Belhaven Middle School, Linwood NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Belhaven Middle School

Belhaven Middle School serves students in fifth through eighth grade in Linwood, a primarily residential suburban community in Atlantic County, about nine miles west of Atlantic City. The school is part of the Linwood City School District, a small system where Seaview Elementary feeds into Belhaven and students then go on to Mainland Regional High School, which is also located in Linwood and serves the nearby communities of Northfield and Somers Point as well.

The student body at Belhaven is not especially diverse. A large majority of students are white, with small shares of Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is very low, below what is typical in many public schools. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it does not receive Title I funding. Enrollment is spread fairly evenly across the four grade levels, giving the school a stable, predictable size for its grade band.

On state assessments, the school posts consistently strong results in English language arts, with strong majorities of students scoring proficient or above in every grade from fifth through eighth. Math results are more uneven across grades and a parent may want to look into this further with the school. In fifth and seventh grade, solid majorities of students are proficient, and the same is true for sixth grade. Eighth grade math is a notable soft spot, with only a modest share of students reaching proficiency. Science results show a similar pattern. Fifth graders post a moderate proficiency rate, while eighth graders score much lower. The overall picture is one of a school that performs in the top quartile among Atlantic County districts, but the eighth-grade math and science numbers suggest that some students hit a wall in these subjects. It is worth asking whether the middle school math sequence or science curriculum is preparing students well for the shift in expectations at that grade level.

The school operates in Linwood, a city that is essentially built out. It has a little over four square miles of land, much of it established suburban housing with a historic district along Maple and Poplar avenues. The population has been mostly flat over the past several censuses, with a slight recent uptick. Housing values in the zip code are above the national typical home value, and the county housing market shows that the typical home is not especially affordable relative to incomes. There are no major new developments documented in available sources, so the residential context is stable. Most daily needs require a car, though NJ Transit bus service runs along Route 9. The public library and municipal offices sit near the historic district, so the school sits within an established community rather than a fast-growing exurban one.

Because the district is small and stable, publicly reported information about recent strategic changes or initiatives at the district level was not readily found. That means a family considering this school may want to visit and talk to administrators directly about current priorities, especially around math and science instruction in the upper middle school grades.

Belhaven Middle School offers a solid academic experience for most students, particularly in reading and writing, and it serves a community where housing is expensive and the school population is economically homogenous. The eighth-grade math and science results are the main reason a parent might want to take a closer look and ask how the school is addressing the drop-off in those subjects. For a family that values strong ELA achievement, small class cohorts, and a stable suburban setting, Belhaven is a straightforward fit. For a family hoping for strong math and science preparation entering high school, the numbers suggest that not all students leave this building equally prepared.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above county median

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 63%

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

Grade 777%

School 77% · District 77%

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

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 30%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 576%

School 76% · District 76%

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

Grade 676%

School 76% · District 76%

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

Grade 785%

School 85% · District 85%

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

Grade 884%

School 84% · District 84%

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

Science

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 48%

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

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

This schoolLinwood City 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-income67%Higher-income78%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income60%Higher-income78%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income76%34 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income60%Higher-income63%3 pp gap