Carteret High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Carteret in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, as the lone secondary school of the Carteret School District. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1929 and is accredited through January 2027.
As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,009 students and 80.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.5:1. There were 562 students (55.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 83 (8.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch. In 2019, 18% of students achieved proficiency in mathematics and 44% in reading. The graduation rate was 82%.
Advanced Placement (AP) courses are offered in AP Biology. The Project Acceleration Program allows students to receive college credit from Seton Hall University and over 200 other colleges and universities. Schedule permitting, students may also earn college credits by attending classes at Middlesex County College.
Awards, recognition and rankings
The school was the 261st-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 296th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 302nd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 272nd in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 312th in the magazine's September 2010 issue, which surveyed 332 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 270th out of 367 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (an increase of 17 positions from the 2009 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
Athletics
The Carteret High School Ramblers compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools located in the Middlesex County area and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 770 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range. The football team competes in Division 3 of the Big Central Football Conference, which includes 60 public and private high schools in Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset, Union and Warren counties, which are broken down into 10 divisions by size and location. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III South for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 680 to 889 students.
School colors are royal blue and white. Sports offered include softball, bowling (men and women), track and field spring (men and women), soccer (men and women), basketball (men and women), football, tennis (women), wrestling (men) and baseball (men).
The boys' basketball team won the Group III state championship in 1932 vs. Weehawken High School by a final score of 28-27 and the Group II title in 1934 with a 42–38 victory over Ramsey High School in the tournament final.
The boys track team won the indoor track Group III state championship in 1973 and the Group II title in 1987.
The boys track team won the Group III spring track state championship in 1973.