high school years, though the upper grades have notably fewer students than the middle grades, suggesting a cohort that thins out as students get older.

State testing results from the most recent year show a clear pattern. In English language arts, proficiency rates across grades three through eight fall in a range that mostly clusters around the middle of the tested grades, with some grades performing higher and others lower. In mathematics, the results are substantially weaker. Early elementary math proficiency starts at a moderate level, then drops considerably by fifth grade and remains low through eighth grade. Science results are very low in both fifth and eighth grade. In eighth grade math, the share of students meeting proficiency was extremely small. This is a school where literacy outcomes are more encouraging than math and science outcomes, and a parent may want to ask the school directly about its approach to math instruction, particularly in the upper elementary and middle school years. Because the school serves high school grades but no graduation rate data was available, it is not possible to evaluate the school on that measure; the gap may reflect the school’s recent expansion into high school, as it opened its first ninth grade class in 2020 and only graduated its first senior class recently, if at all.

The school’s academic performance, measured as an overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades, sits below the midpoint when compared with other school districts in Camden County. This position means that while some area schools post stronger test results, others post weaker ones, and Camden Prep’s overall results place it in the lower half of that county-wide set.

Housing in the school’s immediate ZIP code area is relatively affordable, with home values well below both the state and national medians. Rents are also modest by regional standards. For a family moving into the area, the school sits within a city that has experienced a modest long-term population decline but is actively pursuing redevelopment along its waterfront and downtown core. The school itself has been part of that growth story: it expanded to serve high school grades in 2020 and opened a second middle school campus in 2021. Publicly reported information indicates that enrollment across the broader Camden Prep network has grown rapidly in recent years.

The school is a regular public school, not a charter, and is part of the Camden Prep Inc. district. The city’s economy is now heavily driven by healthcare and education employers, including Cooper University Hospital, Rutgers-Camden, and Rowan University, all located near downtown. Transit connections to Philadelphia via the PATCO Speedline and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge mean that families commuting to jobs in Philadelphia have a direct route. The urban environment is dense and walkable in parts, though street life is most active around the downtown and waterfront areas.

For a family considering this school, the main considerations are the steep academic challenges in math and science relative to reading, the recent and still-developing high school program, and the urban setting of Camden itself. The school offers a continuous K-12 pathway in a single building, which is relatively uncommon and could appeal to families who value stability and a single school community from elementary through graduation. The lower housing costs in the area compared to much of New Jersey are a practical factor for families buying a home. The absence of a graduation rate in the available data is a gap worth clarifying with the school directly, given that the high school is new.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 43%

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

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 17%

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 613%

School 13% · District 13%

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

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 84%

School 4% · District 4%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 37%

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

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 53%

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 45%

▼ 9 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 36%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

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

Science

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 6%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 83%

School 3% · District 3%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

This schoolCamden Prep Inc., 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 3Lower-income35%Higher-income55%20 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income44%Higher-income54%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income36%Higher-income40%4 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income43%Higher-income31%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income53%Higher-income75%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income42%Higher-income50%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income12%Higher-income21%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income16%Higher-income25%9 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income4%Higher-income0%4 pp gap