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Best Public Schools in Zip Code 08534

New rankings! New Jersey test scores for the 2025-26 school year were just released — SchoolDigger posted updated rankings this week.

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At a glance

Schools

2,934

Students

Districts

5-star schools

Top rankedToll Gate Grammar School73^rd of 1,331 New Jersey elementary schools

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Biggest riser

Toll Gate Grammar School up 118 spots statewide this year

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Smallest classes

Toll Gate Grammar School 7.7 students per teacher

SchoolDigger ratings

5★

4★

3★

2★

2 schools without a SchoolDigger rating (too few tested students)

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Summary:

ZIP code 08534 has eight listed schools—two elementary, one middle and five high schools—covering traditional district schools and county technical programs; 2025–2026 test results are available for six. Both elementary schools scored above state rates in every reported grade-level ELA and math comparison, and Timberlane Middle School was well above state rates in ELA in grades 6–8. The most important finding is that high-school results vary sharply by program, so an area-wide average would hide meaningful differences.

Toll Gate Grammar School leads many elementary comparisons: it reached 93% in grade 5 math and 75% in grade 5 science, while Stony Brook Elementary School led grade 4 ELA at 81%. At Timberlane, ELA exceeded state rates by 26 points in grade 6, 30 in grade 7 and 25 in grade 8; grade 8 math was a weaker spot, at 20% versus 23% statewide. Among high schools, Hopewell Valley Central High School and Mercer County Technical School STEM Academy had grade 9 ELA results of 76% and 72%, compared with 28% at Mercer County Technical School Culinary Arts Academy. Central also led grade 9 Algebra I (35%); Culinary Arts was lowest at 4%, against 22% statewide. Central’s grade 11 science result was 63%, versus 52% at STEM and 25% at Culinary Arts. The two other listed high schools, MCVS Assunpink Shared Time Center/Rubino and MCVS Arthur R. Sypek Center, have no supplied test-score results.

