Summary:
ZIP code 07721 has two listed schools: Cliffwood Elementary School, serving PK–3, and Matawan-Aberdeen Middle School, serving grades 6–8; no high school is listed. Their latest test results cover different grades, so they are best understood against state results for the same grade and subject. The clearest finding is that Matawan-Aberdeen was above state results across its latest middle-school ELA and math grades, while Cliffwood’s latest grade 3 results were below state results in both subjects.
Matawan-Aberdeen stands out in the latest results: its equally weighted grade 6–8 averages were 60% in ELA and 41% in math, compared with 53% and 34% statewide—advantages of 6 and 7 percentage points. Its grade 8 science result was 28%, 9 points above the state. Algebra I was especially strong: 100% were proficient in both the End of Course and grade 8 results, versus 40% and 75% statewide. Cliffwood was below the state by 8 points in grade 3 ELA (40% versus 48%) and 2 points in math (47% versus 49%). SchoolDigger ranked Matawan-Aberdeen 224th of 743 middle schools (70th percentile) and Cliffwood 797th of 1,331 elementary schools (40th percentile) in 2025–2026.
Recent changes point to different areas to watch. Matawan-Aberdeen’s ELA advantage over the state narrowed from 14 points in 2024–2025 to 6 points in 2025–2026, with the largest school-score drop in grade 7: 17 points. Its grade 8 science result, by contrast, rose 10 points, moving from 1 point below the state to 9 points above. Cliffwood’s grade 3 ELA shifted from 2 points above the state to 8 points below; its math gap narrowed from 4 points below to 2. SchoolDigger’s percentile ranking was fairly steady for Matawan-Aberdeen (68 to 70 from 2023–2024 to 2025–2026), while Cliffwood’s fell from 43 to 40. For 2024–2025, student–teacher ratios were 10.4 and 10.9, respectively; free/reduced lunch eligible was 35% at Matawan-Aberdeen and 49% at Cliffwood. These context measures do not explain the test results on their own.
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