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)
340144005796	561	Belvidere Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	807 Oxford Street	Belvidere	07823	Warren County	Belvidere School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(908) 475-4001	256	31	8.3	29.7%	208 (81.3%)	3 (1.2%)	30 (11.7%)	3 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (4.3%)	$16,862			$847			$16,015	23.9	22.6	579	18
341269004912	562	School 20	Public	K-8	500 East 37th Street	Paterson	07504	Passaic County	Paterson Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 321-0201	374	36	10.3	55.1%	3 (0.8%)	141 (37.7%)	225 (60.2%)	4 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$10,935						$10,935	23.8	27.1	530	32
341281001200	563	Helen A. Fort Middle School	Public	7-8	101 Fort Dix Road	Pemberton	08068	Burlington County	Pemberton Township School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(609) 893-8141	608	54	11.2	59.2%	292 (48.0%)	161 (26.5%)	122 (20.1%)	7 (1.2%)	3 (0.5%)	4 (0.7%)	19 (3.1%)	$18,350			$742			$17,608	23.8	25.5	547	16
341227002406	564	Lincoln Avenue Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-7	216 Lincoln Ave	Orange	07050	Essex County	ORANGE BOARD OF EDUCATION School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 677-4130	692	60	11.5	80.3%	2 (0.3%)	316 (45.7%)	363 (52.5%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	7 (1.0%)	$9,475			$416			$9,059	23.7	24.6	561	3
341314005612	565	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	623	51	12.2	69.3%	2 (0.3%)	215 (34.5%)	392 (62.9%)	6 (1.0%)	3 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.5%)	$9,658			$142			$9,516	23.6	27.2	529	36
340008700735	566	Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	196 West Railway Avenue	Paterson	07503	Passaic County	Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 247-0600	0	122	0		0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	$9,624			$1,059			$8,565	23.4	22.8	577	11
341227006117	567	Rosa Parks Community School	Public	3-7	369 Main Street	Orange	07050	Essex County	ORANGE BOARD OF EDUCATION School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 677-4515	534	52	10.2	90.4%	1 (0.2%)	168 (31.5%)	361 (67.6%)	3 (0.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$8,884			$492			$8,392	23.4	26.2	539	28
340077603299	568	Camden Prep Inc.	Public, Alternative	K-12	1575 Mt. Ephraim Ave	Camden	08104	Camden County	Camden Prep Inc.	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(856) 379-4488	1,162	40	29.3	93.5%	3 (0.3%)	802 (69.0%)	342 (29.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	13 (1.1%)	$11,619			$2,969			$8,650	23.3	18.9	605	37
341122005940	569	Paul Robeson Community School for the Arts	Public	PK, KG-8	199 Paul Robeson Blvd	New Brunswick	08901	Middlesex County	New Brunswick School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(732) 745-5300	665	66	10	81.4%	0 (0.0%)	36 (5.4%)	626 (94.1%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	$9,460						$9,460	23.2	16.2	637	68
340783002832	570	Dr. Charles P. DeFuccio School	Public	PK, KG-8	214 Plainfield Ave	Jersey City	07306	Hudson County	Jersey City Public Schools	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(201) 915-6560	302	33	9.2	57.9%	56 (18.5%)	103 (34.1%)	104 (34.4%)	32 (10.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.3%)	3 (1.0%)	$16,245			$610			$15,635	23	30.5	508	62

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for New Jersey

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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 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

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

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.