Recent changes are mixed: Toll Gate’s grade 3 ELA rose 21 points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while Stony Brook’s grade 5 science fell 24 points. Timberlane’s grade 8 ELA rose 11 points, but its grade 7 math fell 9; Central’s grade 9 ELA rose 10 points, while STEM’s fell 12. SchoolDigger’s 2025–2026 rankings put Toll Gate at the 95th percentile, Stony Brook at the 91st, Timberlane at the 83rd and Central at the 86th; STEM dropped from the 93rd percentile in 2023–2024 to the 64th, while Culinary Arts moved from the 31st to the 33rd. As context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 5% at Toll Gate and 13% at Stony Brook; their student–teacher ratios were 7.7 and 9.5, respectively. These measures describe school settings, not the cause of score differences.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				NJGPA English Language Arts (2026)	NJGPA Mathematics (2026)	NJSLA-S Science (2026)			NJSLA English Language Arts (2026)							NJSLA Mathematics (2026)						NJSLA Algebra I (2026)					NJSLA Geometry (2026)					NJSLA Algebra II (2026)			Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/reduced lunch (2024-25)	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2026)	Statewide Rank (2026)	State Percentile (2026)	SchoolDigger Rating (2026)	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	Rank Change from Previous Year	NJGPA English Language Arts 11th Grade	NJGPA Mathematics 11th Grade	NJSLA-S Science 5th Grade	NJSLA-S Science 8th Grade	NJSLA-S Science 11th Grade	NJSLA English Language Arts 3rd Grade	NJSLA English Language Arts 4th Grade	NJSLA English Language Arts 5th Grade	NJSLA English Language Arts 6th Grade	NJSLA English Language Arts 7th Grade	NJSLA English Language Arts 8th Grade	NJSLA English Language Arts 9th Grade	NJSLA Mathematics 3rd Grade	NJSLA Mathematics 4th Grade	NJSLA Mathematics 5th Grade	NJSLA Mathematics 6th Grade	NJSLA Mathematics 7th Grade	NJSLA Mathematics 8th Grade	NJSLA Algebra I 6th Grade	NJSLA Algebra I 7th Grade	NJSLA Algebra I 8th Grade	NJSLA Algebra I 9th Grade	NJSLA Algebra I End of Course	NJSLA Geometry 7th Grade	NJSLA Geometry 8th Grade	NJSLA Geometry 9th Grade	NJSLA Geometry 10th Grade	NJSLA Geometry End of Course	NJSLA Algebra II 8th Grade	NJSLA Algebra II 9th Grade	NJSLA Algebra II End of Course	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Stony Brook Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	20 Stephenson Road	Pennington	08534	Mercer County	Hopewell Valley Regional School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(609) 737-4006	395	41	9.5	12.7%	149 (37.7%)	33 (8.4%)	40 (10.1%)	165 (41.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.0%)	89.5	117^th of 1331 public elementary schools	91.2%		92.6	68^th of 1347 public elementary schools	95.0%	49			52.0			73.0	81.0	69.3					78.8	76.0	74.6																	$19,796	$347	$19,449
Hopewell Valley Central High School	Public	9-12	259 Pennington Titusville Rd	Pennington	08534	Mercer County	Hopewell Valley Regional School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(609) 737-4003	1,068	105	10.1	6.1%	741 (69.4%)	41 (3.8%)	73 (6.8%)	165 (15.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (4.1%)	78.3	61^st of 434 public high schools	85.9%		73.5	76^th of 434 public high schools	82.5%	15	89.7	85.2			62.6							75.6										34.5	34.5			67.6		67.6		50.0	50.0	$18,686	$344	$18,342
Toll Gate Grammar School	Public	PK, KG-5	275 So Main Street	Pennington	08534	Mercer County	Hopewell Valley Regional School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(609) 737-4008	299	39	7.7	4.7%	239 (79.9%)	8 (2.7%)	15 (5.0%)	29 (9.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	7 (2.3%)	92.4	73^rd of 1331 public elementary schools	94.5%		85.3	191^st of 1347 public elementary schools	85.8%	118			75.0			75.9	69.0	81.8					81.1	75.9	93.2																	$19,638	$290	$19,348
Timberlane Middle School	Public	6-8	51 S Timberlane Drive	Pennington	08534	Mercer County	Hopewell Valley Regional School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(609) 737-4004	803	83	9.7	6.6%	544 (67.7%)	30 (3.7%)	55 (6.8%)	133 (16.6%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	37 (4.6%)	79.4	124^th of 743 public middle schools	83.3%		76.5	147^th of 752 public middle schools	80.5%	23				38.8					76.7	85.3	78.3					57.4	45.2	20.4		94.4	69.9		79.4		93.7			94.1				$18,474	$335	$18,139
MCVS Assunpink Shared Time Center/Rubino	Public	7-12	1085 Old Trenton Rd	Trenton	08534	Mercer County	Area Vocational Technical School District of Mercer County	No	(n/a)	No	No	(609) 586-2129	96	10	10.1	66.7%	8 (8.3%)	66 (68.8%)	21 (21.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								(n/a)																																$11,418	$555	$10,863
MCVS Arthur R. Sypek Center	Public	11-12	129 Bull Run Road	Pennington	08534	Mercer County	Area Vocational Technical School District of Mercer County	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(609) 737-9784	21	18	1.2	52.4%	8 (38.1%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (57.1%)	1 (4.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								(n/a)																																$13,712	$653	$13,059
Mercer County Technical School Culinary Arts Academy	Public	9-12	129 Bull Run Road	Pennington	08534	Mercer County	Area Vocational Technical School District of Mercer County	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(609) 737-9784	111	7	16.0	64.9%	19 (17.1%)	19 (17.1%)	73 (65.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	33.7	292^nd of 434 public high schools	32.7%		35.9	285^th of 434 public high schools	34.3%	7	80.0	75.0			25.0							28.2										3.6	3.6									$18,387	$959	$17,428
Mercer County Technical School STEM Academy	Public	9-12	129 Bull Run Road	Pennington	08534	Mercer County	Area Vocational Technical School District of Mercer County	No	(n/a)	No	No	(609) 737-9784	141	6	21.9	39.7%	32 (22.7%)	19 (13.5%)	66 (46.8%)	22 (15.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	59.1	157^th of 434 public high schools	63.8%		73.5	75^th of 434 public high schools	82.7%	82					51.8							71.5										26.1	26.1			57.9		55.0				$18,607	$970	$17,637

Cities Near Zip Code 08534

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Pennington	1.12 mi	7	139^th
Lawrenceville	3.24 mi	7	314^th
Hopewell	3.88 mi	2	123^rd
Ewing	4.18 mi	5	493^rd
Titusville	4.25 mi	1	55^th

See the top NJ New Jersey cities

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.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.