M. Joan Pearson Elementary School, Delanco NJ

Original Research by School Decision on M. Joan Pearson Elementary School

M. Joan Pearson Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in the Delanco Township School District. The school is classified as a regular public school and is the elementary campus for the district. Children who live in Delanco move on to Walnut Street Middle School after fifth grade, and then attend Riverside High School through a sending-receiving arrangement with the Riverside Township School District.

The student body is racially and economically mixed. The enrollment is small, and about half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of household income that is above the national average for elementary schools. White students make up the largest single group, followed by Black students, Hispanic students, and students who identify as two or more races. There are small numbers of Asian and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students.

State assessment results from the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments are available for grades three through eight, even though the school only serves through fifth grade, which suggests some testing may be administered for older grades that are not housed here. On math assessments, the share of students scoring at the proficient level or above is low across all tested grade levels. A similar pattern appears in English language arts, where proficiency rates are somewhat higher but still well below state averages. Science results show that a modest portion of fifth graders meet the proficiency standard, while the share for eighth graders is very small. A family considering this school should be aware that the academic performance data indicates substantial challenges in reaching grade-level benchmarks in core subjects. The school’s overall proficiency index on state tests, which combines math and English results across grades, falls in the bottom quarter when compared with other districts in Burlington County.

No information about the student-teacher ratio, staffing qualifications, or special education and English learner populations was available in the data provided. A parent who wants to understand class sizes or the availability of support services would need to ask the school or district directly. No chronic absenteeism data or graduation rate is reported here, which is expected for a school that serves only elementary grades and does not have a graduating class.

The community of Delanco is a small township in Burlington County, situated along the Delaware River near Route 130. The area includes some light industry and distribution centers, though no dominant employer is documented in the publicly available information. Housing values in the broader market area are moderate relative to New Jersey as a whole. County-level data shows a healthy real estate market with rising inventory and a median listing price that has grown modestly over the past year. A home in this area would be priced below the state average, making Delanco relatively affordable for the region. Rents also sit below the state benchmark.

The Delanco Township School District appears stable in its operations. No recent changes of note, such as boundary shifts, program overhauls, or budget events, were found in the public record. The district’s structure as a small system feeding into a regional high school means that families commit early to a path that continues through the middle school and into Riverside High School. For a family weighing options, M. Joan Pearson Elementary offers a small, diverse elementary school setting in a modestly priced community, but the academic proficiency numbers are a clear soft spot that merits direct conversation with the school about instructional supports and interventions.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 45%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 511%

School 11% · District 11%

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 621%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 9%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 735%

School 35% · District 35%

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

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Science

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 86%

School 6% · District 6%

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

This schoolDelanco Township 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 3Lower-income15%Higher-income33%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income19%Higher-income28%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income12%Higher-income35%23 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income19%Higher-income48%29 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income25%Higher-income40%15 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income15%Higher-income36%21 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income31%Higher-income27%4 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income0%Higher-income11%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income6%Higher-income15%9 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income13%Higher-income27%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income0%Higher-income28%28 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income0%Higher-income14%14 pp gap