East Hanover Township School District

The three schools in East Hanover Township School District serve PK through grade 8 in East Hanover Township, with 1,003 students across Frank J Smith Elementary (PK–1), Central Elementary School (grades 2–5), and East Hanover Middle School (grades 6–8). In the latest scores, math is the clearest area-wide strength: the average across reported grades is 62%, compared with 40% statewide, a 21-point advantage. The most important finding is that the strongest overall pattern is above-state math performance, particularly at the middle school.

East Hanover Middle School stands out for consistency: all seven reported results are above state, with advantages ranging from 12 to 34 points. Its largest lead is in grade 8 math, at 34 points. Central Elementary School is above state in five of seven results, including grade 5 math by 24 points, but its grade 3 and 4 ELA scores are 2 and 3 points below state. Frank J Smith Elementary serves PK–1, and no test scores are supplied for it. Because the middle school and Central have no tested grades in common, these results do not support a direct head-to-head ranking.

Results have generally declined year over year in ELA and math, although most latest comparisons remain above state. Central’s grade 4 ELA score fell 39 points, from 82% to 43%; at the middle school, ELA and math scores fell in all three matched grades. SchoolDigger ranks the district 159th of 607, in the 74th percentile, with four stars; its school percentile for Central fell from 82 to 63, while the middle school moved from 93 to 90. In 2024–2025, student-teacher ratios were 7.5 at Frank J Smith, 10.8 at Central, and 8.1 at the middle school. Free/reduced lunch eligible shares that year were 4%, 2%, and 3%, respectively. Chronic absenteeism was below the 14% state rate at all three schools, though the middle school’s 8% rate was above the district’s 7%.