Camden City School District
Camden City School District is a public school district that serves students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade from the city of Camden, in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke 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. In 2013, after years of requests from local officials, New Jersey intervened in Camden City, making the school district state-run under the leadership of Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard.
| Camden City School District | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Address | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1033 Cambridge Street
, Camden County, New Jersey, 08105United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 39.948058°N 75.126221°W | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| District information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grades | PreK to 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Superintendent | Katrina T. McCombs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Business administrator | Raymond Coxe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Schools | 19 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | SDA District | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Students and staff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Enrollment | 7,553 (as of 2020–21) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Faculty | 668.0 FTEs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Student–teacher ratio | 11.3:1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| District Factor Group | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | camdencityschools | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of 19 schools, had an enrollment of 7,553 students and 668.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.3:1.
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.
In 2017–18, Camden students who took the state PARCC test showed year-on-year progress since the test was first administered in 2014–15, as reported on KYW NewsRadio. About 14% of district students in grades three through eight are proficient in language arts, with about 10% testing proficient in math. Just under 11% of high school students tested at or above the statewide proficiency rate in language arts. For math, that number was 1 to 3% of high school students.
But there are also signs of progress. In 2016, the state committed $133 million to renovate Camden High School, the graduation rate has gone up by 17 percentage points in five years, while drop outs have been cut in half. the District-led pre-school program has become a highlight.
In 2015, a new, $41 million, 110,000-square-foot (10,000 m2) school opened on Broadway, and in 2017 two additional brand new renaissance school buildings opened, one in the Cramer Hill neighborhood and the other in Haddon Avenue in Whitman Park. Working in partnership with the school district, today renaissance schools serve about 4,200 students and boast rising test results.
The district is guided by its school improvement plan, Putting Students First.