The top reported proficiency rate is 22% in English language arts. The lowest is 14% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lord Stirling Elementary School
Lord Stirling Elementary School is a regular public elementary school serving pre-kindergarten through grade five in the heart of New Brunswick, New Jersey. It is one of the neighborhood schools within the New Brunswick School District, a district that participates in the P-TECH public-private partnership and structures its high school around career-themed institutes and preparatory academies, though those pathways begin after elementary school.
The school is located in a densely populated small city that functions as a regional hub for Central Jersey. New Brunswick is home to Rutgers University's main campus, the world headquarters of Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb, and two large hospital systems. The downtown is developing a growing skyline, and the New Brunswick train station on the NJ Transit Northeast Corridor line provides a direct connection to New York City. The community is ethnically diverse, with historically significant Hungarian, growing Asian, and Hispanic communities. The built environment mixes university buildings, corporate towers, medical facilities, and older residential neighborhoods.
Lord Stirling's enrollment is moderately sized for an elementary school serving these grades. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a very small share of Black, Asian, and white students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that many families have lower household incomes. Data on English learner and special education populations was not available.
On state assessments, the school's results are well below what most New Jersey elementary schools post. Across tested grades, the share of students scoring proficient or above in math was relatively low in third grade, and somewhat higher but still modest in fourth and fifth grades. In English language arts, the pattern was similar: fourth grade had the strongest performance in the school, while third and fifth grades were lower. In fifth grade science, the proficiency rate was also low. When compared with other schools in Middlesex County, Lord Stirling's overall proficiency index falls in the bottom quartile of districts. A parent considering this school will see that most students are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks, and may want to look into what academic supports and interventions the school provides. State participation rate data was missing, so it is not possible to confirm whether all enrolled students were tested.
Because the school serves only pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The school's academic program offerings were not detailed in the available data, and no information on discipline rates, staffing ratios, or chronic absenteeism was provided.
The district brief notes that as a former Abbott district now designated an SDA district, the State of New Jersey covers all costs for school building and renovation projects through the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, a structural arrangement that relieves local property taxes of school facility debt. That is a lasting fiscal feature, not a recent change, but it shapes the funding context. No recent referendums or major district-level shifts were identified.
For a family choosing an elementary school in New Brunswick, Lord Stirling represents a typical neighborhood public school serving a high-poverty, heavily Hispanic student body in an urban setting where many families work in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, or at the university. The school's test results are low relative to county and state averages, and a parent would want to understand how the school is working to raise achievement and what supplemental programs or tutoring are in place. The district's later offerings, such as P-TECH and career institutes at the high school level, are not directly relevant to an elementary student but are part of the larger educational pathway that students from this school will enter. Housing in the area is priced above the national median, and the rental market is similarly elevated, consistent with New Brunswick's role as a commuter and employment hub.
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