Washington Community School #9, Bayonne NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Washington Community School #9

Washington Community School #9 sits within the dense, mixed-use urban fabric of Bayonne, a peninsula city in Hudson County with a strong industrial and maritime heritage. The school serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and shares the identity of the Bayonne School District, which covers the entire city. Bayonne itself is a place of modest but consistent growth, with the former Military Ocean Terminal undergoing redevelopment and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail providing transit connections. The housing market is expensive by national standards, and the community retains a significant working-class character, with a substantial share of students in the building qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

The student body is racially and ethnically diverse, drawing from the neighborhoods that surround the school on Avenue B. White students make up the largest single group, followed by a sizable Hispanic population and smaller shares of Asian and Black students. The school community notably includes many students who are not wealthy, which is a factor in thinking about what resources families bring and what challenges the school may face.

Academic performance across the tested grades shows a mixed and uneven picture. In English language arts, the elementary and middle school grades generally score at levels that are a mixed bag. Fourth and sixth graders had stronger results, while third and seventh graders showed softer performance. The eighth grade ELA outcomes were more solid, falling in the middle range. Math results are a point of real concern, particularly as students progress through the grades. Fourth grade math outcomes were the strongest of the group, but by eighth grade the share of students meeting proficiency dropped sharply to a low level. Science results for both fifth and eighth graders were also on the lower side. Viewed as a whole across all subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint relative to the other schools and districts in Hudson County. A parent may want to ask the school directly about what supports are available, especially in math and science, and whether there are targeted interventions for students who are falling behind in the upper grades.

This is a regular neighborhood public school, not a charter or magnet. That means its enrollment is drawn from its attendance zone, and the student population reflects the neighborhood. There is no high school program here; students move on to Bayonne High School for ninth grade after completing eighth grade at Washington Community School #9. No data was available on student discipline, chronic absenteeism, staff-to-student ratios, or course access, so a family should inquire at the school about these topics, particularly class sizes and any enrichment or remediation programs offered.

The school serves a large number of students for a pre-K through 8 building, with a typical grade-level cohort size. The city context is fully urban: a walkable, dense peninsula with a grid of low-rise buildings and a main commercial corridor on Broadway. Bayonne Medical Center is the largest local employer, alongside port and cruise operations. The housing stock is a mix of older single-family homes and multi-family buildings, with property values that have kept pace with the broader New Jersey market. The local economy has historically been built on manufacturing and maritime work, and those sectors still matter, though the city has seen new residential development and transit investment.

For a family already living in Bayonne, Washington Community School #9 is their zoned elementary and middle school. The academic data suggests that the building does better in literacy than in math and that the gaps widen as children get older, which is a pattern worth investigating directly with the principal and teachers. The school's demographics and urban setting are typical for this part of Hudson County, and the facilities and programs are what one would expect from a regular public school serving a working- and middle-class city. The district did not have any major recent changes that were publicly available, so the school's trajectory appears to be one of steady operation without upheaval.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 42% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 43% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 31% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 639%

School 39% · District 33% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 31% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 21% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 37% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 53% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 50% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 656%

School 56% · District 58% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 58% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 58% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 511%

School 11% · District 22% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 11% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 2 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-income24%Higher-income45%21 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income55%Higher-income65%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income60%16 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income74%28 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income41%Higher-income47%7 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income64%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income24%Higher-income60%36 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income49%Higher-income57%8 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income27%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income24%Higher-income67%43 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income20%Higher-income30%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income5%Higher-income11%6 pp gap