Schools in Zip Code 08831

Zip code 08831 has 11 schools—seven elementary, two middle, one high school and one alternative—serving students from early grades through high school. Test results are reported for nine schools; Barclay Brook School serves through grade 2 and has no supplied test scores, and Academy Learning Center also has none. The most important finding for families is how sharply results differ between schools serving the same grade: fourth-grade ELA proficiency was 78% at Applegarth Elementary and 19% at John F. Kennedy Elementary, a 59-point gap.

Oak Tree Elementary led the reported third-grade results, with 72% proficient in ELA and 80% in math; Applegarth led grades 4 and 5, including 78% in fourth-grade ELA and 81% in fourth-grade math. John F. Kennedy was lowest in both subjects in grades 3, 4 and 5, and all six results were below state levels. Middle-school results also separate sharply: Monroe Township Middle outscored Grace M. Breckwedel Middle in every shared grade and subject, with gaps of 32–41 points in ELA and 34–38 points in math. One notable exception at Breckwedel was eighth-grade Algebra I: 80% were proficient, about 6 points above the state. Monroe Township High also exceeded the state in several measures, including grade 11 NJGPA math, at 81% versus 61%; its Algebra I result was a mixed picture, above state in grade 9 but below state in the end-of-course comparison.

Recent results were mixed rather than showing broad improvement: across 36 comparable elementary and middle-school subject-and-grade results, the combined change in schools’ gaps from the state was −9 points. For example, Brookside’s third-grade ELA rose 16 points, while Monroe Township Middle’s ELA and math results fell in all three grades. SchoolDigger ranked Oak Tree at the 91st statewide percentile (5 stars), Monroe Township Middle at the 88th (4 stars), and Brookside at the 75th (4 stars); Oak Tree’s ranking was down 4 percentile points from 2023–2024, while John F. Kennedy’s fell 8 points, to the 19th percentile. The free/reduced lunch eligible measure for 2024–2025 ranged from 6% at Applegarth to 66% at Grace M. Breckwedel, useful context but not an explanation for scores. Ratios also do not line up simply with results: John F. Kennedy’s student–teacher ratio was 9.3, lower than Oak Tree’s 14.1, despite its lower test results.