The top reported proficiency rate is 85% in Math. The lowest is 63% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Ho-ho-kus Public School
Ho-Ho-Kus Public School is the single public school in the affluent, compact Bergen County borough of Ho-Ho-Kus, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. After eighth grade, students attend Northern Highlands Regional High School, a separate regional campus located outside the borough that also serves three neighboring communities. The school itself is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and sits within a borough that is primarily a high-income residential suburb of New York City, with a small commercial core near its NJ Transit train station and a population that has grown modestly in recent decades.
The school is small in enrollment for a K-8 building in the state. Its student body is predominantly white, with a notable Asian population and smaller shares of Hispanic, Black, and multiracial students. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, receive special education services, or are English learners was not available, leaving a gap in understanding the school’s socioeconomic and support-need profile. A parent may wish to ask the district directly about these figures.
Academically, Ho-Ho-Kus Public School posts strong results on New Jersey’s state assessments. Across tested grades in math, a large majority of students meet the state’s proficiency benchmark in every grade level, with performance reaching very high levels in seventh grade. In English language arts, the pattern is similar, with strong majorities proficient in the early grades and very high proficiency rates in grades six through eight. These results place the school’s overall proficiency index in the top quartile among districts in Bergen County, a county with many high-performing districts. Science scores are more mixed: fifth graders show solid proficiency, while eighth-grade science proficiency is notably lower. A parent considering the school may want to explore the science curriculum and instruction in the middle grades.
Because the school ends at eighth grade, there is no high school graduation rate to report. The absence of a graduation rate is a structural feature of the grade band, not a reflection on the school. For families moving into the district, the high school pathway is Northern Highlands Regional High School, which operates under a send-receive agreement. Publicly reported information indicates that Ho-Ho-Kus and Northern Highlands extended this agreement through a fixed-price contract that escalates annually, with Ho-Ho-Kus paying a set amount regardless of how many students it sends. This arrangement carries clear financial implications for district taxpayers and families, locking in a known cost structure for the high school years through at least the mid-2020s.
The housing market in Ho-Ho-Kus reflects the borough’s affluence. Home values are well above the national median and the New Jersey state median, and they have shown an upward trend. The borough’s small land area and established residential character suggest that large-scale new development is limited. For a family considering a move, the cost of entry is high but the local school pathway through eighth grade is contained within the borough.
The school environment data is thin. No information was available on discipline rates, course access, staffing ratios, or chronic absenteeism. A parent evaluating the school environment beyond test scores may need to gather those specifics from the district directly. The locale brief offers a clear picture of the community: a walkable small downtown anchored by the train station, a historic museum, and a handful of commercial amenities, with most residents commuting to employment centers in New York City or along the Route 17 corridor. The school is integrated into this downtown footprint, while the high school sits on a separated regional campus a short drive away.
In summary, Ho-Ho-Kus Public School delivers consistently high academic performance in math and English language arts across its elementary and middle grades, placing it among the stronger schools in Bergen County on those measures. Its science results at the eighth-grade level are comparatively weaker, warranting a closer look. The student body is demographically homogeneous in terms of race and ethnicity, and key data on economic disadvantage and special services is missing, making it hard to assess the full support landscape. The school fits a family seeking a top-performing K-8 feeder into a regional high school within a high-cost, commuter-oriented suburb. The fixed-price send-receive agreement gives the high school cost structure a degree of predictability that some districts lack.
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