Roberto Clemente Elementary School, Newark NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Roberto Clemente Elementary School

Roberto Clemente Elementary School, part of the Newark Public School District, occupies a single building on Summer Avenue in the city’s North Ward. It is a regular public school serving grades PK through 08. For families considering which elementary or middle school in Newark might fit, Clemente offers a straight profile of a neighborhood school with low academic outcomes that parents will want to examine closely.

The school’s student body is predominantly Hispanic, alongside a smaller Black cohort and very small numbers of white, Asian, and multiracial students. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a fact that places Clemente among schools serving economically disadvantaged populations. The enrollment is typical for a Newark elementary and middle school combined, with a steady distribution across grades and no concentration in any one year that would suggest unusual mobility patterns.

On state assessments administered through the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment, Roberto Clemente’s students posted proficiency rates that fall in the bottom quartile when measured against other schools in Essex County. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or higher drops steeply as students advance: grades three and four show higher rates, but by grade five the rate falls and remains low through grade eight. English language arts results are also low, though not as sharply, and the strongest elementary-grade performance comes in grade four and grade six, the latter reaching a higher rate than the school’s own math results at any level. Science results in both tested grades—five and eight—are extremely low. A parent looking at these numbers should understand that the school serves a student body facing considerable socioeconomic challenges, and the proficiency data reflects that context. A conversation with the principal about what academic supports are in place, especially in middle school math and science, would be a sensible next step.

Clemente does not serve high school grades, so it has no graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism and discipline data were not available. The school’s own website was not included in the data, so program offerings beyond the base curriculum are not confirmed. The district brief notes that Newark Public Schools was declared a High Performing District by the state in mid-2026, a status that applies to the district’s overall governance and operational improvement since the return of local control, but that designation does not speak directly to individual school-level proficiency.

The housing market in Newark’s 07104 zip code, where Clemente sits, shows home values near the middle of the national range, with rentals slightly higher. The city itself is New Jersey’s most populous, a dense urban center with a strong transit network, headquarters of several major corporations, and a large institutional presence from universities and hospitals. The school is in a mixed-use residential ward, not a suburban setting. Families choosing Clemente are typically selecting their neighborhood school within the Newark Public Schools system, which also offers a range of career-themed high school options that students may apply to after eighth grade.

For a parent or resident, Roberto Clemente Elementary is a straightforward public school serving a mostly Hispanic, low-income community, with state test results that are low across the board and decline as students move into middle school. The district’s high-performing designation and its portfolio of specialized high schools offer some context for what comes after eighth grade, but the academic pathway within Clemente itself is one where a family would want to be actively engaged, ask about intervention programs, and monitor their child’s progress year by year.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 28% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 23% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 512%

School 12% · District 22% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 18% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 21% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 12% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 28% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 30% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 31% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 640%

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

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 727%

School 27% · District 38% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 39% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 54%

School 4% · District 10% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 83%

School 3% · District 6% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 2 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.