Hackettstown Middle School, Hackettstown NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Hackettstown Middle School

Hackettstown Middle School serves grades five through eight in the Hackettstown Public School District, a small Warren County district where all four schools sit within the town itself. The school is a regular public middle school, not a magnet, charter, or alternative program, and it draws from the town’s residential neighborhoods and the broader district attendance zone.

Academically, the picture is mixed. In English language arts, the school’s performance gets stronger in the upper grades. The share of students scoring proficient or above rises across each grade level, with the eighth grade reaching a level that is notably higher than earlier grades. In math, the pattern is less consistent; grade seven posted a higher proficiency rate than the other three grades, but fifth, sixth, and eighth grade all cluster at a lower level. Science results are soft in both tested grades, with a modest share of students meeting the state’s standard. Overall, the school’s combined proficiency across all subjects and grades sits below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Warren County. A parent may want to ask the school what supports exist for students who are not yet on grade level in math and science, and whether the stronger ELA performance in the upper grades reflects particular instructional approaches or cohort effects.

Student enrollment is typical for a middle school of this grade span, with the four grade levels roughly balanced in size. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic presence and smaller shares of Black, Asian, multiracial, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. More than two in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places the school in a moderate range for economic need. Data on students with individualized education plans and English learners was not available, so a parent who wants to understand special education or language support should contact the school directly. Participation rates for state assessments were also missing, which often reflects that the state did not report them rather than that students did not test, but a parent may want to confirm that participation was adequate to make the results fully representative.

The school sits within Hackettstown, a small town set in a valley along the Musconetcong River. The town has a traditional downtown with a Main Street corridor, a Centenary University campus embedded in the center, and a NJ Transit rail station that offers service to Hoboken and Midtown Manhattan. The dominant employer is the US headquarters of Mars Wrigley Confectionery, and Hackettstown Community Hospital and the school district itself also provide local jobs. The town grew modestly over the previous decade but has seen a slight population dip in the most recent estimate. Housing values in the zip code are moderate by New Jersey standards but above the national benchmark, and rents are high enough that renting may be a stretch for a typical household. The housing market is not as expensive as core suburban counties closer to New York, but it is not a low-cost area either.

The district itself did not have any recent major changes publicly reported. That may mean operations have been stable, or simply that news coverage of board decisions or facility work was not easily found. A parent looking for information on upcoming curriculum shifts or building projects should check district meeting agendas directly.

For a family considering Hackettstown Middle School, the school offers a standard middle school program in a town with a clear downtown, a rail connection to the New York region, and a stable if slow-growing population. The academic results suggest that the school does better in reading than in math and science, and the economic makeup of the student body is moderately diverse by income. The school is not a high-powered academic outlier relative to other Warren County districts, but neither is it at the bottom. A parent whose child needs strong math or science support may want to probe what interventions or advanced coursework are available, while a child who reads well will find grade-level peers performing at a reasonable clip by eighth grade.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 745%

School 45% · District 45%

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

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 32%

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

English language arts

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 46%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 5 pts above state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

▲ 6 pts above state median · even with county median

This schoolHackettstown 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-income36%Higher-income55%19 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income44%Higher-income56%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income47%Higher-income75%28 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income51%Higher-income71%20 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income16%Higher-income45%29 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income35%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income32%Higher-income58%26 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income18%Higher-income42%25 pp gap