Summary:
Zip code 07513 has three Paterson public elementary schools, all serving prekindergarten through grade 8: School 16, Maria Magda O’Keefe School, and Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Educational Complex. The latest results show different strengths by school, but proficiency is generally well below state averages. Across the three schools, average proficiency was 22% in English language arts (ELA) and 13% in math, compared with 51% and 40% statewide; the science average was 7%, versus 23% statewide. The most important area-wide finding is that the biggest shared challenge is the large gap from state proficiency in ELA and math.
School 16 leads the group in average ELA and math results: 25% and 17%, respectively. Its lead over O’Keefe is modest—about 1 point in ELA and 2 points in math. MLK has the lowest averages, at 18% in ELA and 8% in math—7 and 10 points below School 16. O’Keefe stands out in science, averaging 9% compared with 6% at School 16 and 5% at MLK; it also leads in ELA in grades 6–8. Its grade 8 math result, 24%, was about 1 point above the state’s 23%.
ELA averages declined from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026 at all three schools, while science averages rose; math was mixed, with small increases at O’Keefe and MLK and a slight dip at School 16. The three-school ELA gap with the state widened from 28 to 29 points, while the science gap narrowed from 21 to 17 points. SchoolDigger ranks the schools in the 8th percentile for School 16, 6th for O’Keefe, and 4th for MLK. For 2024–2025, the free/reduced lunch eligible measure was 71% at School 16, 85% at O’Keefe, and 66% at MLK; student-teacher ratios were 15, 12.3, and 10.5, respectively. These are observations across three schools and do not show that any one measure causes results.
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