Editing Cranford, New Jersey (section)

== Education ==
[[File:Souvenir cranford lantern 1914.jpg|thumb|A program from the 1914 Cranford river carnival]]
[[File:Deborah Cannon Partridge Wolfe (13270315044).jpg|thumb|[[Columbia University|Columbia University-educated]] professor, Baptist minister, and Cranford native [[Deborah Wolfe|Deborah Cannon Partridge Wolfe]] was the first ordained African-American woman in the [[American Baptist Church]]]]

=== Public schools ===
The [[Cranford Township Public Schools]] is a comprehensive [[state school|public]] [[school district]] serving students in [[kindergarten]] through [[twelfth grade]].<ref>[https://www.straussesmay.com/seportal/Public/DistrictPolicy.aspx?policyid=0110&id=323bca8587e042868a477cbcee6f9af7 Cranford Board of Education District Policy 0110 - Identification], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 5, 2024. "Purpose: The Board of Education exists for the purpose of providing a thorough and efficient system of free public education in grades Pre-Kindergarten through twelve in the Cranford School District. Composition: The Cranford School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of Cranford."</ref> As of the 2022–23 school year, the district, comprised of seven schools, had an enrollment of 3,745 students and 334.1 classroom teachers (on an [[full-time equivalent|FTE]] basis), for a [[student–teacher ratio]] of 11.2:1.<ref name=NCES>[https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?Search=2&details=1&ID2=3403570&DistrictID=3403570 District information for Cranford Public School District], [[National Center for Education Statistics]]. Accessed February 1, 2024.</ref> Schools in the district (with 2022–23 enrollment data from the [[National Center for Education Statistics]]<ref>[https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3403570 School Data for the Cranford Township Public Schools], [[National Center for Education Statistics]]. Accessed February 1, 2024.</ref>) are 
Bloomingdale Avenue School<ref>[http://bas.cranfordschools.org/ Bloomingdale Avenue School], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 4, 2024.</ref> with 233 students in grades K-2, 
Brookside Place School<ref>[http://bps.cranfordschools.org/ Brookside Place School], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 4, 2024.</ref> with 355 students in grades K-5, 
Hillside Avenue School<ref>[http://has.cranfordschools.org/ Hillside Avenue School], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 4, 2024.</ref> with 734 students in grades K-8, 
Livingston Avenue School<ref>[http://las.cranfordschools.org/ Livingston Avenue School], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 4, 2024.</ref> with 253 students in grades 3-5, 
Orange Avenue School<ref>[http://oas.cranfordschools.org/ Orange Avenue School], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 4, 2024.</ref> with 765 students in grades 3-8, 
Walnut Avenue School<ref>[http://was.cranfordschools.org/ Walnut Avenue School], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 4, 2024.</ref> with 294 students in grades PreK-2 and 
[[Cranford High School]]<ref>[http://chs.cranfordschools.org/ Cranford High School], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 4, 2024.</ref> with 1,095 students in grades 9-12.<ref>[https://www.cranfordschools.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1777669&type=d&pREC_ID=1955425 Schools], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 4, 2024.</ref><ref>[https://rc.doe.state.nj.us/selectreport/2022-2023/39/0980 School Performance Reports for the Cranford Township Schools], [[New Jersey Department of Education]]. Accessed April 3, 2024.</ref><ref>[https://homeroom6.doe.state.nj.us/directory/school/districtid/0980 New Jersey School Directory for the Cranford Township Schools], [[New Jersey Department of Education]]. Accessed February 1, 2024.</ref> Cranford High School's curriculum focuses on technology in the schools and stresses service learning. The high school was recognized for its work in service learning and for being a national school of character. Cranford High School was ranked 51st among 328 public high schools in New Jersey in 2012 by ''[[New Jersey Monthly]]'' magazine after being ranked 13th in 2010<ref>[http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/the-top-new-jersey-high-schools-alphabetical.html "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical"], ''[[New Jersey Monthly]]'', September 2012, posted August 16, 2012. Accessed May 5, 2013.</ref> and was among the top-ranked high schools in the state in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://patch.com/new-jersey/cranford/two-cranford-schools-appear-best-schools-list|title=Two Cranford Schools Appear on 'Best Schools' List|date=February 11, 2020}}</ref> Lincoln School, which is the home of the district's administrative offices, also houses the district's two alternative education programs, CAP and CAMP.<ref>[https://lin.cranfordschools.org/ Lincoln School], Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed June 5, 2024.</ref>

=== Private schools ===
Cranford hosts several religious and private schools. Saint Michael's School, located in downtown Cranford, is a [[Roman Catholic]] parochial school which serves students in Nursery through Grade 8 and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools, operating under the auspices of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark]].<ref>[https://smscranford.com/brochure/ Brochure], St. Michael's School. Accessed February 19, 2020.</ref><ref>[https://catholicschoolsnj.org/elementary/union-elementary/ Union County Catholic Elementary Schools] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818175743/https://catholicschoolsnj.org/elementary/union-elementary/ |date=August 18, 2016 }}, [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark]]. Accessed February 19, 2020.</ref>

Helen K. Baldwin Nursery School at the First Presbyterian Church was founded in 1956.<ref name=HKB>[https://www.tapinto.net/towns/cranford/articles/helen-k-baldwin-nursery-school-adds-early-morning-late-afternoon-care "Helen K. Baldwin Nursery School Adds Early Morning & Late Afternoon Care"], TAP into Cranford, February 6, 2020. Accessed August 26, 2022. "Helen K. Baldwin Nursery School is excited to announce new and extended programs within the same warm, nurturing and safe environment that has existed since the school’s inception in 1956."</ref>

=== Union College ===
The main campus of [[Union College (New Jersey)|Union College]] is located in Cranford; the school opened in 1933 in [[Roselle, New Jersey|Roselle]] and has been located in Cranford since 1942.<ref>[https://www.ucc.edu/blog/2023/10/20/union-college-of-union-county-nj-celebrates-90th-years-makes-history/ "UCNJ Union College of Union County, NJ Celebrates 90 Years & Makes History"], [[Union College (New Jersey)|Union College]]. Accessed May 20, 2024. "The College, then known as UCNJ County Junior College, was founded on October 16, 1933, with 243 students taking evening classes at Abraham Clark High School in Roselle."</ref><ref>Burks, Edward C. [https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/01/archives/union-college-at-40-is-still-growing-many-continue-education.html "Union College, at 40, Is Still Growing"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 1, 1973. Accessed May 20, 2024. "Forty years after a modest start as a Depression‐era W.P.A. project, Union College is completing a $4.5‐million expansion program that includes a new library and a humanities building with 17 classrooms. The two‐year junior college was established as an evening institution in Roselle High School in 1933, and became a private school two years later. It moved into an old Cranford public school building in 1942, and, finally, to its present 50‐acre site on Springfield Avenue in 1959."</ref> The school's Cranford campus, one of four county locations, covers {{convert|50|acres}} and was established in 1959.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108359739/fiftieth-anniversary-of-union-county/ "Union College celebrates its 50th anniversary"], ''[[Courier News]]'', October 17, 1983. Accessed August 26, 2022, via [[Newspapers.com]]. "Lean salary years followed, then an enrollment crisis in 1944 when education-hungry GIs suddenly overwhelmed the small, deficit-ridden school. By that time, the college had a campus of its own the dilapidated Grant School in Cranford. The college received full accreditation in 1956 and moved to its current 50-acre campus in Cranford in 1959."</ref>