The top reported proficiency rate is 65% in English language arts. The lowest is 46% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Mark Newbie Elementary School
Mark Newbie Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in the Collingswood Public School District, a regular public school that draws from the borough’s residential neighborhoods. The school is small, with an enrollment that reflects the grade band it covers, and operates within a district that runs nine schools overall. Collingswood itself is a densely populated borough that blends Victorian-era homes and Cape Cods with newer loft apartments, and its downtown along Haddon Avenue is known for restaurants, galleries, and a Saturday farmers’ market held under the PATCO line. The PATCO station connects the borough directly to Philadelphia, a short rail ride east, and many residents commute into the city.
About a fifth of the students at Mark Newbie qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places the school in a moderate range for economic diversity in the area. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population that makes up the next-largest group, followed by students who identify with two or more races and a small Black student population. The school’s demographic mix is broadly consistent with the borough’s overall composition. Data on the share of students with individualized education plans or English learner status was not available, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about special education and language support offerings.
On state assessments, Mark Newbie’s results vary by grade and subject. In English language arts, the school shows a clear upward trajectory as students move through the grades: third-grade proficiency is below half of students tested, fourth grade reaches a strong majority, and fifth grade posts the highest ELA results in the school, with more than three-quarters of students meeting the state’s proficiency standard. Math scores are more mixed across grades, with the highest proficiency in fourth grade, followed by third, and fifth grade results trailing each of those. In science, the only tested subject in fifth grade, just under half of students reached the state’s proficiency benchmark. When taking the school’s performance across all tested subjects and grades together, the overall proficiency index lands in the top quartile among Camden County schools, a strong relative position. The pattern suggests that foundational literacy skills are built effectively by the upper elementary years, while math performance may warrant a closer look, especially for families whose children are headed into middle school.
Because this is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report and no data on chronic absenteeism, so those dimensions of school quality are not part of this picture. The school is not a charter or magnet, and its program offerings beyond the core curriculum were not detailed in the available data. The Collingswood district itself did not return records of recent major changes such as a referendum, boundary shift, or curriculum overhaul, so the school’s context appears stable in terms of district-level direction.
The housing market in Collingswood has been active, with home values and rents both rising in recent years, reflecting the borough’s appeal as a walkable, transit-connected suburb close to Philadelphia. The combination of a small elementary school within a tight-knit town, a PATH-accessible commute, and a lively downtown gives the school a neighborhood-school feel that suits families looking for an integrated community rather than a large, program-heavy campus. For a parent weighing options, Mark Newbie offers solid proficiency results that are strong relative to county peers, especially in upper-grade reading, but the variation in math scores and the absence of publicly available detail on special populations and enrichment programs are areas where a visit and a conversation with the principal would be worthwhile.
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