Little Falls Township Public School # 1, Little Falls NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Little Falls Township Public School # 1

Little Falls Township Public School # 1 serves students in grades five through eight and is the only upper-elementary and middle school in the Little Falls Township Public School District. The district also operates a primary school for pre-kindergarten through second grade and a school for third and fourth grade, so by the time students arrive at School #1 they are entering a building that consolidates the upper grades and prepares them for the transition to high school. The school is a regular public school; it is not a charter or magnet.

The student body is largely white, with a Hispanic population representing the next largest group, followed by a small Asian population and a very small Black population. Roughly one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that positions the school in a lower poverty context compared to many districts across Passaic County. The enrollment is moderate for a school covering four grades, with a fairly even distribution across fifth through eighth grade.

On the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments, the school posts English language arts proficiency rates that are solid across all four grades. Seventh grade stands out as the strongest, with a very high share of students meeting or exceeding expectations. Fifth, sixth, and eighth grade also show strong results in ELA, each with a clear majority of students proficient. In math, the picture is more mixed. Fifth, sixth, and seventh grade all show majority proficiency, with fifth grade producing the strongest results. Eighth grade math is notably weaker, with less than half of students reaching proficiency. This drop in eighth grade math is a pattern worth asking about; a parent may want to look into this further with the school. Science is assessed at two points, fifth grade and eighth grade. In fifth grade, a modest share of students are proficient, while eighth grade science shows a very small share proficient. That eighth grade science result is a soft spot in the data and may reflect the state's proficiency benchmarks as much as the school's instruction, but it is a clear gap.

When placed against other districts in Passaic County, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits in the top quartile. This is a strong position, meaning that, on average, students here are performing well above the typical district in the county. The comparison is at the district level, but since School #1 is the only middle-level school in the district, the result is effectively the school's own measure.

The school environment data is thin. Information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, and course access was not available. The school serves grades that typically offer some elective and exploratory courses, but without program data it is not possible to describe the breadth of offerings. Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report.

Little Falls is a primarily residential township in Passaic County, about twenty miles west of New York City. It has three distinct sections: Great Notch to the east, the downtown center, and Singac along the Passaic River to the west. The township's economy is a mix of light industrial and office-based businesses, with Montclair State University, located within the township, as a significant employer. The housing market reflects a typical New Jersey suburb with strong demand; the area has seen growth in active listings and new listings in recent months. The township is actively addressing its affordable housing obligations through a planning coalition, a sign of development pressure in a largely built-out community. The public school district is small, with just three schools total, and School #1 is the destination for the upper elementary and middle grades before students move on to Passaic Valley Regional High School, which also serves Totowa and Woodland Park.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 573%

School 73% · District 73%

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 47 pts above county median

Grade 668%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 52 pts above county median

Grade 765%

School 65% · District 65%

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

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 43%

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

English language arts

Grade 570%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 676%

School 76% · District 76%

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Grade 781%

School 81% · District 81%

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Grade 875%

School 75% · District 75%

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

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 42%

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

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 11%

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

This schoolLittle Falls Township Public 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-income59%Higher-income75%16 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income71%Higher-income77%5 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income67%Higher-income86%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income70%Higher-income77%7 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income66%Higher-income77%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income57%Higher-income71%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income59%Higher-income67%8 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income44%Higher-income42%2 pp gap