A Chester Redshaw School, New Brunswick NJ

Original Research by School Decision on A Chester Redshaw School

A Chester Redshaw School is an elementary school in New Brunswick, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is a regular public school within the New Brunswick School District, a former Abbott district where the state covers school construction costs. The school sits in a densely populated small city that is home to Rutgers University, the global headquarters of Johnson & Johnson, and two major hospital systems.

The student body is large for an elementary school and overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a much smaller number of Black students and very few white or Asian students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

State testing results from the NJSLA assessments show that proficiency in math rises across the grades. At the third-grade level, a relatively small share of students met the state’s proficiency standard, while by fourth grade the share was higher, and in fifth grade it was higher still. A similar pattern appears in English language arts, where the share of students reaching proficiency increased steadily from third grade through fifth grade. In science, tested only at fifth grade, the share of students reaching a proficient level was smaller than in either math or ELA at that grade.

When compared against other schools in Middlesex County, overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places this school in the bottom quarter of the county. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how the school supports students who are not yet meeting state benchmarks.

No data was available on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, or staffing ratios, so those areas could not be assessed. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report.

The city of New Brunswick itself offers a rich context. It is a regional hub with a strong medical and pharmaceutical economy, a major university woven into the downtown, and a commuter train to New York City. The district offers some distinctive programs at the high school level, such as P-TECH, which lets students earn an associate degree in engineering alongside a diploma, and career-themed institutes. A Chester Redshaw School, as an elementary feeder, is part of that broader district pathway, but a family choosing this school should be aware that the academic proficiency numbers are lower than those of many other elementary schools in the county. The schools state-funded capital model means that facility improvements do not rely on local property tax bonds, a financial structure that may be relevant for homeowners.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 312%

School 12% · District 18% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 23%

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

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 16% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▼ 11 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 · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 30% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 29% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Science

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 9% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 12 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 4Lower-income28%Higher-income80%52 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income55%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income16%Higher-income70%54 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income46%16 pp gap