The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in English language arts. The lowest is 53% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Livingston Avenue School
Livingston Avenue School is a regular public elementary school in Cranford, serving grades three through five. It is one of several elementary buildings in the Cranford Public School District. Because the school stops at fifth grade, the metrics that apply to high schools, such as a graduation rate, do not apply here. The school has no special charter or magnet designation, and its Title I status is not reported, which is consistent with a community where almost no students qualify for subsidized meals.
On state assessments, Livingston Avenue School performs at a level that places it in the top quartile among all schools in Union County districts. That is a clear strength. Across math, English language arts, and science, the share of students scoring at or above the proficient threshold is solid, with a notably high result in fourth-grade ELA. Science, tested at fifth grade, shows a lower proficiency rate, which a parent may want to discuss with the school to understand how the curriculum aligns with the state test. The comparison bucket used here is “relative to districts in Union County,” a large and diverse set of twenty-eight districts, so being in the top quarter is a meaningful signal.
The student body is small and largely homogeneous. The enrollment is modest for the three-grade span. Racially, the school is predominantly white, with a notable Hispanic minority and smaller shares of Asian and multiracial students; Black and Native American representation is minimal or absent. Only a very small fraction of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which points to an affluent community. Data on students with individualized education plans and English learners is not available, so it is not possible to assess how the school supports those groups from this source.
Cranford itself is a suburban township that functions partly as a bedroom community for New York City, with many residents commuting via the NJ Transit Raritan Valley Line from the Cranford station. The township has a downtown built around the train station and the Rahway River, with pedestrian plazas, restaurants, specialty shops, and a riverwalk. Three business parks bring inbound commuters as well, and Union County College’s main campus is located here. Publicly reported sources describe Cranford as a mix of historic neighborhoods and commercial districts, with active reinvestment downtown through transit-oriented development and a riverfront redevelopment project. The housing market reflects that desirability: home values and rents are well above state and national medians, and the county market shows strong demand with relatively low inventory. For a family considering a move, this is an expensive area with a competitive housing market.
Livingston Avenue School sits inside that context. It is a neighborhood elementary school for the upper elementary years, feeding into Cranford’s middle and high schools. There is no data on program offerings, staffing ratios, or chronic absenteeism, so a parent looking for detail on arts, enrichment, or student support beyond the core academic results may want to follow up with the district. The absence of special-population data also leaves a gap: without knowing the proportion of students with IEPs or English learner services, it is hard to gauge how the school distributes its resources. Given the district’s overall reputation and the school’s strong test performance, many families in Cranford would consider this a solid academic fit for a child in these grades, especially one who benefits from a low-poverty, high-resource setting. But for a family whose child requires targeted learning support, the missing data is worth investigating directly.
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