Madison Junior School, Madison NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Madison Junior School

Madison Junior School serves grades six through eight in the Madison Public School District, a single-borough system in southeastern Morris County. The school occupies a building on Main Street in the heart of Madison’s historic downtown, a compact, walkable borough about twenty miles west of Manhattan with a NJ Transit rail station that makes it a commuter town. Madison is also a college town, home to Drew University and adjacent to Fairleigh Dickinson’s campus, and its downtown includes the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts.

The school’s academic picture is strongest in English language arts. In sixth and seventh grade, proficiency rates are very high, and eighth grade ELA, while a step down, still reaches a solid level. Math tells a split story. Sixth and seventh grade math proficiency is also very strong, but eighth grade math drops sharply to a rate well below the school’s own standard. That steep decline is the kind of pattern a parent may want to discuss with the school, particularly around how algebra readiness or course placement works at the middle school level. Eighth grade science proficiency falls between the ELA and math extremes, landing at a moderate level.

Across all tested subjects and grades, Madison Junior School’s overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint among Morris County districts. That county-level comparison includes a mix of affluent suburbs, so the school’s position is a clear strength. The school is a regular public middle school, so there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available in the records we reviewed.

The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and a smaller Asian share. Black and multiracial students each make up a modest part of the enrollment. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is very low, reflecting the affluence of the surrounding community. Housing values in Madison’s zip code are high, and rents are correspondingly elevated, which shapes the economic backdrop families encounter when moving into the district. Information on special education and English learner populations was not reported in the data we had.

Madison itself is a small borough with a historic downtown, a mix of longtime residents and newer commuter families, and an active cultural scene. The district has recently shifted to full-day kindergarten, a structural change that matters for families with younger children, and budget discussions have included property tax increases in some years and a flat tax levy in others. Candidates in recent board elections have raised the possibility of a future facilities referendum, indicating ongoing facilities and enrollment pressure that may affect the middle school building or programs down the line.

Overall, Madison Junior School offers strong academic performance, especially in ELA and early middle school math, in an affluent, walkable suburban community with easy rail access to New York. The eighth grade math results are a clear soft spot that families should explore directly with the school, but the general academic profile is well above the county average. The student body has relatively little economic diversity, and the community’s high housing costs are a practical barrier for many families.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 681%

School 81% · District 81%

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

Grade 775%

School 75% · District 75%

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

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 27%

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

English language arts

Grade 687%

School 87% · District 87%

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

Grade 786%

School 86% · District 86%

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 866%

School 66% · District 66%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Science

Grade 845%

School 45% · District 45%

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

This schoolMadison 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 6Lower-income60%Higher-income88%28 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income60%Higher-income87%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income14%Higher-income73%59 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income84%38 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income46%Higher-income77%32 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income5%Higher-income35%31 pp gap