Memorial Middle School, Fair Lawn NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Memorial Middle School

Memorial Middle School serves grades five through eight in Fair Lawn, a Bergen County borough that functions as a bedroom suburb of New York City. The school is part of the Fair Lawn Public School District, and its roughly six hundred and fifty students come from a community that has seen steady population growth and a high rate of homeownership. The borough’s two NJ Transit rail stations anchor a commuter-oriented lifestyle, and the recent demolition of the former Nabisco plant has opened a large redevelopment site along a major route, a change that may shape the area’s future.

The student body is diverse. About half of the students are white, with a substantial Hispanic population and a notable Asian cohort. Smaller shares of Black, multiracial, Native American, and Pacific Islander students round out the enrollment. Roughly one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that places the school in a moderate range for the region. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source material, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.

On state assessments, Memorial Middle School shows a clear pattern. English language arts results are a strength across all four grades, with the large majority of students scoring proficient or above in each grade level. Math results are more mixed. In sixth grade, a solid majority of students met the proficiency bar, but in fifth and seventh grades the share was lower, and in eighth grade it fell further, with fewer than half of students reaching that level. Science results, which use a different proficiency standard, were lower still in both tested grades, fifth and eighth. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly around math and science support in the upper grades.

The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, sits below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Bergen County. That is a competitive county with many high-performing districts, so the context matters. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report.

Fair Lawn itself is a primarily residential borough with a large commuter population. It has two NJ Transit rail stations and a mix of single-family neighborhoods and commercial corridors. The Radburn section, a planned community from the early twentieth century, is a distinctive feature of the town. The closure of the Nabisco plant, which was the borough’s largest employer and taxpayer, has opened a large redevelopment site, and the long-term effect on the local economy and tax base is still unfolding. Housing values in the area are well above national benchmarks, reflecting the borough’s desirability as a commuter suburb.

The district brief turned up little in the way of recent changes or strategic priorities that would be of lasting interest to a parent. That may mean the district has been operating on a steady course, or that publicly available information is limited. A parent moving to the area may want to contact the district directly for any updates on programming or facilities.

For a family considering Memorial Middle School, the picture is one of a solidly performing school in a stable, commuter-oriented community. English language arts is a clear strength across all grades. Math and science results are more uneven, and the school’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint among Bergen County districts, a competitive field. The student body is diverse, and the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is modest. The school serves a single middle-grade band, so the experience is focused on that transition period before high school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 68% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 73% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 758%

School 58% · District 65% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 43% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 568%

School 68% · District 78% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 681%

School 81% · District 83% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 772%

School 72% · District 79% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 80% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 44% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 34% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below 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-income53%Higher-income72%20 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income72%Higher-income84%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income63%Higher-income75%13 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income67%Higher-income81%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income61%23 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income71%21 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income56%Higher-income58%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income53%14 pp gap