Summary:
Cliffside Park, New Jersey, has five schools serving pre-K through grade 12, from three elementary schools to one middle school and one high school. In 2025–2026, the elementary schools’ matched results averaged 7 percentage points above the state in ELA and 5 points above in math; the high school’s results were more uneven, including a substantial Algebra II shortfall. Compared with the prior year, the elementary advantage narrowed by about 5 points in both subjects. The clearest area-wide finding is that elementary results remain above state averages, but the advantage has narrowed.
School #5 led third-grade ELA at 54% and third-grade math at 58%, and had the strongest fourth-grade math result at 62%. School #4 led fourth-grade ELA at 60%, fifth-grade ELA at 67% and fifth-grade science at 29%. At the lower end, School #3 had the lowest third-grade ELA and math results, 47% and 45%; the third-grade math result was 23 points lower than the year before. The elementary schools’ third-grade math results spanned 13 points, underscoring that performance differs by school and grade.
Recent changes are not uniform: at School #5, third-grade ELA and math rose by 2 and 3 points, while fourth-grade ELA fell by 16; at School #3, fourth-grade ELA fell by 19 points. School #6/Middle School was near or above the state in ELA across grades 5–8 but below it in math in all four grades; its Algebra I end-of-course result was a notable exception, at 80% versus 40% statewide. At Cliffside Park High School, Algebra II proficiency was 20% in 2025–2026, down 52 points from the prior year. SchoolDigger’s percentile ranking rose from 25th to 31st for the high school, while it fell from 66th to 52nd for School #3. As context, free/reduced lunch eligible shares for 2024–2025 were 57% at School #4, 68% at School #6, 70% at the high school and 75% at School #3; School #5 reported 50% for 2023–2024. Student-teacher ratios ranged from 10.3 at School #5 to 13.9 at the high school. Results can vary by grade, and small groups may make year-to-year changes less stable.
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