The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in English language arts. The lowest is 29% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lillian M. Steen
Lillian M. Steen is one of two elementary schools in the Bogota Public School District, a regular public school serving children from prekindergarten through fifth grade. The school is embedded in the residential fabric of Bogota, a small, densely populated borough in Bergen County that sits on the east shore of the Hackensack River. The borough itself has a distinct split character: the western half is mainly suburban with storefronts along West Main Street and River Road, while the eastern half is highly industrial with busier roads, and a CSX rail line physically divides the two sides. Civic life is compact here, with Borough Hall, the police and fire departments, and the public library clustered near the municipal complex. Housing values in the ZIP code that serves Bogota are well above the national benchmark, and the county market has been active, making this a place where buying a home is a significant investment.
The school is a regular public school with no charter or magnet designation, and it draws its students from the surrounding borough. The student body is diverse: a majority of students are Hispanic, with smaller shares of White, Asian, Black, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a measure of household economic need. Although classification counts for special education and English learner status were not available in the data, the economic profile suggests the school serves a range of family circumstances.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed. In English language arts, performance rises with grade level. Third graders show a proficiency rate slightly below the midpoint, fourth graders climb to a level that is around the middle of the range, and fifth graders post a stronger result that sits above the midpoint. This upward trend in ELA suggests that students who remain at the school may be building reading and writing skills over time, though a parent would want to ask how this progression works in practice for different learners.
Math results are more of a soft spot. In third grade, a little over half of students met the state's proficiency bar, but by fourth and fifth grade, the share testing proficient drops by a noticeable margin and lands below the midpoint for both grades. This indicates that math achievement is an area where the school may be working to strengthen instruction, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school, especially if math is a priority subject for their child. In fifth grade science, the proficiency rate is lower still, placing it in a range that is well below the midpoint. Science is tested only at grade five in this grade band, so this metric represents a single snapshot.
When compared across districts in Bergen County on an overall proficiency index that averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, Lillian M. Steen ranks below the midpoint. This is not a measure of school quality or individual student growth, but it does give a sense of where the school's aggregate assessment results sit relative to a large set of peers in the same county.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to consider. The campus is one of four schools in a small district, with the others being a second elementary, a middle school, and a high school. For families with children spanning different age levels, this means transitions between buildings are part of the experience. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as budget votes, referendums, curriculum shifts, or property tax adjustments from publicly available sources, so a parent may want to check directly with the district office for any current initiatives or upcoming decisions.
This is a school that will especially interest a family already living in or looking to move to Bogota, given that public school attendance is tied to the borough. The student body is economically diverse and predominantly Hispanic, and the small-town walkable fabric of the western half means many families can get to school without a long car ride. For a parent weighing academic fit, the main takeaway is that the school shows a brighter picture in reading and writing as students move up through the grades, while math and science proficiency is where the numbers are lower. A family placing a high priority on strong elementary math outcomes would want to ask about class grouping, support services, and curriculum approach before enrolling. For a family looking for an intimate public elementary in a dense, established Bergen County borough, this school provides a straightforward neighborhood option with a community that is on the younger and more diverse side for its area.
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