Englewood Cliffs School District

The Englewood Cliffs School District in New Jersey is home to two exceptional schools: Upper School, a middle school serving grades 3-8, and North Cliff School, an elementary school serving grades PK-2. The district is ranked 8th out of 609 districts in New Jersey and is rated 5 stars out of 5 by SchoolDigger, indicating its overall high performance.

Among the two schools, Upper School stands out as a particularly high-achieving institution. It is ranked among the top 30 middle schools in New Jersey and has maintained a consistent 5-star rating from SchoolDigger over the past 3 years. The school's academic performance is exceptional, with over 80% of students proficient or better in English Language Arts and over 85% proficient or better in Mathematics across all grade levels. These results significantly exceed the state averages in New Jersey, often by 30 percentage points or more. Additionally, Upper School has a very low chronic absenteeism rate of 14.9%, compared to the state average.

In contrast, North Cliff School also performs well, but not to the same exceptional level as Upper School. While North Cliff School spends more per student ($14,076) than Upper School ($12,826), it has a significantly higher student-teacher ratio of 15.3, compared to Upper School's 6.8. This suggests that factors other than just funding, such as instructional practices and school leadership, may be driving the exceptional performance at Upper School.