Harding Township School, New Vernon NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Harding Township School

Harding Township School serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade in a single building that functions as the entire school system for Harding Township. Located in New Vernon, the school sits in a community that is primarily residential, low-density, and notably affluent, with the surrounding area maintaining a rural, estate-country character rather than a suburban commercial corridor. The school itself is a regular public school and the only one operated by the Harding Township School District.

The student body is small in total enrollment, serving a handful of children at each grade level from kindergarten through eighth grade, with a modest prekindergarten program. The composition of the student population is heavily white, with a small share of Asian students, a similarly small share of students who identify as two or more races, and even smaller representations of Hispanic and Black students. A very small proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which aligns with the area's high-income profile. The school serves no high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and state testing data is available only for the grades that are assessed under New Jersey's system.

On state assessments, the school posts results that vary noticeably by subject and grade level. In English language arts, the share of students scoring proficient or above is strong across all tested grades, with performance at the later elementary and middle school levels reaching a high level. The pattern in mathematics is more uneven. Through the early elementary grades, math proficiency is at a high level, and it remains solid in the middle grades, but at the eighth-grade level the share of students reaching proficiency drops substantially, a sharp decline that a parent may want to explore with the school. In science, tested at fifth and eighth grades, the share achieving proficiency is around the midpoint at grade five but falls considerably at grade eight.

When compared against other districts in Morris County, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile. That positions the school as a strong performer relative to its county peers, though the dip in middle-school math and eighth-grade science is worth noting.

The community that feeds into this school is small and stable. New Vernon is an unincorporated community and census-designated place with a very low population density, no commercial downtown, and effectively no pedestrian street life. The area is dominated by historic homes on large lots, and the community has seen little population growth or new development in recent years. The housing market in the broader Morris County area shows a high median home value, and the specific ZIP code for New Vernon has been ranked among the most expensive in the country, which speaks to a very high-cost housing market for families considering a move into the district.

The district itself recently completed a voter-approved referendum that funded HVAC upgrades, roof replacement, and safety and security improvements at the school, a major infrastructure investment that carried implications for local property taxes. That project has been completed or is underway, and it represents a tangible recent investment in the physical plant of the single school building.

For families considering this school, the picture is one of a high-performing elementary and middle school in a very affluent, low-density, car-dependent community with an exceptionally expensive housing market. The school delivers strong early-grade results, particularly in English language arts, but the drop in math performance at the upper end of the middle school is a point that would benefit from a direct conversation with the school's administration. The absence of a high school within the district means that families will need to plan for a transition to a receiving high school elsewhere after eighth grade. The school's small size and single-building structure mean that students experience a contained, close-knit academic environment from the early years through the end of middle school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 389%

School 89% · District 89%

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

Grade 496%

School 96% · District 96%

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

Grade 589%

School 89% · District 89%

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

Grade 676%

School 76% · District 76%

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 779%

School 79% · District 79%

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

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 381%

School 81% · District 81%

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 79%

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

Grade 586%

School 86% · District 86%

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 681%

School 81% · District 81%

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

Grade 791%

School 91% · District 91%

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 891%

School 91% · District 91%

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

Science

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 54%

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

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 29%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolHarding Township 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.