Florence Avenue Elementary School, Irvington NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Florence Avenue Elementary School

Florence Avenue Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Irvington, a densely populated, predominantly Black and Latino township in Essex County. The school is part of the Irvington Public School District, a district the state categorizes as an SDA (former Abbott) district, which means New Jersey covers the cost of school building and renovation projects. The district has held the property tax levy flat for multiple years, added early childhood classrooms, and requested a state audit of its special education services. These are publicly reported indicators of a district that is working within tight fiscal constraints while trying to address service gaps.

The school itself is a regular public elementary school embedded within Irvington's grid of residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors. The enrollment draws from a community where the median household income is relatively low and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic and Black, reflecting the township's population. The school serves about that many children across kindergarten through fifth grade, with grade-level groups that are similar in size, suggesting stable enrollment through the elementary years.

On state assessments, Florence Avenue's results sit well below the midpoint among districts in Essex County. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above in third, fourth, and fifth grade was consistently low. In English language arts, the pattern was similar, with proficiency rates in the same range. Fifth-grade science results were very low, with only a tiny fraction of students reaching the proficient level. These scores place the school in the bottom quartile of proficiency across its county. A parent looking at these results will want to ask the school directly about its academic programs, intervention strategies, and what supports are in place for students who are not meeting grade-level benchmarks.

Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, and staffing was not available in the source materials. Information on the share of students with Individualized Education Programs or English learner status was also missing, which are important context for understanding the school's student supports and resource needs.

The housing market in the broader area shows a modest rise in home values over the past year and a very slight dip in rents. For a family looking to move into Irvington, the township's compact size and transit village designation around the Irvington Bus Terminal mean that daily life can rely on foot traffic and bus routes to Newark and New York. The schools are scattered through the neighborhoods rather than gathered on a single campus, so Florence Avenue sits within its own residential block and serves the families who live nearby.

The district has added STEM programs and technology equipment recently, which may be reaching the elementary level. But the assessment data suggests that the core academic work of bringing students to grade-level proficiency remains the central challenge. For a parent weighing this school, the bottom line is a setting where the student population reflects the diversity of Irvington, where the district is stable on tax policy but stretched on special education and academic outcomes, and where the proficiency numbers are low enough to warrant a close conversation with the principal about how the school identifies and accelerates students who are behind.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 321%

School 21% · District 18% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 18% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 17% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 19% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 26% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 24% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 52%

School 2% · District 7% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 14 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-income23%Higher-income18%5 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income18%Higher-income36%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income20%Higher-income22%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income18%Higher-income27%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income18%Higher-income14%4 pp gap