College Achieve Central Charter School

Plainfield · NJ · College Achieve Central Charter School · Public charter · K-12 combined


📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 5 AP courses offered — Strong
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 58th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 55th percentile by test-taker volume

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

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💡

How College Achieve Central Charter School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 58th percentile nationally with 5 AP courses.
  • LocallyNJ students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+12 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Union County Tech, David Brearley Middle/High School, Dunellen High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

58th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
5
Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
248
≈49 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
5
0 calculus · 5 advanced
Lab science classes
11
6 physics · 5 chemistry
Other rigor signals
No dual-enrollment or gifted program reported

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

55th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
83
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
16.4
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
75.6%
Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
13.3%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

84.4%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

Rutgers University-New Brunswick

65%
admit rate
$17,929
in-state tuition/yr · $37,441 out-of-state
1270–1480
SAT 25–75 · ACT 28–33

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $24,406/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full Rutgers University-New Brunswick profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
12.2%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
191
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
524:1
Well above the US median — a real constraint on individualized college and course planning.
Counselor FTE
3.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
83
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 86 in 2021 to 112 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+30.2%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +3.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,572 students:

2025
1,623
2027
1,729
2029
1,841

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue upside

At $15,245 per student in district revenue, the 269 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $4,100,905/year in additional funding.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Most similar nearby high schools

The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Union County Tech
SCOTCH PLAINS
Public 2.7 502 -2.3%
David Brearley Middle/High School
Kenilworth
Public 6.5 529 +3.7%
Dunellen High School
DUNELLEN
Public 4.4 409 +17.5%
Middlesex High School
MIDDLESEX
Public 5.9 597 -1.8%
Highland Park High School
HIGHLAND PARK
Public 9.1 493 +2.9%
New Providence High School
NEW PROVIDENCE
Public 4.7 644 -1.2%
Roselle Park High School
ROSELLE PARK
Public 7.3 593 -5.0%
Bound Brook High School
Bound Brook
Public 8.3 579 -13.2%

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