Long Pond School, Newton NJ - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Long Pond School

Long Pond School serves grades five through eight in Newton, New Jersey, as a regular public school within the Andover Regional School District. The school sits on the outskirts of Newton, a small town that functions as the county seat of Sussex County and the commercial, governmental, and institutional center for the surrounding rural area. Spring Street forms the town's walkable downtown spine, anchored by the Newton Town Green and the Newton Theatre. County government offices, the courthouse, Newton Medical Center, and Sussex County Community College are the major employers. Housing values in the area are above the national median, and the county housing market shows modest price growth and steady demand. The town's population reached its highest census count in 2020, with a slight decline estimated since, and active planning engagement is under way.

Academically, Long Pond School sits above the midpoint among districts in Sussex County on overall proficiency. On the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments, English language arts results are a clear strength across most grades, with particularly strong performance in the upper grades. Mathematics shows a pattern of improvement from lower to higher grades: early middle school results are softer, while seventh and eighth grade math results are notably stronger. Science results are an area where a parent may want to look into this further with the school, as proficiency is lower in both grades tested. The school's grade band means there is no high school graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available.

The student body is small for its grade band. About one in six students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a modest share. Racially and ethnically, the majority of students are white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not provided, so the school's special education and language support profile is not fully visible from the available information.

Long Pond School is part of the Andover Regional School District, which serves students from the towns of Andover Borough and Andover Township. No recent district-level changes such as curriculum overhauls, referendums, or tax shifts were found in publicly reported material. The school itself is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and operates as a middle school feeding into a high school elsewhere in the district.

For a family considering this school, the academic picture is mixed but leans positive. ELA is consistently strong. Math starts soft but climbs. Science is an area that would benefit from direct inquiry. The school's size means relatively small grade-level cohorts, which can support more individualized attention. The community is a county seat with an active historic downtown, a mix of residential and institutional uses, and housing costs above the national average. The district appears stable, with no major changes reported. A parent looking for a school where literacy results are a clear strength and where math shows improvement through the middle years would find this school worth a close look.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 642%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 766%

School 66% · District 66%

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 861%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 44 pts above state median · ▲ 41 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 580%

School 80% · District 80%

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 6 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 776%

School 76% · District 76%

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 890%

School 90% · District 90%

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Science

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 28%

▲ 1 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

This schoolAndover Regional School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income65%19 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income69%Higher-income79%9 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income91%Higher-income89%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income18%Higher-income50%32 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income46%Higher-income75%29 pp gap