Summary:
The Clayton Public School District has only one elementary school, Herma S. Simmons Elementary School, which serves students in grades K-5. The school has consistently ranked in the bottom half of New Jersey elementary schools and has received low performance ratings from SchoolDigger, indicating significant challenges in improving student outcomes.
Herma S. Simmons Elementary School's academic achievement, as measured by proficiency rates on the NJSLA/English Language Arts and Mathematics assessments, has been consistently below the state averages, with the largest gaps in 3rd and 5th grade Mathematics. The school's 5th grade proficiency rates in NJSLA-S/Science are also lower than the state average. This suggests that the school may need to focus on improving its curriculum, instructional practices, and support for struggling students in these core subject areas.
The school serves a relatively high proportion of students from low-income families, with 44.71% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in the 2022-2023 school year. While the school's student-teacher ratio of 10.8 is lower than the state average, indicating smaller class sizes, this alone does not appear to be sufficient to overcome the school's broader performance challenges. Addressing the needs of the school's economically disadvantaged student population and implementing effective instructional strategies may be key priorities for the district and school leadership.
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