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.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the NJSLA-S and NJSLA test scores by the New Jersey Department of Education. The most recent update was on Wednesday, December 3, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 752)	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 (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
421	Forest Street Community Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-7	651 Forest St	Orange	07050	Essex County	ORANGE BOARD OF EDUCATION School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 677-4120	384	33	11.8	70.1%	2 (0.5%)	175 (45.6%)	198 (51.6%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.8%)	$9,797			$522			$9,275	42.4	46.8	368	53		341227002402
422	Oliver Street School	Public	PK, KG-8	86 Oliver St	Newark	07105	Essex County	Newark Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 465-4870	1,034	77	13.4	83.0%	337 (32.6%)	32 (3.1%)	655 (63.3%)	5 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	$8,360			$409			$7,951	42	45.9	375	47		341134002330
423	Woodrow Wilson Middle School	Public	6-8	1400 Van Houten Avenue	Clifton	07013	Passaic County	Clifton Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(973) 470-2348	1,255	115	10.8	56.1%	357 (28.4%)	58 (4.6%)	718 (57.2%)	96 (7.6%)	7 (0.6%)	3 (0.2%)	16 (1.3%)	$12,567						$12,567	41.6	41.7	410	13		340330004766
424	Highland Park Middle School	Public	6-8	330 Wayne Street	Highland Park	08904	Middlesex County	Highland Park Boro School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(732) 572-2400	349	34	10.4	46.1%	119 (34.1%)	33 (9.5%)	116 (33.2%)	52 (14.9%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (7.7%)	$10,200			$462			$9,738	41.6	33.5	477	53		340717006118
425	Alfred Zampella School	Public	PK, KG-8	201 North St	Jersey City	07307	Hudson County	Jersey City Public Schools	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(201) 714-4350	629	58	10.8	67.4%	50 (7.9%)	34 (5.4%)	389 (61.8%)	151 (24.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.8%)	$10,970			$546			$10,424	41.5	53.8	316	109		340783002812
426	Lumberton Middle School	Public	6-8	30 Dimsdale Drive	Lumberton	08048	Burlington County	Lumberton Township Board of Education	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(609) 265-0123	356	34	10.5	31.7%	138 (38.8%)	97 (27.2%)	66 (18.5%)	17 (4.8%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	36 (10.1%)	$12,723			$146			$12,577	41.5	32.7	485	59		340918006092
427	Hazlet Middle School	Public	7-8	1639 Union Avenue	Hazlet	07730	Monmouth County	Hazlet Township Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(732) 264-0940	376	38	9.9	25.0%	285 (75.8%)	7 (1.9%)	61 (16.2%)	8 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (4.0%)	$8,747						$8,747	41.4	32.7	484	57		341368003840
428	Macopin Middle School	Public	6-8	70 Highlander Drive	West Milford	07480	Passaic County	West Milford Township Public School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(973) 697-1702	675	60	11.2	22.2%	532 (78.8%)	11 (1.6%)	108 (16.0%)	6 (0.9%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (2.4%)	$11,405			$170			$11,235	41.4	33.2	479	51		341752005002
429	Hudson Arts and Science Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	131 Midland Ave	Kearny	07032	Hudson County	Hudson Arts and Science Charter School	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(201) 773-9140	848	60	14.1	70.5%	90 (10.6%)	52 (6.1%)	669 (78.9%)	28 (3.3%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	5 (0.6%)	$8,007			$453			$7,554	41.3	49.4	346	83		340078703387
430	Hopewell Crest	Public	PK, KG-8	122 Sewall Road	Bridgeton	08302	Cumberland County	Hopewell Township School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(856) 451-9203	524	45	11.6	45.4%	293 (55.9%)	29 (5.5%)	150 (28.6%)	5 (1.0%)	13 (2.5%)	3 (0.6%)	31 (5.9%)	$10,794			$535			$10,259	41.3	56	304	126		340750001854

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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 3, 2025, 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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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.