The top reported proficiency rate is 64% in Math. The lowest is 61% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on William H. Ross Iii School
William H. Ross III School serves the youngest students in Margate City School District, covering preschool through fourth grade. The school is small and primarily feeds one elementary building before students move on to a shared upper-grade school in the district. Margate itself is a narrow barrier-island community on Absecon Island, about eight blocks wide from ocean to bay, with a year-round population that has been declining for several decades and skews older. The town’s compact residential grid and walkable business district along Atlantic Avenue mean the school is woven into the neighborhood fabric. Housing costs are high, reflecting the Jersey Shore location, and the rental market is tight.
The student body at Ross is overwhelmingly white, with small Hispanic and multiracial populations and negligible representation from other racial groups. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is very low, consistent with the area’s high property values and the limited share of families with school-age children in the local population. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available for this profile, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how those populations are supported.
The school’s academic performance on the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments stands out within Atlantic County. Overall proficiency across tested math and English language arts grades places Ross in the top quartile of elementary schools in the county. In third-grade math, a strong majority of students met or exceeded the state’s proficiency threshold. Fourth-grade math proficiency was lower, though still well above the county median. English language arts results were solid: about half of third graders scored proficient or above, while fourth graders performed at a higher rate. The school’s performance across these grade-level and subject combinations is consistently above the midpoint for the county, and in some areas it ranks among the strongest in the region. No multi-year trend data is available, so it is not possible to say whether these scores represent an upward or downward trajectory.
Because Ross only goes through fourth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. This is a function of the grade band, not a missing metric. Similarly, chronic absenteeism data was not available for this school. Given the small enrollment and elementary-only structure, family mobility and attendance patterns could look different from those at a larger K-8 or high school, but no specific figures exist in this profile to characterize them further.
The district brief turned up no recent notable changes such as referenda, curriculum shifts, or tax revaluations. A parent reading up on Ross will find a reasonably stable setting with no major disruptions publicly reported in the last few years.
For a family weighing this school, the essential picture is a small, high-performing elementary that serves an affluent, predominantly white community on a narrow, aging barrier island. The academic results are strong relative to other schools in the region, and the student body has very few students from low-income backgrounds. The community context matters: Margate has a shrinking population and a high median age, so the school enrolls a relatively small number of children. Housing is expensive, and buying in is a significant financial commitment. The school itself appears to deliver solid foundational skill development, but because it stops at fourth grade, any family considering it should also investigate the district’s feeder school for grades five and up. No information was available about enrichment programs, class sizes, or staffing ratios, so those are questions to raise directly with the school office.
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