Keyport Central School, Keyport NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Keyport Central School

Keyport Central School is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through eighth grade in the Keyport School District. It sits on Broad Street in Keyport, a small waterfront borough on Raritan Bay in Monmouth County. The school is the sole elementary and middle school in the district; students move on to Keyport High School for ninth through twelfth grade.

Keyport itself is a dense, compact community that functions as a New York City commuter town. Its traditional downtown runs along West Front Street, one block from the waterfront, with a concentration of restaurants, shops, and live music venues. The borough was once a world-leading oyster supplier and later home to an early aircraft manufacturer; today it is designated an Arts, Cultural, and Entertainment Hub, reflecting an active nightlife and cultural scene. The borough’s small size means the school, downtown, and civic functions sit within close proximity rather than on separated campuses. Publicly reported information describes a slowly declining population over recent decades, though more recent projections suggest a slight uptick. The Bayshore Regional Strategic Plan, integrated into the county master plan, has focused on reviving the area’s economy by emphasizing traditional downtowns, dense residential neighborhoods, and the coastline.

At Keyport Central School, enrollment is in the middle range for a PK-8 school. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school serves a student population that includes families renting in the area; the local rental market is priced in line with the broader county. Home values in the zip code are above the national median, reflecting the borough’s desirability as a short-drive commuter location.

State testing results from the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment paint a mixed picture. In mathematics, proficiency rates hover around the midpoint in grades three through seven but drop sharply in grade eight, where the share of students scoring proficient or above is very low. English language arts scores follow a different pattern: proficiency rates are moderate in the early grades, rise to a stronger showing in grades six and seven, then fall back in grade eight. Science results, tested in fifth and eighth grades, are low at both levels, with only a small fraction of students meeting proficiency in grade eight.

When compared with other districts in Monmouth County, Keyport Central School’s overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades falls below the midpoint of the county. That comparison includes all tested grades and subjects as a single composite, so it captures the unevenness visible in the individual grade-level results.

Data on special populations, such as students with disabilities and English learners, was not available. Discipline records, staffing ratios, and attendance rates were also absent from the information provided. For a family considering the school, these are areas a parent may want to explore further with the district. The school does not offer a high school program, so families should expect a transition to a separate high school after eighth grade.

The Keyport School District itself reported no recent major changes of lasting impact in publicly available sources. The community’s compact, walkable character and its waterfront location give the school a distinctly local, small-town feel within commuting distance of the New York metropolitan area. A parent looking at Keyport Central School should weigh the uneven academic results, especially the steep drop in eighth-grade math and the low science scores, against the school’s central role in a tight-knit, amenity-rich borough where students live close to school, downtown, and the water.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 50%

even with state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 47%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 47%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 9%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 47%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 39%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 57%

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 762%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Science

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 86%

School 6% · District 6%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

This schoolKeyport 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 3Lower-income36%Higher-income70%34 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income38%Higher-income63%25 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income48%14 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income70%20 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income56%Higher-income70%14 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income35%Higher-income53%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income45%Higher-income57%12 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income41%Higher-income58%17 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income57%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income42%Higher-income55%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income27%Higher-income59%32 pp gap