Hillcrest Academy-South
WESTFIELD · NJ · Union County Educational Services Commission · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Hillcrest Academy-North → The Queen City Academy Charter School → Union County Career & Technical Institute → Union County TEAMS Charter School → Pinnacle Academy High School → Piscataway Regional Day School → Future Foundations Academy (FFA) → Lamberts Mill Academy →At a glance
- AP rigor: Bottom 6% of US high schools
- SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 41% by test-taker volume
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Hillcrest Academy-South compares for families
What families should know about Hillcrest Academy-South.
- ▸ LocallyNJ students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+12 points).
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Hillcrest Academy-North, The Queen City Academy Charter School, Union County Career & Technical Institute 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.
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-21Bottom 41% by test-taker volume
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
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
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program
40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.
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
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.
Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of +5.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 87 students:
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
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.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillcrest Academy-North SCOTCH PLAINS |
Public | 3.1 | 74 | -1.3% |
| The Queen City Academy Charter School PLAINFIELD |
Public · charter | 5.5 | 94 | — |
| Union County Career & Technical Institute Scotch Plains |
Public | 1.7 | 67 | — |
| Union County TEAMS Charter School PLAINFIELD |
Public · charter | 5.2 | 99 | -34.0% |
| Pinnacle Academy High School PLAINFIELD |
Public | 4.5 | 67 | +11.7% |
| Piscataway Regional Day School PISCATAWAY |
Public | 8.1 | 76 | — |
| Future Foundations Academy (FFA) Piscataway |
Public | 8.2 | 76 | — |
| Lamberts Mill Academy WESTFIELD |
Public | 0.0 | 38 | — |