The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in English language arts. The lowest is 27% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Gilbert Avenue School
Gilbert Avenue School is a regular public elementary school in Elmwood Park, part of the borough’s district. It serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, sitting within a long-established residential suburb of New York City in Bergen County. Elmwood Park is a dense borough, dominated by single-family and multi-family homes, with commercial strips along major routes. Bergen County operates under blue laws, which keep most local businesses closed on Sundays. The historical economic anchor of the town was the Marcal Paper Company plant; that mill was destroyed by fire several years ago, though paper manufacturing restarted under new ownership. The area’s growth appears to have plateaued in recent years, with population estimates holding steady after a moderate increase over the prior decade.
This school is one of three elementary campuses in the Elmwood Park district. The district also has a middle school and a high school, with each school situated on its own campus rather than clustered in a single educational center. Gilbert Avenue School itself is a mid-sized elementary building for its grade band, as measured by its local enrollment.
The student population is substantial for a primary school of this grade range, with a diverse ethnic mix that families may want to weigh for fit. The largest group of students is Hispanic, followed by white students, with smaller shares of Black and Asian students, and a very small number of students identifying with two or more races or as American Indian or Alaska Native. A meaningful share of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rough indicator of economic need within the school community. Data on the share of students with individualized education plans, or those classified as English learners, was not available in the state's reporting.
State test results are reported for each of the three tested grade levels, covering math, English language arts, and science. In third-grade math, about a quarter of students achieved proficiency, as measured by New Jersey's NJSLA standards. In fourth-grade math, a smaller share met that bar. Fifth-grade math proficiency came back at a similar level to third-grade. On the English language arts side, third-grade performance had a modest share meeting the proficient threshold, while fourth-grade ELA showed a notable drop. Fifth-grade ELA results climbed back above the fourth-grade level. Science testing, which is administered in fifth grade, showed a smaller proportion of students reaching the state's proficiency bar. When these results are considered together as a single measure of overall proficiency, the school’s average places near the bottom among all districts in Bergen County. The comparison pool includes the county's dozens of school districts, which range from middle-income suburbs to some of the highest-performing communities in the state; the position makes it clear that Gilbert Avenue School, as part of the Elmwood Park district, is not competing at the level of the county's strongest academic performers.
Parents reading these scores should keep the grade band in mind. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to examine. Chronic absenteeism data was also missing. This means the full picture of student engagement is partial. A parent may want to ask the school or district what supports exist for students who are behind grade level in reading and math, and how the school works to improve outcomes across the board. The building draws its students from the immediate neighborhood in Elmwood Park, so the housing market in this zip code is a direct factor in who attends. Home values in the area are elevated, as is typical for Bergen County, and rents reflect the same pattern. The local housing market has been active, with a tight supply that keeps prices high. The area is primarily auto-oriented, though NJ Transit bus routes provide connections to Manhattan, and major highways run through the borough.
No recent district-level changes such as curriculum overhauls, passed bond referendums, or major new programs showed up in publicly available accounts. The most significant district action identified, a bond referendum, fell outside the usual window for current relevance. For a family, Gilbert Avenue School presents itself as a neighborhood elementary option in a dense, commuting-focused suburb, with a diverse student body, modest academic results relative to the county’s high-performing districts, and no standout program offerings that could be identified from the available data.
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