John M. Bailey Community School, Bayonne NJ

Original Research by School Decision on John M. Bailey Community School

John M. Bailey Community School is a regular public school in Bayonne, New Jersey, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It is one of the elementary and middle schools within the Bayonne School District, located in a dense, mixed-use urban city on a peninsula in Hudson County. The school sits within a community with a grid street pattern and a commercial spine along Broadway, and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail provides transit access through the city.

The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly White, with a substantial Hispanic and Black population and a smaller share of Asian students. Just over half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of economic need that is common in urban districts. The school is a neighborhood-based option for families in Bayonne, and it feeds into the district’s high schools after eighth grade.

Academically, the school’s performance on the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments presents a mixed profile that varies by grade and subject. In English language arts, the school shows a clear strength across most grade levels. Proficiency rates in reading and writing are solid in grades three and four and climb to notably high levels in grades five through eight, with a large majority of students meeting or exceeding expectations in the upper grades. This suggests that the school is effective at building literacy skills as students progress through the middle school years.

Math results are more inconsistent. In third and fourth grade, proficiency is at a moderate level, with a little more than half of students testing as proficient. Performance drops in fifth and sixth grade, where the share of proficient students is smaller, and it drops further in seventh and eighth grade, where the proportion reaching proficiency is lower still. Eighth grade math, in particular, is a soft spot, with a relatively small share of students meeting the bar. Science results, which are tested in grades five and eight, are low relative to the other subjects, especially for eighth graders, where a very small proportion of students scored at the proficient level. These patterns hold for the all-students group; data for subgroups such as students with disabilities and English learners was not available in this profile.

When compared with other districts in Hudson County, Bailey’s overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint of the county districts. This positioning places the school in the middle-to-upper range academically within a county that includes a wide mix of urban, suburban, and specialized schools. It is neither among the highest-performing nor at the bottom, but rather a solidly performing school in a competitive urban county context.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available in this profile. A parent or guardian may want to ask the school directly about attendance rates and discipline climate, as those factors can influence daily experience. The district brief turned up little in the way of recent major changes or strategic initiatives, so the school’s programming and approach appear to be operating on a steady, established footing.

As a pre-K through eighth grade school in a dense city with significant port and maritime economic activity, Bailey serves families who want a neighborhood school that sends students to Bayonne’s high schools after eighth grade. The housing market in Bayonne, reflected in home values and rents that sit at a level consistent with the New Jersey state benchmark, makes this a relatively high-cost area within Hudson County, consistent with its proximity to New York City and its transit connections. Families moving into the attendance zone should expect a school where literacy instruction is a clear strength through the middle grades, while math and science achievement may require additional support, especially in the upper elementary and middle school years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 353%

School 53% · District 42% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 43% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 31% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 33%

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

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 31% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 21% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 37% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 53% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 50% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 678%

School 78% · District 58% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 772%

School 72% · District 58% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 58% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 22% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 11% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

This schoolBayonne 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income37%Higher-income77%40 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income86%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income55%Higher-income78%23 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income75%Higher-income82%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income68%Higher-income78%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income79%Higher-income62%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income48%Higher-income60%12 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income76%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income47%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income38%Higher-income25%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income50%18 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income28%Higher-income26%2 pp gap