Luis Munoz Marin Elementary School, Newark NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Luis Munoz Marin Elementary School

Luis Munoz Marin Elementary School serves students from pre‑kindergarten through eighth grade in Newark’s North Ward, a dense residential section of New Jersey’s most populous city. It is a regular public school within the Newark Public School District, a system that has recently been declared a High Performing District by the state after years under state oversight, a publicly reported shift that signals measurable academic and operational improvement at the district level. The school itself is large for its grade band and draws nearly all of its enrollment from the surrounding neighborhood.

The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a smaller share of Black students and a very small number from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. A substantial share of families qualify for free or reduced‑price meals, which places the school in a high‑poverty context typical of many urban schools in Essex County. The school’s peer environment is shaped by that socioeconomic reality and by the city’s dense, mixed‑use urban fabric, where public transit, university campuses, and major employers such as Prudential Financial and Rutgers‑Newark are all within a short ride.

Academic performance on New Jersey’s state assessments is below the midpoint when compared with other schools in districts across Essex County; the school’s overall proficiency index falls in the bottom quarter of that countywide comparison. In math, proficiency rates vary by grade, with a notable spike at one intermediate grade, but most grades show that a minority of students reach the state’s proficient level. In English language arts, the pattern is similar: a few grades perform somewhat higher, but across the tested grades most students score below the state’s benchmark for proficiency. Science results are low, especially at the eighth‑grade level where very few students met the standard. A parent considering this school should look closely at what academic supports are available, especially in the upper middle‑school grades, and ask about how the school identifies and addresses learning gaps.

There are no high‑school programs at this school, so local graduates will feed into one of Newark’s many high‑school options, including the newer career‑themed schools the district has opened in recent years. That choice landscape is an important factor for families who plan to stay in the district through high school.

The housing market in the school’s zip code reflects Newark’s ongoing revitalization. Home values have softened slightly from a year ago, while rents have risen, and the broader Essex County market shows a mix of stable listing prices and a slight uptick in inventory. The city has grown again after decades of population decline, with new development concentrated downtown and near universities. For a family looking to buy or rent near this school, the neighborhood offers a dense, walkable urban setting with access to rail and bus lines, but the affordability gap between homeownership and renting is narrow.

Information about the school’s own programs, staffing ratios, discipline rates, and chronic absenteeism was not available, so a parent should ask the school directly about class sizes, intervention programs, and how the school supports students who are behind grade level. The district’s recent High Performing designation applies to the system overall, but it does not guarantee that every school within it mirrors that profile. For a family weighing this school, the central question is whether its current academic record and support structure match their child’s needs, and that conversation is best had with the school itself.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 318%

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

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 23% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 22% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 18% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 711%

School 11% · District 21% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 12% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 317%

School 17% · District 28% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 420%

School 20% · District 30% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 31% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 36% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 38% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 39% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 10% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 6% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 1 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.