The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in Math. The lowest is 40% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Jackson Avenue
Jackson Avenue is an elementary school in the Hackensack School District, serving students from preschool through fourth grade. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and sits within the dense, diverse urban fabric of Hackensack, the county seat of Bergen County, a roughly 12-mile inner suburb of New York City. The school's enrollment is large for a PK-4 building, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller shares of White, Black, and Asian students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
On state assessments, Jackson Avenue’s academic results are mixed and, in aggregate, place it among the bottom quarter of elementary schools within Bergen County, based on overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. In third grade, about half of students met or exceeded expectations in math, while just over a third did so in English language arts. Fourth-grade performance was more even across the two subjects, with roughly equal shares proficient in math and ELA, though both fell short of the share reaching proficiency in earlier testing. These scores suggest that the school’s academic pathway is one where a notable portion of students are meeting grade-level benchmarks, but a larger share than at many area schools are not. Parents may want to ask the school directly how it supports students who are below proficiency, particularly in early literacy, where the third-grade English result stands out.
The school serves only early elementary grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on special education identification and English learner status was not provided, though given the demographics and the district context, these are likely relevant categories. The school environment and access data, including discipline, course access, and staffing information, were also unavailable. A parent may want to request that from the school or district directly.
Hackensack itself is a small city with a walkable downtown, two NJ Transit train stations, and a bus transfer station that connect to New York City. The city has a mix of neighborhoods, from a residential high-rise corridor along Prospect Avenue to older single-family homes and garden apartments. Major employers include Hackensack University Medical Center, the county government, and Fairleigh Dickinson University. The city is growing, having reached its highest decennial population ever in the 2020 census. Housing values in the area are well above the national median, and the rental market is similarly elevated, reflecting the pressures of an inner suburb of a major metro region.
The district brief showed no recent major changes or initiatives that were publicly reported at the time of research, so none are reflected here.
For a family considering Jackson Avenue, the picture is one of an urban, diverse elementary school where academic proficiency is lower than the county average, particularly in reading at the third-grade level, but where the school serves a large student population in a dynamic and transit-connected city. The school's fit depends on a family's priorities around academic support, early intervention, and the kind of community experience they seek in a dense, multi-use small city.
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