Original Research by School Decision on North Cliff School
North Cliff School serves the youngest students in the Englewood Cliffs School District, a small, affluent borough perched on the Hudson Palisades in Bergen County. The school covers pre-kindergarten through second grade, and with an enrollment of about that size for its grade band, it is the entry point for the district’s roughly two-school system. Because the school serves only early elementary grades, state testing data is not available—those assessments begin in third grade—so there are no proficiency or growth results to report. A parent looking for academic performance measures will find them at the district’s Upper School, which serves grades three through eight.
The student body is notably diverse in its composition. A large majority of students are Asian, with a smaller share of white students, and a modest number of Hispanic students. Black students and students of two or more races each make up a very small share, and there is a single Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander student. The school does not report the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, nor does it report counts for students with disabilities or English learners, so a parent seeking that information would need to ask the district directly.
North Cliff School is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it does not appear to receive Title I funding. Because it serves only pre-kindergarten through second grade, there is no graduation rate, no chronic absenteeism data, and no state assessment results to report. The comparison set that would normally place this school’s proficiency, graduation, and attendance metrics relative to other districts in Bergen County is not applicable here, for the simple reason that the school does not serve tested grades. A parent evaluating academic performance will need to look at the district’s Upper School for third-through-eighth-grade results.
The school sits within the Englewood Cliffs School District, a small district that operates two schools: North Cliff for the early grades and Upper School for grades three through eight. For high school, the district has a sending-receiving relationship with the Englewood Public School District, meaning students attend Dwight Morrow High School in neighboring Englewood. This arrangement is a key structural fact for any family considering the district: the elementary years are in Englewood Cliffs, but the high school experience is in a different community and school system.
Englewood Cliffs itself is a small, affluent borough. It is home to the North American headquarters of LG Electronics and the American headquarters of Unilever, as well as the world headquarters of CNBC. The built environment is a mix of quiet residential streets and corporate campuses, with no traditional downtown. The population has been roughly stable in recent years, and the housing market is expensive, with home values well above national and state benchmarks. The borough’s median home value has risen substantially in recent years, and the local market shows a high supply score and a moderate demand score, with homes typically selling quickly. For a family considering the area, the cost of entry is high, and the borough’s character is suburban and corporate rather than walkable or urban.
Because North Cliff School serves only pre-kindergarten through second grade, there is no state testing data, no graduation rate, and no chronic absenteeism data to evaluate. The school’s role is to provide an early elementary foundation within a small, affluent district that sends its high school students to a neighboring community. A parent considering this school will want to learn about the Upper School’s academic performance and the quality of Dwight Morrow High School, as those will define the full educational pathway. The school itself, for the early years, offers a small setting in a borough with a high-cost housing market and a stable, well-resourced community.
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