page_title: New Jersey
section_title: Education
hierarchical_section_title: New Jersey / Education
caption_attribution_description: English: Nassau Hall, the original building and current administration building of Princeton University.
context_page_description: New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania; and on the southwest by Delaware Bay and the State of Delaware. New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state by area but the 11th-most populous, with 8,882,190 residents as of 2019 and an area of 8,722.58 square miles, making it the most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states. Its largest city is Newark. All but one county in New Jersey lie within the combined statistical areas of New York City or Philadelphia. New Jersey was the second-wealthiest U.S. state by median household income as of 2017.
  New Jersey was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, with historical tribes such as the Lenape along the coast. In the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes founded the first European settlements in the state.
context_section_description: In 2010, there were 605 school districts in the state.
  Secretary of Education Rick Rosenberg, appointed by Governor Jon Corzine, created the Education Advancement Initiative (EAI) to increase college admission rates by 10% for New Jersey's high school students, decrease dropout rates by 15%, and increase the amount of money devoted to schools by 10%. Rosenberg retracted this plan when criticized for taking the money out of healthcare to fund this initiative.
  In 2010, the state government paid all of the teachers' premiums for health insurance, but currently all NJ public teachers pay a portion of their own health insurance premiums.
  In 2015, New Jersey spent more per each public school student than any other U.S. state except New York, Alaska, and Connecticut, amounting to $18,235 spent per pupil. Over 50% of the expenditure was allocated to student instruction.
  According to 2011 Newsweek statistics, students of High Technology High School in Lincroft, Monmouth County and Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, Bergen County registered average SAT scores of 2145 and 2100, respectively, representing the second- and third-highest scores, respectively, of all listed U.S. high schools.
  Princeton University in Princeton, Mercer County, one of the world's most prominent research universities, is often featured at or near the top of various national and global university rankings, topping the 2020 list of U.S. News & World Report. In 2013, Rutgers University, headquartered in New Brunswick, Middlesex County as the flagship institution of higher education in New Jersey, regained medical and dental schools, augmenting its profile as a national research university as well.
  In 2014, New Jersey's school systems were ranked at the top of all fifty U.S. states by financial website Wallethub.com. In 2018, New Jersey's overall educational system was ranked second among all states to Massachusetts by U.S. News & World Report. In 2019, Education Week also ranked New Jersey public schools the best of all U.S. states.
  Nine New Jersey high schools were ranked among the top 25 in the U.S. on the Newsweek "America's Top High Schools 2016" list, more than from any other state. A 2017 UCLA Civil Rights project found that New Jersey has the sixth-most segregated classrooms in the United States.
caption: Nassau Hall at Princeton University, one of the world's most prominent research universities[160]
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