The top reported proficiency rate is 22% in English language arts. The lowest is 8% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Berkeley Terrace Elementary School
Berkeley Terrace Elementary School is a regular public school in Irvington, New Jersey, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is one of a dozen schools within the Irvington Public School District, a former Abbott district where the state funds school construction and renovation. The school sits on Grove Street in a densely populated, built-out township of Essex County, a short distance from the commercial corridor along Springfield Avenue and the Irvington Bus Terminal, a major NJ Transit hub connecting to Newark and New York.
The student body is large for an elementary school across these grade levels, and it is predominantly Black and Latino. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on the share of students with Individualized Education Programs and English learners was not available; a parent may want to ask the school about special education and English language support directly.
State assessment results from the most recent school year show that proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science are low across the tested grades. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above is a small single-digit figure in third grade and rises only modestly in fourth and fifth grades. In English language arts, the fourth-grade rate reaches the range of about a third of students proficient, while the third- and fifth-grade rates remain lower. On the fifth-grade science assessment, the proficient rate is very low. The school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among elementary-level schools within Essex County, a comparison set that includes schools from a wide range of communities across the county. A parent looking at these numbers should understand that Berkeley Terrace serves a student population with high economic need, and the results reflect the academic challenges that often accompany that context. Families considering the school may want to ask about specific interventions, tutoring, or academic supports in place.
Berkeley Terrace is embedded in a district that has made some recent moves parents should know about. The Irvington school board has approved budgets with no local tax increase for multiple consecutive years, a notable fact for property owners in a township that has historically carried a high property tax rate. The district added new pre-K classrooms for the 2025-26 school year, expanding early childhood capacity, which could be relevant for families with younger children. The 2024-25 budget also funded expanded STEM programs and new science labs and technology equipment at multiple schools, though it is not clear how much of that directly reaches Berkeley Terrace. In a separate development, the board voted in spring 2025 to request a state audit of special education services, citing concerns about out-of-district placements and staffing; a parent with a child receiving special education services will want to follow this closely and ask the school for current details on how services are delivered.
Irvington itself is a compact, heavily developed township of roughly a few square miles, with a central business district around Springfield Avenue that has a state transit village designation. The population has grown modestly in recent years after a prior decline, and the township’s Urban Enterprise Zone provides a reduced sales tax rate to encourage investment, though that status expires in a few years. The housing market in the surrounding zip code area shows home values that are moderately above the national benchmark, with rents roughly at the national norm, though the area is not cheap relative to local incomes.
The school does not offer college-level courses, career pathways, or a graduation rate because it serves only elementary grades. There is no chronic absenteeism data available for this school, and participation rates on the state assessments were not reported, so it is unclear how many students were absent on test days. A parent should check with the school about attendance patterns and what the school does to keep students in class. In summary, Berkeley Terrace is a neighborhood elementary school in a high-need, urban district where academic proficiency rates are low and the student population is almost entirely Black and Latino and predominantly low-income. The district is investing in early childhood and STEM infrastructure and has kept tax levies flat, but the core academic challenge at this school is significant.
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