College Achieve Central Ranks 32nd Among All High Schools in New Jersey

All three College Achieve Public Schools high schools ranked among New Jersey’s top 10 charter schools by U.S. News & World Report with Paterson and Greater Asbury Park earning national recognition for the first time.

Plainfield, NJ ― College Achieve Public Schools Central Charter School (CAPS Central) climbed more than 30 spots to No. 32 of 522 ranked New Jersey high schools and placed in the top 2% of high schools nationwide, in the newly released U.S. News & World Report’s Best High Schools rankings. Central is the state’s third‑highest‑ranked charter school.

Central’s scholars outranked students at Rumson-Fair Haven, Princeton and Westfield, three of New Jersey’s most well-resourced districts. Every CAPS 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.

“Westfield, Princeton and Rumson-Fair Haven are among the crown jewels of New Jersey public education, and they have earned that reputation,” said Michael Piscal, founder and CEO of College Achieve Public Schools. “To see our scholars ranked ahead of them tells you what these young people are capable of. Excellence is not determined by ZIP code or circumstance, and this year our scholars proved it in three cities, not one.”

“Nobody in this building was surprised by the ranking, but I hope no one thinks it was easy,” said Natica Brown, Head of Schools at CAPS Central. “It is 180 days of asking teenagers to do work they aren’t sure they can do and refusing to let them talk us out of believing they can.”

The recognition extends across the entire CAPS network. All three College Achieve high schools ranked among New Jersey’s top 10 charter schools. CAPS Paterson, the top-ranked public high school in Paterson, and CAPS Greater Asbury Park, the top‑ranked charter high school in Monmouth County, earned national rankings in their first year of eligibility – the top 18% and top 21% of all U.S. high schools.

“We have spent a decade building a model we believe in – a content‑rich curriculum, Advanced Placement coursework for every scholar and extended time to reteach when scholars need it,” said Dr. Gemar Mills, Chief Academic Officer of College Achieve Public Schools. “But a model is only a plan until someone teaches it. These rankings measure what happened when that plan met our classrooms, one lesson at a time, over a year. One hundred percent of graduating scholars across all three campuses were accepted into four‑year universities. That is what happens when we set the bar high and refuse to lower it.”

Across the CAPS network, our 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.