Newark Public Schools

Newark Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district that serves the entire city of Newark, New Jersey. The district is one of 31 Abbott districts statewide, which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.

As of the 2009-10 school year, the district's 75 schools had an enrollment of 39,443 students and 2,685 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.69:1.

The total school enrollment in Newark city was 75,000 in 2003. Preprimary school enrollment was 12,000 and elementary or high school enrollment was 46,000 children. College enrollment was 16,000.

As of 2003, 64 percent of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 11 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher. Among people 16 to 19 years old, 10 percent were dropouts; they were not enrolled in school and had not graduated from high school.

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "A", the lowest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.

After efforts at his dismissal as New Jersey's poet laureate, Amiri Baraka was named the school district's poet laureate in December 2002.

Newark Public Schools is the largest school system in New Jersey. The city's public schools are among the lowest-performing in the state, even after the state government took over management of the city's schools in 1995, which was done under the presumption that improvement would follow.

Although the school district continues to struggle with low high school graduation rates and low standardized test scores, the mayor of Newark, Cory Booker, insists, "Newark, New Jersey can become one of the first American cities to solve the crisis in public education." This vision for better school district is also shared by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who made a $100 million donation to Newark Public Schools in 2010. "Every child deserves a good education. Right now that's not happening," he says.

Excellence, Efficiency, and Equity are the three goals set by the Newark Public Schools system in hopes to improve the academic situation in the city. These goals are listed and described on The Newark Public Schools District website as follows:

• Excellence – All students deserve a school that gets them on a path to college or a great career.
• Efficiency – Every possible dollar should be invested in staff and programs that will make a positive difference for our students.
• Equity – Every student should have access to an excellent school no matter what.