Crawford-rodriguez Elementary School, Jackson NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Crawford-rodriguez Elementary School

Crawford-Rodriguez Elementary School serves students from preschool through fifth grade in the Jackson Township School District. The school is a regular public elementary school, and it is one of several elementary buildings feeding into a reconfigured district that now includes a separate school for fifth and sixth grades. That grade restructuring is a recent change families should be aware of, as it alters the typical progression from elementary to middle school within the township.

The school draws from a large, sprawling outer-ring suburb of New York City. Jackson Township is a vast municipality, the largest by area in Ocean County, with a mix of residential subdivisions, highway commercial corridors, and major entertainment destinations like Six Flags Great Adventure and Jackson Premium Outlets. There is no traditional walkable downtown; daily life depends on driving between dispersed destinations. The township has seen sustained population growth in recent decades, with new mixed-use development along the interstate corridor, and it is home to a growing Orthodox Jewish community. The housing market in the area carries a price premium that is above the national typical level but below the statewide average, a dynamic that fits the area's role as a commuter suburb with a strong tourism and entertainment economy.

Crawford-Rodriguez enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. A significant share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a context where economic diversity is a real part of the student experience. Data on the share of students with an individualized education program or who are English learners was not available in the records reviewed.

State testing results for the 2024-25 school year show a pattern that parents will want to examine carefully. In English language arts, proficiency rates across third, fourth, and fifth grades varied, with the strongest performance in fourth grade where a moderate share of students met the state's proficiency bar. Third and fifth grade ELA results were lower. In mathematics, the proficiency rates across all three tested grades were in a similar lower range. Science results for fifth grade, the only grade tested in that subject, were notably low. Compared to other public school districts within Ocean County, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile. This is a soft spot in the school's academic profile that warrants a direct conversation with the school about its instructional strategies and support for students who are not yet meeting benchmarks.

Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, which is expected for this grade band. Data on chronic absenteeism was also not available in the records provided.

The school does not appear to have a magnet or charter status, and information on Title I status, discipline rates, course access, and staffing levels was not available in the data reviewed. A parent looking for a fuller picture of the school's environment and daily operations would need to pursue those details directly with the school or district office.

Crawford-Rodriguez Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school in a growing, car-dependent suburban township. Its academic results are on the lower end relative to other schools in the county, and the grade reconfiguration in the district means the feeder pattern beyond fifth grade is a recent change worth understanding. Families considering this school should weigh the community's suburban and entertainment-oriented setting against the academic performance data and explore what interventions and supports the school offers to its students.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 34% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 39% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 41% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 25% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 41% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 36% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 515%

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

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

This schoolJackson Township 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-income13%Higher-income39%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income28%Higher-income59%31 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income49%32 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income22%Higher-income53%31 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income20%Higher-income48%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income42%22 pp gap