The top reported proficiency rate is 24% in English language arts. The lowest is 3% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente serves kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public elementary school within the Paterson Public School District. The school is located on Rosa Parks Boulevard in Paterson, a dense, historically industrial city that today is a major destination for Hispanic, Turkish, Arab, and South Asian immigrants. The city's economy relies on a mix of smaller-scale manufacturing, public-sector employment, immigrant-owned commerce, and institutional employers such as St. Joseph's Health and the school district itself. Paterson's population has been growing modestly in recent years, and poverty rates have remained elevated, which provides important context for understanding the school's enrollment and performance.
The student body at Roberto Clemente is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a very small share of Black students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure that reflects the economic circumstances of the families the school serves.
State testing results from the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments provide a picture of academic performance at Roberto Clemente. In mathematics, proficiency rates were low across all tested grades (third, fourth, and fifth), with the fourth grade showing somewhat stronger results than third or fifth. In English language arts, performance was also broadly low across the same three grade levels, though again the fourth grade posted slightly higher results than its peers. On the fifth-grade science assessment, the share of students meeting the state's proficiency standard was extremely small. The overall picture is one of a school where a large majority of students are not reaching grade-level benchmarks in core subjects. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what academic supports and interventions are available for students who need help catching up.
Roberto Clemente does not offer high school programming, so there is no graduation rate to report.
The district that runs Roberto Clemente, Paterson Public Schools, has adopted a new five-year strategic plan covering 2025 through 2030, which publicly reported information describes as focused on improving student achievement and post-graduation readiness. The district also approved a budget that includes a tax levy increase at the maximum allowed under state caps, a financial decision that directly affects residents in the district.
Because Roberto Clemente is an elementary school serving only the early and middle grades, many metrics that apply to secondary schools, such as course access, advanced coursework, and postsecondary outcomes, are not relevant here. The school operates as a regular public school within a large urban district. Its size is moderate for an elementary school in its grade band.
The composition of the student body is effectively homogeneous by race and ethnicity, and the economic disadvantage rate is very high. For a family considering Roberto Clemente, the key practical questions center on the academic support systems in place for students who are performing below grade level, the stability of the teaching staff, and the school climate. The available state assessment data gives a clear picture of where student performance stands, but it does not answer why performance is where it is or what the school is doing about it. That would require a conversation with the school's leadership and a visit to see the environment firsthand.
The community context of Paterson matters for any family evaluating this school. The city offers dense urban living with active commercial corridors, historic neighborhoods, and NJ Transit bus and rail connections. The Great Falls National Historical Park sits near downtown as a major civic and cultural anchor. Housing values in the zip code that serves this school are moderate relative to state benchmarks, and the rental market is active. The district's new strategic plan and recent budget decisions are publicly reported developments that may shape the school's direction in the years ahead, though the direct effects on Roberto Clemente specifically are not detailed in the available information.
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