Best Middle Schools in New Jersey

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Find the best New Jersey middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish New Jersey test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

Alert! We are expecting the release of this year's test scores by the New Jersey Department of Education any day now! We will update our rankings as soon as they are released!

Alert! New test scores and rankings are expected from the New Jersey Department of Education any day now!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2023 vs 2022)
ID	Rank (of 748)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2023)	Average Standard Score (2022)	Rank (2022)	Rank Change from 2022	SchoolDigger Rating (2023)
341134002266	631	Peshine Avenue School	Public	PK, KG-8	433 Peshine Avenue	Newark	07112	Essex County	Newark Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 733-7004	503	42	11.9	75.7%	3 (0.6%)	397 (78.9%)	98 (19.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.6%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	$11,004			$2,293			$8,711	16.6	20.4	595	36
341134002342	632	Roberto Clemente Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	257 Summer Ave	Newark	07104	Essex County	Newark Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 268-5290	753	48	15.6	86.1%	9 (1.2%)	85 (11.3%)	652 (86.6%)	4 (0.5%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,558			$393			$10,165	16.6			(n/a)
340071803014	633	Community Charter School of Paterson	Public, Charter	K-8	75 Spruce St	Paterson	07501	Passaic County	Community Charter School of Paterson	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 413-2057	874	53	16.4	60.8%	6 (0.7%)	234 (26.8%)	621 (71.1%)	3 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	8 (0.9%)	$10,771			$1,994			$8,777	16.3	15.5	644	11
340459005526	634	Nicholas Murray Butler Academy School No. 23	Public	K-8	631-657 Westminster Avenue	Elizabeth	07208	Union County	Elizabeth Public Schools	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(908) 436-5900	600	55	10.9	84.0%	32 (5.3%)	160 (26.7%)	379 (63.2%)	25 (4.2%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,486			$230			$10,256	16.3	13	671	37
341134002288	635	Hawthorne Avenue School	Public	PK, KG-8	428 Hawthorne Ave	Newark	07112	Essex County	Newark Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 705-3960	393	31	12.6	84.5%	1 (0.3%)	340 (86.5%)	51 (13.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,415			$794			$9,621	16.2	18.9	608	27
340459000207	636	Sonia Sotomayor School No 25	Public	K-8	525 First Avenue	Elizabeth	07206	Union County	Elizabeth Public Schools	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(908) 436-5930	604	45	13.4	88.1%	12 (2.0%)	45 (7.5%)	539 (89.2%)	8 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$11,125			$317			$10,808	16.2	15.3	649	13
341269004918	637	School 25	Public	PK, KG-8	287 Trenton Avenue	Paterson	07503	Passaic County	Paterson Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 321-0250	0	41	0		0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	$8,314						$8,314	15.9	19.8	599	38
340744005362	638	Hopatcong High School	Public	8-12	2A Windsor Ave	Hopatcong	07843	Sussex County	Hopatcong Borough School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(973) 398-8803	520	45	11.5	24.8%	314 (60.4%)	28 (5.4%)	165 (31.7%)	11 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$13,636						$13,636	15.9	16.8	631	7
341122003466	639	Mckinley Community School	Public	PK, KG-8	15 Van Dyke Ave	New Brunswick	08901	Middlesex County	New Brunswick School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(732) 745-5300	640	67	9.5	77.8%	5 (0.8%)	126 (19.7%)	503 (78.6%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	$12,963						$12,963	15.9	14.8	653	14
340002300287	640	New Horizons Community Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	45 59 Hayes Street	Newark	07103	Essex County	New Horizons Community Charter School	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 848-0400	381	25	15.2	93.7%	0 (0.0%)	311 (81.6%)	68 (17.8%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$12,066			$904			$11,162	15.8	12.6	679	39

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for New Jersey

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NJ student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students White Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on NJSLA English Language Arts, NJSLA Mathematics, NJSLA Algebra I, NJSLA Geometry, NJSLA Algebra II, NJSLA-S Science test scores released by the New Jersey Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on December 6, 2023, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the New Jersey Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the New Jersey Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the New Jersey Department of Education.