Best Elementary Schools in Zip Code 07070

Zip code 07070 has two elementary schools in Rutherford: Lincoln School, serving prekindergarten through grade 3, and Washington School, serving grades 1–3. Both serve grade 3, the grade covered by the test results here. The clearest overall takeaway is that both schools scored above state results in all four subject-and-year comparisons.

There is no single school that leads in both subjects: Lincoln stands out in the latest English language arts (ELA) results, while Washington leads in the latest math results. In 2025–26, Lincoln had 80% proficient in ELA, 32 points above the state and 11 points ahead of Washington. Washington had 70% proficient in math, 21 points above the state and 4 points ahead of Lincoln. In 2024–25, Lincoln led ELA by 21 points and math by 2 points; Washington’s ELA result was the lowest of the two schools, but still 9 points above the state.

ELA results rose at both schools from 2024–25 to 2025–26, with Washington making the larger gain: about 16 points, compared with about 7 at Lincoln. The ELA gap narrowed from 21 points to 11. Math moved in opposite directions: Lincoln fell about 3 points while Washington rose about 3, leaving the two-school average essentially unchanged at about 68%. SchoolDigger’s statewide rankings also shifted: Lincoln went from the 98th percentile in 2023–24 to the 86th in each of the next two years; Washington moved from the 72nd percentile to the 70th, then the 83rd. In 2024–25, student-teacher ratios were 15 at Lincoln and 14.5 at Washington; the free/reduced lunch eligible measures that year were 7.4% and 6.6%, respectively. Both schools had 1.9% chronic absenteeism in 2024–25. These figures describe the two schools and do not explain why results differ.