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!

JUST IN! New Jersey NJSLA-S and NJSLA test scores and updated rankings for the 2023-24 school year were recently posted to SchoolDigger!

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.

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 743)	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 (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
341134002352	631	South Street Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	44-48 Hermon Street	Newark	07105	Essex County	Newark Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 465-4880	870	62	14	84.3%	185 (21.3%)	59 (6.8%)	615 (70.7%)	5 (0.6%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	$10,591			$549			$10,042	17	17.4	623	8
341269004916	632	School 24	Public	PK, KG-8	50 Nineteenth Avenue	Paterson	07513	Passaic County	Paterson Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 321-0160	651	62	10.5	87.6%	7 (1.1%)	37 (5.7%)	605 (92.9%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$7,719						$7,719	16.9	16.6	630	2
340075603185	633	Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	509 Bramhall Ave.	Jersey City	07304	Hudson County	Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(201) 433-5300	370	28	13.2	77.6%	0 (0.0%)	288 (77.8%)	77 (20.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.8%)	$10,336			$1,186			$9,150	16.7	18.6	613	20
340507000436	634	Lincoln School	Public	3-8	140 Anderson Avenue	Fairview	07022	Bergen County	Fairview Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(201) 943-0560	642	55	11.6	69.0%	49 (7.6%)	3 (0.5%)	585 (91.1%)	4 (0.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,180			$1,153			$9,027	16.7	17.9	618	16
340096000032	635	Dr Martin Luther King Junior School Complex	Public	PK, KG-8	1700 Marmora Avenue	Atlantic City	08401	Atlantic County	Atlantic City School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(609) 343-7380	538	53	10.1	90.3%	5 (0.9%)	373 (69.3%)	140 (26.0%)	7 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (2.4%)	$13,546			$1,934			$11,612	16.6	15.2	648	13
341134002318	636	McKinley Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	1 Colonnade Pl	Newark	07104	Essex County	Newark Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 268-5270	777	55	14.1	82.8%	16 (2.1%)	236 (30.4%)	518 (66.7%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	$9,994			$791			$9,203	16.6	13.8	667	31
341314005612	637	Cedarbrook Elementary School	Public	K-8	1049 Central Ave	Plainfield	07060	Union County	Plainfield Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(908) 731-4280	663	48	13.8	69.5%	3 (0.5%)	191 (28.8%)	454 (68.5%)	6 (0.9%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	5 (0.8%)	$9,658			$142			$9,516	16.5	23.6	565	72
341134002262	638	Grover Cleveland Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	388 Bergen St	Newark	07103	Essex County	Newark Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 733-6944	318	29	10.9	80.5%	1 (0.3%)	244 (76.7%)	71 (22.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$11,554			$624			$10,930	16.5	9.4	712	74
341134002282	639	Harriet Tubman Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	504 S Tenth St	Newark	07103	Essex County	Newark Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 733-6934	319	29	11	83.1%	0 (0.0%)	281 (88.1%)	36 (11.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.6%)	$9,921			$469			$9,452	16.4	12.9	681	42
341254003035	640	Daniel F. Ryan Elementary School No. 19	Public	1-8	320 Highland Ave.	Passaic	07055	Passaic County	Passaic City School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 779-4219	638	50	12.7	99.4%	3 (0.5%)	24 (3.8%)	607 (95.1%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$9,378			$661			$8,717	16.3	20.2	594	46

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NJ student subgroups:

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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 4, 2024, 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:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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.