Blanquita B. Valenti Community School, New Brunswick NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Blanquita B. Valenti Community School

Blanquita B. Valenti Community School serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade in New Brunswick, a densely populated small city that functions as a regional hub for Central Jersey. The school sits within the New Brunswick School District, a former Abbott district now designated an SDA district, meaning the state covers all costs for school building and renovation projects under the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, a lasting fiscal structure that shapes how capital improvements are funded.

Valenti is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet school. The student body is almost entirely Hispanic, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is large for a school serving these grade levels, and the grade-level distribution shows the school is bigger in the upper elementary and middle grades, with the largest groups in sixth and seventh grades. The district's high school offers themed career institutes, preparatory academies, and a P-TECH partnership that allows select students to earn an associate degree alongside a high school diploma, providing a pathway for Valenti graduates who continue within the district.

On state assessments, the school's performance is low relative to districts across Middlesex County. Across tested subjects and grades, overall proficiency sits in the bottom quartile compared with other districts in the county. Looking at the grade-level results, there is a noticeable pattern. English language arts proficiency is higher in the upper grades, climbing from the lower elementary years into the upper thirties by seventh and eighth grade. Math proficiency is very low across all tested grades, with the weakest results in eighth grade. Science proficiency is also low in both fifth and eighth grades. A parent may want to follow up with the school about what academic supports are in place, particularly in math, and how the school addresses the proficiency gaps between subjects and across grades.

The school offers no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, or staffing, so there is no information available on those fronts. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report.

New Brunswick itself is a city with a major university campus and corporate headquarters that shape the local economy and street life. It is a high-density urban environment with a traditional street grid, a train station on the Northeast Corridor line, and cultural venues downtown. The real estate market in the area shows typical patterns for a county with active inventory and moderate price growth. The housing context is one where a city of this density and institutional presence offers a range of rental and ownership options, but the affordability picture, as in much of the region, is tight.

Blanquita B. Valenti Community School is a neighborhood school serving a predominantly Hispanic student body in a city with strong institutional anchors. The academic results, particularly in math and science, are areas where families will likely want more information from the school about instruction and intervention. The district's high school options, including career-themed institutes and the P-TECH program, represent a longer-term pathway for students who continue through the system. The school's size and urban setting mean a parent considering this school should weigh the academic challenges against the potential for growth that the district's high school structure offers.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 18% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 23% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 16% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 616%

School 16% · District 10% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 15% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 86%

School 6% · District 7% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 315%

School 15% · District 19% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 30%

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

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 29%

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

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 28% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 27% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 35% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 9% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 2% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

This schoolNew Brunswick 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 5Lower-income27%Higher-income39%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income27%Higher-income30%3 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income25%Higher-income60%35 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income19%Higher-income46%27 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income16%Higher-income18%2 pp gap