Rafael Cordero Y Molina, Jersey City NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Rafael Cordero Y Molina

Rafael Cordero y Molina is a regular public school in Jersey City, serving students from pre-K through eighth grade. It sits within the Jersey City Public Schools system and occupies a building on Erie Street, a location in the city’s dense urban fabric. For a family considering this school, the picture that emerges from the available data is one of a neighborhood school with clear academic strengths in English language arts and a pattern in mathematics that deserves close attention.

Jersey City itself is a fast-growing, densely built city with a celebrated waterfront financial district, strong transit connections to Manhattan, and a famously diverse population. The school’s enrollment reflects that diversity, with students from a wide mix of racial and ethnic backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is common across the district and signals that the school works with many families who face economic pressure. The housing market in the surrounding zip code is expensive, with home values and rents well above national averages, a factor any family looking at this area will already be aware of.

On state assessments, Rafael Cordero y Molina shows a clear pattern. In English language arts, across all tested grades from third through eighth, proficiency rates are solid. In most grades the share of students scoring at or above the proficient level is comfortably above half, and the upper grades (sixth, seventh, and eighth) post the highest rates in the school. This is a genuine strength. A parent who is especially concerned about reading and writing development will find that the school’s results in this subject compare well.

Mathematics tells a different story. In third grade, a strong majority of students meet proficiency. But the rate drops from fourth grade onward, and by sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, only a modest share of students achieve proficiency. The decline is sharp and sustained. Science results, for the two grades tested (fifth and eighth), fall below the midpoint of what the school achieves in ELA. A parent should want to talk directly with the school about math instruction and intervention, particularly in the upper elementary and middle school years, to understand what supports are in place and how the school is working to reverse this trend.

Because the school ends at eighth grade, there is no high school graduation rate, and the available data do not include chronic absenteeism or discipline figures. The overall proficiency index, which averages performance across all subjects and grades, sits above the midpoint among the districts in Hudson County. That places the school’s aggregate academic picture in the upper half of the local landscape.

The district recently launched an initiative called Mission Forward, publicly reported as a system-wide effort to improve test scores, graduation readiness, student behavior, and social media awareness. That effort may affect this school, but no specific implementation details for Cordero y Molina were available.

Program offerings such as arts, music, or specialized academies were not reported in the data, so a family looking for a clear extracurricular profile will want to ask the school directly.

In sum, Rafael Cordero y Molina is a PK-8 school serving a diverse and economically varied student body in a high-cost urban environment. Its English language arts results are a clear draw. Its mathematics trajectory through the grades is a significant soft spot that warrants a serious conversation with the school. For a family already living in Jersey City who values a neighborhood school with demonstrated literacy strength and is willing to be proactive about math support, this school is worth a close look.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 46% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 38% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 36% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 621%

School 21% · District 28% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 76%

School 6% · District 32% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 9% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 359%

School 59% · District 47% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 457%

School 57% · District 49% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 44% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 47% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 49% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 869%

School 69% · District 45% · ▲ 23 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 24% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 12% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

This schoolJersey City Public Schools, 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-income25%Higher-income74%49 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income28%Higher-income83%55 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income70%28 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income56%Higher-income82%26 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income60%Higher-income83%23 pp gap

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

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income35%Higher-income81%46 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income12%Higher-income62%50 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income10%Higher-income68%58 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income13%Higher-income46%33 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income0%Higher-income17%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income0%Higher-income30%30 pp gap