Summary:
Nutley has seven public schools serving elementary, middle, and high school grades. In 2025–2026, the five elementary schools averaged 63% in ELA and 56% in math, compared with state averages of 49% and 46%. Those overall results are above the state, but they hide a substantial difference between schools: the most important finding for families is that elementary results are uneven, with a 23-point gap between the highest and lowest school averages.
Yantacaw had the highest elementary average across ELA and math at 68%, followed by Spring Garden at 66%; Lincoln was lowest at 45%. Yantacaw led in fifth grade, while Spring Garden led in third and fourth grade; Lincoln had the lowest ELA and math results in grades 3–5, though its sixth-grade math was 55%, above the state’s 40%. Radcliffe stood out in fifth-grade science at 45%, compared with 27% statewide. At the secondary level, John H. Walker had 90% proficiency in Algebra I end-of-course, versus 40% statewide; Nutley High was above the state in most reported tests, but below it in eleventh-grade science and Algebra I.
Elementary averages declined from 64% in 2024–2025 to 59% in 2025–2026, while the state average fell from 49% to 47%; the area’s advantage narrowed from 16 points to 12. SchoolDigger ranks Yantacaw at the 78th percentile and Spring Garden at the 74th, while Lincoln is at the 45th, down 13 percentile points since 2023–2024; Radcliffe is at the 72nd. The 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible measure ranged from 7% at Yantacaw to 27% at Lincoln. Ratios also vary: 12.5 students per teacher at Lincoln versus 18.0 at Spring Garden, showing that neither measure alone explains the differences in results.
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