Hawkins Street School, Newark NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Hawkins Street School

Hawkins Street School is a regular public school in Newark, serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the Newark Public School District. The school sits in a dense urban environment. The city of Newark is New Jersey’s most populous, a major employment center anchored by corporations such as Prudential Financial and PSEG, an extensive port and airport complex, and several universities including Rutgers-Newark and NJIT. The city has seen a population rebound since a mid-century low and ongoing downtown revitalization.

The school community is large for a K-8 building. The student body is predominately Hispanic, with a substantial White enrollment and a smaller Black population; other racial groups each represent a share of the school. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic context of the neighborhood.

State testing results are available for the most recent school year across grades three through eight in English language arts and math, and for grades five and eight in science. In ELA, performance is low across all tested grades, with the highest share of students meeting the state’s proficiency benchmark in seventh grade and the lowest in fifth grade. In math, proficiency rates are also low across every grade, with eighth grade showing the smallest share of students reaching proficiency and seventh grade showing the highest, though still well below a majority. In science, the share of students scoring proficient is very low in both fifth and eighth grades. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand the instructional supports and recent trends.

The available comparison data for the district's most recent testing year places the school in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades, when measured against other districts in Essex County. Chronic absenteeism data and a graduation rate were not available, the latter because the school does not serve high school grades.

The district has been recognized by the state as a High Performing District, a designation that followed a long period of state oversight that lasted for more than two decades. The district has also launched a strategic plan titled “The Next Decade: 2020-30” and has recently opened several career-themed high schools, such as a School of Data Science & Information Technology and a School of Fashion & Design. Since Hawkins Street feeds into the district’s high schools, these pathways are relevant for families considering the long-term trajectory from this school.

No data was provided on discipline, staffing levels, course access beyond the general curriculum, or attendance patterns. Information about special education and English learner enrollment counts was also absent. The school’s website was not included in the data, so details on specific after-school programs, instructional approaches, or parent engagement are not available for this account.

For a family considering Hawkins Street, the picture is of a large urban K-8 school serving a predominantly low-income and Hispanic community, where state test scores place the school in a challenging position relative to other Essex County districts. The Newark context offers significant urban resources and a wide range of high school options through the district’s recent career-themed school expansions. A parent would want to examine the school’s own academic progress measures, talk with current families, and understand what support is in place for students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 39%

School 9% · District 28% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 41 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 412%

School 12% · District 23% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 22% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 68%

School 8% · District 18% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 720%

School 20% · District 21% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 12% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 318%

School 18% · District 28% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 414%

School 14% · District 30% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 41 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 31% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 36% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 726%

School 26% · District 38% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 39% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Science

Grade 54%

School 4% · District 10% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 81%

School 1% · District 6% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

This schoolNewark Public 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.