Salem City School District

Salem City School District has three listed schools in Salem City, New Jersey: John Fenwick Academy (pre-K–grade 2), Salem Middle School (grades 3–8), and Salem High School (grades 9–12). No test results are provided for Fenwick, so the schools cannot be ranked overall using achievement data. The clearest finding from the available results is that every reported 2025–26 school test score was below its matching state result.

Salem Middle has especially large gaps from state averages: its six-grade averages were 17% in ELA and 11% in math, compared with 51% and 40% statewide—a gap of 34 points in ELA and 29 in math. Its science average was 2%, 22 points below the state average. Within the school, grade 7 had the highest ELA score (24%), while grade 6 had the lowest (11%); math ranged from 21% in grade 4 to 2% in grade 8. At Salem High, the highest listed result was 52% on grade 11 NJGPA ELA, still 23 points below the state; the lowest was 5% in Algebra I, 17 points below. These are different assessments, not a single school-to-school ranking.

Recent changes are more encouraging at Salem Middle: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, its average ELA score rose 2 points and math rose 3, narrowing the average state gaps from 38 to 34 points and from 32 to 29. High-school trends were mixed: grade 9 ELA rose 12 points, while NJGPA ELA and math each fell about 7 points. SchoolDigger ranks Middle 715 of 743 schools (4th percentile), improved from 741 of 752 (1st percentile) the prior year; High ranks 386 of 434 (11th percentile), down from 378 of 434 (13th percentile). As context, 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible rates were 80% at Middle, 69% at Fenwick, and 63% at High; student–teacher ratios were 15.7, 16.8, and 11.2, respectively. Chronic absenteeism was above the 14% state rate at all three schools: 29% at Middle, 26% at High, and 17% at Fenwick.