Roy W. Brown Middle School, Bergenfield NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Roy W. Brown Middle School

Roy W. Brown Middle School is a regular public school serving grades six through eight in Bergenfield, a densely built suburban borough in Bergen County. The school sits on its own campus on South Washington Avenue, separate from the borough’s commercial spine but within the same residential fabric of single-family homes on small lots and neighborhood retail.

The academic picture is mixed and worth a close look. In English language arts, the school’s results are solid. Across the three tested grades, a majority of students score at the proficient level on the state assessments, with the share rising in each successive grade. That upward trajectory suggests consistent instruction in reading and writing. In math, the pattern is the opposite. In sixth grade, roughly half of students meet proficiency, but the rate drops steadily through seventh and especially eighth grade, where fewer than one in five students score proficient. Science, tested only in eighth grade, also shows a low proficiency rate, with about one in six students reaching the state’s standard. Over all tested subjects and grades, the school’s composite proficiency index places it in the bottom quarter when compared with other school districts in Bergen County, a region that includes many high-performing systems. A parent considering this school will want to understand how the middle school supports students who are not yet meeting benchmarks in math and science, and whether the high-profile school’s ELA strengths extend into those subjects.

The student body is diverse. Most students identify as Hispanic, a substantial share as Asian, and smaller numbers as Black, white, multiracial, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Roughly a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a metric that roughly tracks with the borough’s socioeconomic range. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the material reviewed, so a parent should ask directly about special education and multilingual support.

Bergenfield itself is a dense, walkable borough with a strong sense of place. Washington Avenue is a mile-long commercial corridor with a Special Improvement District, and the borough is known for a sizable Filipino-American community and a growing Jewish community. Housing values are high relative to national medians, though typical for Bergen County. The school district participates in the New Jersey Interdistrict Public School Choice program, which allows students from outside Bergenfield to enroll, potentially broadening program variety and peer mix. No specific course offerings, extracurriculars, or staffing ratios were provided in the data, so a family would need to visit the school or its website to learn about electives, clubs, and teacher qualifications.

Roy W. Brown Middle School serves a single purpose: the three years between elementary and high school. There is no graduation rate to report. The school’s academic profile is uneven—strong in literacy, weaker in mathematics and science. For a family that places a premium on ELA development and values the borough’s tight-knit, diverse community, this school may fit well. For a family looking for consistently strong math and science preparation, these test results raise questions worth exploring further with the school itself.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 652%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 37%

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 18%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 662%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 766%

School 66% · District 66%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 869%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Science

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 17%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

This schoolBergenfield Borough 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-income54%Higher-income69%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income51%Higher-income74%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income60%Higher-income75%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income49%Higher-income55%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income24%Higher-income46%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income12%Higher-income24%12 pp gap