University Elementary School, Irvington NJ

Original Research by School Decision on University Elementary School

University Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within the Irvington Public School District. It is not a magnet or charter school, and it sits in the heart of Irvington, a dense, predominantly residential township in Essex County where the built environment is a mix of older neighborhoods and commercial corridors. The school's enrollment is modest for its grade band, and the student body reflects the community it draws from: overwhelmingly Black and Hispanic, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals.

Irvington itself is a compact, heavily developed township that has seen modest population growth in recent years after an earlier decline. Much of its commercial activity centers on Springfield Avenue and the Irvington Bus Terminal, a major NJ Transit hub that earned the area a state transit village designation intended to encourage revitalization. The school district is classified as a former Abbott district, which means the state covers school building and renovation costs. Publicly reported district actions include multiple years of budgets with no increase to the local tax levy, an expansion of pre-kindergarten classrooms for the most recent school year, and a request for a state audit of special education services. The district has also funded expanded STEM programs and technology equipment across its schools, though how these initiatives reach University Elementary specifically is not detailed in the data.

State testing results are available for math, English language arts, and science at the tested grade levels. Across these subjects, proficiency rates are low. In fourth grade, for example, ELA performance was higher than in third or fifth, and math showed a similar pattern, but in every tested grade and subject, the share of students meeting the proficiency threshold is modest. The school's overall proficiency, measured across all tested subjects and grades, places it in the bottom quarter of schools when compared to other districts in Essex County. Science results for fifth grade show a particularly low proficiency rate. Participation rates for these assessments were not provided in the data, so a parent may want to confirm with the school what share of students took the tests. Because University Elementary does not serve grades beyond fifth, no graduation rate applies. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, and staffing was also absent from what was available; a family considering the school may wish to ask school administrators directly about those measures.

Information on the number of students with individualized education plans or English learner status was not included in the data, so the extent of special education and language support programs at the school is unclear. The district's request for a state audit of its special education services, publicly reported, suggests an active effort to review and improve that area of programming districtwide, which could affect University Elementary families.

Housing in the area carries a moderate price point relative to the broader region, though affordability can be a strain given the local income levels. The township's small geographic footprint and dense development mean growth comes through redevelopment and infill rather than new subdivisions. Enrollment at University Elementary appears stable, and the district's expansion of pre-K capacity may add younger students in coming years. For a family looking at this school, the picture is one of a neighborhood elementary that serves a high-needs population in a community with an active district focus on budget stability, early childhood access, and special education review, while the academic results on state assessments are a clear area of concern.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 315%

School 15% · District 18% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 18% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 17% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 19% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 26% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 24% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 7% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

This schoolIrvington Public 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-income30%Higher-income25%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income41%Higher-income31%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income25%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income14%Higher-income16%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income13%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income13%Higher-income0%13 pp gap