The top reported proficiency rate is 30% in English language arts. The lowest is 9% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Anthony V. Ceres Elementary School
Anthony V. Ceres Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in the Perth Amboy Public School District. It operates as a regular public school in a densely built, small urban city with a historic downtown and an active waterfront along Raritan Bay. The school is located on State Street, within walking distance of many residential areas, and its building is integrated into the neighborhood grid rather than sitting on a separated campus.
This is a school with a very high share of students from low-income households. A large majority of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that places the school in a high-poverty context. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a very small number of white, Black, and Asian students combined. The school serves more than five hundred students across kindergarten through fifth grade, with enrollment distributed relatively evenly across the grade levels. The school does not serve older grades, so there is no graduation rate to report here.
State assessment results from the most recent testing year show that proficiency rates at Ceres Elementary are low across all three tested subjects. In English language arts, roughly one in four third graders scored at the proficient level or above, and about one in three fourth graders and one in three fifth graders did the same. In mathematics, proficiency rates were lower still, declining across the grades from roughly one in four third graders to just under one in five fifth graders. Science results for fifth graders, the only grade tested in that subject, show a very low share of students meeting the state's proficiency benchmark. When compared to elementary and middle schools across Middlesex County, Ceres Elementary's overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile. This is a significant soft spot, and a parent or guardian may want to discuss with the school what academic interventions and supports are in place.
The available data does not include information on the share of students with an Individualized Education Program or on the share classified as English learners. Given the city's role as a point of entry for immigrants and the high concentration of Hispanic students at the school, the English learner population may be substantial, but the data does not confirm this. No information about chronic absenteeism is available in the records either. These gaps mean a parent cannot fully evaluate the school's support systems for special education or language development from this profile alone, and those conversations with school staff would be important.
The district itself, Perth Amboy Public School District, did not show any recent publicly reported changes in policy, programming, or leadership that rise to the level of parent-relevant news. The district brief turned up little, so this profile cannot speak to any recent shifts in administration or curriculum at the district level.
The housing market in the area shows home values that are moderately above the national median but below the state benchmark for New Jersey. Rents are high relative to household incomes, which is a common pattern in the broader county. The city's population has been relatively stable in recent years, and the area has a history of industrial redevelopment that continues to shape the local economy. The commute to New York City is feasible via NJ Transit rail, and the Outerbridge Crossing provides road access to Staten Island.
For a family considering this school, the essential picture is clear. Anthony V. Ceres Elementary is a high-poverty, majority-Hispanic urban elementary school where state test scores fall well below county averages, particularly in math and science. The school does not offer the advanced course sequences or specialty programs that families may find in more affluent or larger districts, because it serves elementary grades only. A parent looking at this school should expect a setting where the academic challenges are significant, and they should plan to ask the school directly about how it supports students who are behind grade level and about the resources available for students who are still learning English. The school's strength, based on the data available, is not apparent in the testing results; the profile simply does not contain information on program offerings, staffing ratios, or enrichment activities that might round out the picture. That absence of data is itself a limitation for any family trying to make a fully informed decision.
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