Originally created as a program called "School Within a School" at Malcolm X Shabazz High School, University High School became a standalone school in 1977. It moved into the old Clinton Place Junior High building in 1982.[3]
As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 426 students and 41.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.4:1. There were 313 students (73.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 43 (10.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
The school was the 237th-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.[4] The school had been ranked 171st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 131st in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[5] The magazine ranked the school 66th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[6] The school was ranked 146th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.[7] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 55th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 27 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (91.6%) and language arts literacy (97.2%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[8]
In 2011, University High School seniors won the National Urban Debate Championship, a three-day tournament with over 7,000 students from 38 schools in 19 cities participating.[9]
The University High School Phoenix[2] compete in the Super Essex Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Essex County and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[10] Prior to the NJSIAA's realignment in 2010, the school had competed in the Colonial Division of the Colonial Hills Conference, which included public and private high schools in Essex, Morris and Somerset counties.[11] With 381 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range.[12]
In 1989, the boys' track team, led by senior Darrell Davis, won the North II, Group I state sectional championships. Davis was the 1988 and 1989 Group I sectional winner in the 100 m and 200 m races as well as the All Group I 100 m champion.[citation needed]
The girls' basketball team won the Group I state championship in 2007 (vs. Palmyra High School), 2008 (vs. Wildwood High School), 2016 (vs. Bound Brook High School), 2018 (vs. Bound Brook), 2019 (vs. Bound Brook), 2022 (vs. Shore Regional High School), 2023 (vs. Shore Regional) and 2024 (vs. Shore Regional). The program's eight state titles are tied for sixth-most in the state.[13] The team won the North II, Group I state sectional championship in 2007 with a 66–50 win over Bloomfield Tech High School[14] and moved on to win the Group I state championship, defeating Palmyra High School by a score of 80–55 for the title.[15] The team made it to the 2007 Tournament of Champions, defeating Willingboro High School, 71–58, in the first round, Trenton Catholic Academy, 61–51, in the semis and Trenton Central High School, 68–62, in the finals to win the tournament.[16][17] The 2016 beat Bound Brook by a score of 81-55 in the Group I playoff finals at the Pine Belt Arena[18] and as the sixth seed in the Tournament of Champions lost in the quarterfinals round to third-seeded Manasquan High School by 57-49, despite leading by seven points in the last five minutes of the game.[17][19] In 2019, the team faced Bound Brook in the Group I state championship game for the fourth consecutive year and won the title with a 41–20 win, their third championship in the four match-ups between the two teams,[20] and entered the Tournament of Champions seeded fifth before losing in the first round to by a score of 61-45 to a St. Rose High School team that was ranked fourth.[17][21]
University High School is a college preparatory institution, where students can pick from three academies; Law, Teaching, or Fields of Humanities to specialize in and complete courses based on their choices, though students are free to specialize in the major of their choice.
The Three Doctors, a group of African-American motivational speakers, authors, and doctors that includes Dr. Rameck Hunt, Dr. Sampson Davis and Dr. George Jenkins[31]
^Ryan, Chris. "University rolls past Bound Brook for Group 1 title: Stars of the game and rapid reaction", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, March 13, 2016, updated August 24, 2019. Accessed February 24, 2021. "University erupted for a 81-55 win over Bound Brook in the Group 1 final, giving the Newark school its third state title in program history. Here are the game's top performers, plus other rapid reaction from Pine Belt Arena in Toms River."
^Ryan, Chris. "Mabrey powers late rally to push Manasquan past University in T of C first round", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, March 16, 2016, updated August 24, 2019. Accessed February 24, 2021. "Manasquan found itself behind the eight-ball, trailing by seven points with less than five minutes to play. But Dara Mabrey came through to keep the season alive. Mabrey scored 10 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:35 to play, fueling a 15-0 run to close the game and capping her 22-point effort to power third-seeded Manasquan, No. 3 in the NJ.com Top 20, to a 57-49 comeback win over sixth-seeded University in the first round of the NJSIAA/ShopRite Tournament of Champions on Wednesday at Pine Belt Arena in Toms River."
^Gould, Brandon. "No. 11 University girls basketball goes back to back, wins Group 1 championship", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, March 10, 2019, updated August 22, 2019. Accessed November 2, 2020. "That was on display in a 40-21 victory over No. 20 Bound Brook on Sunday at RWJ Barnabas Health Arena in Toms River. The win gave University its third Group 1 title in the last four years and all of those championships have been secured with a win against Bound Brook."
^Gould, Brandon. "No. 11 University falls to No. 4 St. Rose, looks for next step in TOC", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, March 12, 2019, updated August 22, 2019. Accessed February 24, 2021. "The Phoenix are the aggressor in most games and that intensity carried University, No. 11 in the NJ.com Top 20, to the Tournament of Champions for the third time in four years. But on Tuesday night in Toms River, University ran into another heavyweight and got a taste of its own medicine against No. 4 St. Rose. St. Rose went on a 14-0 run in the first half that gave it the advantage throughout a 61-45 win over University in the first round of the Tournament of Champions."
^Silva, Matt."Boys' Basketball: Paulsboro falls in Group 1 final", Courier-Post, March 14, 2016. Accessed November 2, 2020. "The Paulsboro High School boys’ basketball team had arrived to the same destination, the Group 1 state championship game, once again facing University at Rutgers. Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, it was a losing effort, a 63-45 decision on Sunday. However, Paulsboro could look back fondly of the journey that led them to the final after losing a strong core of players to graduation."
^Cutler, Jacqueline. "A conversation with Niobia Bryant", NJ.com, August 31, 2014. Accessed September 11, 2014. "'I went to University High. I wasn't one of the top. I was floating in the middle, doing just enough to get by.'"
^McCullough, Andy. "Newark's Nadirah McKenith leads rising St. John's women's basketball program", The Star-Ledger, February 24, 2010. Accessed September 1, 2017. "Nadirah McKenith bounced in a black leather chair inside a conference room on the second floor of Taffner Fieldhouse, the basketball complex on St. John's campus in Queens.... 'We can get out and go,' said McKenith, a graduate of University High in Newark."
^Sampson Davis, MD, The Three Doctors. Accessed September 20, 2012. "While attending University High School in Newark, Dr. Davis met Dr. Rameck Hunt and Dr. George Jenkins, two fellow students who, together, drastically altered the course of one another's lives."