Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Fair Lawn NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Thomas Jefferson Middle School

Thomas Jefferson Middle School serves grades five through eight in Fair Lawn, a Bergen County borough that functions as a densely built residential suburb roughly 12 miles northwest of New York City. The school is part of the Fair Lawn Public School District. Fair Lawn has two NJ Transit rail stations, a historic planned community section called Radburn, and a sizable commuter population. The borough has seen steady population growth in recent years, and the most prominent local development story is the demolition of the former Nabisco bakery plant, which had been the largest employer and taxpayer before its 2021 closure.

The student body of roughly 1,100 is diverse in composition. White students make up a clear majority, with Asian and Hispanic students each representing substantial shares. Black students, multiracial students, and a very small number of Native American and Native Hawaiian students comprise the rest. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is modest, which places the school in a relatively higher-income context.

On the 2024-25 New Jersey Student Learning Assessments, Thomas Jefferson Middle School posted strong proficiency rates in English language arts across all four grade levels. The performance there is consistent and high, with every grade showing a rate well above the midpoint among districts in Bergen County when compared as part of the school’s overall academic index. Science results are more mixed. Fifth-grade science proficiency is roughly half of students meeting the bar, while eighth-grade science is lower, with a smaller share of students scoring at the proficient level. Parents may want to look into the science program further to understand the drop between the two tested grades.

Math presents a clear pattern of declining performance as students move up. Fifth and sixth graders show solid proficiency. Seventh grade is still above the midpoint among county districts but notably lower than the earlier grades. Eighth grade math is a hard spot, with proficiency dropping well below the middle grades. This sharp decline in eighth-grade math is a specific area a parent would want to discuss with the school, especially since it represents the largest academic weakness in the published data.

The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across all tested subjects and grades, sits above the midpoint relative to other districts in Bergen County. That positioning puts Thomas Jefferson Middle School comfortably in the stronger half of the county’s school systems, though not at the very top. The reader should note that the comparison is made at the district level, not school by school, since the same district data underlies the index.

No graduation rate applies here because the school does not serve high school grades. Chronic absenteeism data was not reported, and information on discipline, course access, staffing, and special population counts such as students with disabilities or English learners was also missing from the available data. If these areas matter to a family, they would want to ask the school directly.

The district brief turned up little in the way of recent major changes or strategic initiatives publicly reported, so those details are absent from this account rather than guessed at.

In terms of what this place offers a family, Thomas Jefferson Middle School delivers strong reading outcomes across all middle grades and solid math performance in the earlier middle school years. The eighth-grade math and science scores are the open questions. Fair Lawn’s housing market reflects a high-cost region typical of Bergen County, with home values well above national averages and the area remaining desirable for commuters. The school fits a family looking for a large, suburban middle school with a diverse student body, consistent ELA achievement, and a district positioned above the middle of its county academically, provided they are ready to engage on the math dip in the final year.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 576%

School 76% · District 68% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 677%

School 77% · District 73% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 65% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 43% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 585%

School 85% · District 78% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 684%

School 84% · District 83% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 783%

School 83% · District 79% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 882%

School 82% · District 80% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Science

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 44% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 34% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

This schoolFair Lawn Public 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 5Lower-income69%Higher-income87%19 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income77%Higher-income85%9 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income72%Higher-income86%14 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income65%Higher-income85%20 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income69%Higher-income77%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income72%Higher-income78%6 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income51%Higher-income73%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income41%10 pp gap