Rev. Dr. Frank Napier Jr. School, Paterson NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Rev. Dr. Frank Napier Jr. School

Rev. Dr. Frank Napier Jr. School serves students in first through eighth grade as a regular public school within the Paterson Public School District, the large urban district covering New Jersey’s third-largest city. The school occupies a building on Clinton Street in a dense, historically industrial city that today is home to a heavily immigrant population, with neighborhoods shaped by Hispanic, Turkish, Arab, and South Asian communities. The district itself faces the familiar challenges of an urban system serving a high-poverty population: the most recent state assessment data shows that proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science are very low across every grade the school tests. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above falls in the low single digits for most grades, with only a small rise in fourth and eighth grades. ELA results are somewhat higher—closer to one in ten students in several grades—but still well below the levels most families would expect. Science results, tested in fifth and eighth grades, are similarly low. The overall proficiency index places the school in the bottom quartile relative to districts across Passaic County. A parent looking at these numbers would want to ask the school directly about the specific instructional supports and interventions in place, and about how the district’s recently adopted five-year strategic plan, which aims to improve student achievement, might reach this particular building.

The school enrolls just over five hundred students, with a student body that is predominantly Hispanic and Black, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available in the materials reviewed. No information was provided on special education or English learner populations, though given the district’s demographics a parent could reasonably expect to find those programs in place.

Paterson itself is a city of modest ongoing population growth after decades of decline, with a poverty rate that remains elevated. The local housing market in the school’s ZIP code shows home values slightly under the New Jersey state benchmark, and the area is dense enough to support walkable commercial corridors. The district’s most recent budget included a maximum-allowed tax levy increase, a fact that would matter to property owners in Paterson. For a family considering this school, the central takeaway is that Napier is a neighborhood public school in a high-poverty urban district where academic outcomes, as measured by state tests, are very low. A parent would want to understand what specific programming the school offers—such as after-school tutoring, literacy interventions, or community partnerships—and how the school’s staff are working to move those numbers upward. The school website was not reviewed in the provided data, so that would be the first place to start for current information on programs and school climate.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 36%

School 6% · District 23% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 49%

School 9% · District 20% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 52%

School 2% · District 15% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 13% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 71%

School 1% · District 14% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 8% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 311%

School 11% · District 22% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 43%

School 3% · District 27% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 24% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 28% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 30% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 34% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 52%

School 2% · District 10% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 4% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolPaterson 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income9%Higher-income16%6 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income4%Higher-income0%4 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income3%Higher-income12%9 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income5%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income12%Higher-income14%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income22%Higher-income14%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income6%Higher-income5%0 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income11%Higher-income5%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income0%Higher-income6%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income0%Higher-income0%0 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income2%Higher-income0%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income4%Higher-income16%12 pp gap