College Achieve Central Ranks 32nd Among All High Schools in New Jersey, No. 1 Among Charter Schools Serving Predominantly Black, Latino and Low-Income Students

College Achieve Public Schools Central Charter School (CAPS Central) in Plainfield ranked No. 32 of 522 ranked New Jersey high schools in the U.S. News & World Report's Best High Schools rankings, placing it in the top 2% of high schools nationwide. The school is the state's third-highest-ranked charter school and its top charter serving a predominantly Black, Latino and low-income student population.

Central's student body is 99.4% Black and Latino, with 84% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Excluding magnet schools with selective admissions, Central is the No. 1 public school in New Jersey serving majority Black and brown students from families receiving free or reduced-price meals.

Central's scholars outranked students at Rumson-Fair Haven, Princeton and Westfield. Every CAPS Central scholar takes Advanced Placement coursework, compared with 73% at Rumson-Fair Haven, 76% at Princeton and 61% at Westfield. CAPS Central scholars passed their AP exams at a higher rate than students at two of the three schools.

All three College Achieve high schools ranked among New Jersey's top 10 charter schools. CAPS Paterson and CAPS Greater Asbury Park earned national rankings in their first year of eligibility. One hundred percent of graduating scholars across all three CAPS campuses were accepted into four-year universities. Scholars have earned admission to institutions including Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Brown, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, New York University, Wake Forest, Howard, Morehouse, Spelman, Rutgers and Kean.

College Achieve Public Schools is a three-charter network serving Paterson, Plainfield, North Plainfield, Asbury Park and Neptune Township.

This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy against official sources.

Produced with AI assistance and reviewed against source records.