Hopatcong Middle School

Hopatcong Middle School is a public middle school serving grades 4-7 in Hopatcong, New Jersey, with 441 students. The school faces significant academic and demographic challenges compared to its surrounding peers, as evidenced by its consistently low performance on state assessments, high chronic absenteeism rates, and struggles to support its student subgroups.

Hopatcong Middle School's proficiency rates on NJSLA assessments in both English Language Arts and Mathematics consistently fall below the state averages, ranging from 34.7% to 46.2% in ELA and 20.2% to 29.9% in Math, while the state averages were 52.7% to 57% in ELA and 38.8% to 46.7% in Math. The school's rankings for female, male, Hispanic, and white students are all in the bottom half of New Jersey middle schools, and its special education and economically disadvantaged students perform slightly better, but still rank in the bottom half. Additionally, the school has consistently high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 12.2% to 17.0% over the past few years, which is significantly higher than the state average.

Interestingly, several nearby middle schools, such as Randolph Middle School, Byram Intermediate School, and Mount Arlington Public School, are significantly outperforming Hopatcong Middle School academically. Additionally, while Hopatcong Middle School spends more per student than the state average, nearby schools like Eisenhower Middle School and Byram Intermediate School have significantly higher per-student spending, which may provide them with more resources to support student learning.