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)
341248004436	181	Central Middle School	Public	6-8	1620 Route 46	Parsippany	07054	Morris County	Parsippany-Troy Hills Township School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 263-7125	781	80	9.7	18.2%	227 (29.1%)	21 (2.7%)	144 (18.4%)	365 (46.7%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (2.7%)	$11,269			$430			$10,839	71.7	75.7	155	26
341056000181	182	Renaissance Middle School at the Rand Building	Public	6-8	176 North Fullerton Avenue	Montclair	07042	Essex County	Montclair Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(973) 509-5741	213	28	7.6	9.4%	123 (57.7%)	37 (17.4%)	28 (13.1%)	9 (4.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	14 (6.6%)	$18,417			$89			$18,328	71.7	67.3	206	24
340005100339	183	Unity Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	1 Evergreen Place	Morristown	07960	Morris County	Unity Charter School	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 292-1808	263	25	10.5	7.2%	109 (41.4%)	41 (15.6%)	36 (13.7%)	51 (19.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (9.5%)	$10,094			$320			$9,774	71.6	77.4	139	44
341812003682	184	Iselin Middle School	Public	6-8	900 Woodruff Street	Iselin	08830	Middlesex County	Woodbridge Township School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(732) 602-8450	849	70	12.1	31.1%	115 (13.5%)	57 (6.7%)	150 (17.7%)	517 (60.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.2%)	$8,163						$8,163	71.5	62.8	239	55
340399000344	185	Honiss Elementary/Middle School	Public	K-8	31 Depew St	Dumont	07628	Bergen County	Dumont Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(201) 387-3020	616	52	11.7	11.0%	245 (39.8%)	28 (4.5%)	225 (36.5%)	92 (14.9%)	2 (0.3%)	6 (1.0%)	18 (2.9%)	$8,229			$228			$8,001	71.4	69.8	184	1
340831004648	186	Lavallette Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	105 Brooklyn Ave.	Lavallette	08735	Ocean County	Lavallette Borough School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(732) 793-7722	155	18	8.6	11.0%	135 (87.1%)	6 (3.9%)	9 (5.8%)	4 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	$18,143			$726			$17,417	71.4	72.7	171	15
341467005678	187	Malcolm E Nettingham Middle School	Public	5-8	580 Park Avenue	Scotch Plains	07076	Union County	Scotch Plains-Fanwood School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(908) 322-4445	917	81	11.3	5.2%	528 (57.6%)	79 (8.6%)	160 (17.4%)	101 (11.0%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	47 (5.1%)	$8,253			$52			$8,201	71.3	72.6	173	14
341446000818	188	Union School	Public	7-8	359 Union Ave	Rutherford	07070	Bergen County	Rutherford School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(201) 438-7675	369	39	9.3	2.2%	196 (53.1%)	12 (3.3%)	90 (24.4%)	50 (13.6%)	3 (0.8%)	1 (0.3%)	16 (4.3%)	$8,872						$8,872	70.9	66.5	211	23
340279000813	189	Carlstadt Public School	Public	PK, KG-8	550 Washington Street	Carlstadt	07072	Bergen County	Carlstadt Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(201) 672-3000	520	46	11.4	33.3%	228 (43.8%)	17 (3.3%)	204 (39.2%)	54 (10.4%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	14 (2.7%)	$13,954			$476			$13,478	70.7	66	218	29
340159001324	190	Berlin Community School	Public	PK, KG-8	215 S Franklin Ave	Berlin	08009	Camden County	Berlin Borough School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(856) 767-0129	770	76	10.1	10.9%	549 (71.3%)	76 (9.9%)	62 (8.1%)	39 (5.1%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (5.6%)	$11,413			$352			$11,061	70.6	73	169	21

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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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.