The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in English language arts. The lowest is 52% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Highland Elementary School
Highland Elementary School serves third through sixth graders in the Midland Park School District, a small Bergen County borough that describes itself as having a small-town feel. The school is one of three in the district, sitting between Godwin Elementary (PreK-2) and Midland Park High School (grades 7-12). The borough itself is largely built out, with a mostly flat population trend in recent years, and its schools are spread across different neighborhoods rather than gathered in one central campus. A notable share of households in Midland Park have children, and the borough's own materials emphasize varied housing, recreational facilities, and public transit connections to Manhattan.
The student body at Highland is predominantly white, with a far smaller share of Hispanic students and very small numbers of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. A very small portion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the profile, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those support services and how they are staffed.
On state assessments, Highland's results show a clear pattern of stronger performance in English language arts than in math. In math, proficiency rates across grades three through six cluster together, with the highest figure in grade six. The school's English language arts results climb steadily with each grade, reaching a notably high level by grade six. Fifth-grade science results are the lowest across all tested subjects and grades, a point a parent may want to discuss with the school to understand how science instruction is structured in the upper elementary years. Compared with other schools across districts in Bergen County, Highland's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint of the county.
The school's academic program offerings were not detailed in the available data. As a regular elementary school serving upper-elementary grades, it does not offer the kind of course menus a high school would, and no special programs, magnet themes, or extended learning pathways were listed. A parent interested in what enrichment, intervention, or accelerated options exist in grades three through six would need to get that information directly from the school or district.
Midland Park is a small borough with a mix of residential neighborhoods and commercial strips. The main north-south road divides the town, and commercial activity concentrates in a shopping center in the southeast and a quieter business area near the Wortendyke neighborhood. Street life is limited to these nodes rather than forming a continuous downtown. The housing market in the area commands a high price relative to national benchmarks, and the typical home value in the zip code is well above the state average. Bergen County's housing market has been active, with a substantial number of new listings and pending sales, though the median listing price has held fairly steady. The affordability picture is tight; the estimated monthly mortgage payment is significant, and rent consumes a large share of typical household income. Families moving into the district for the schools should expect a high-cost housing market.
The search for recent district-level changes or strategic priorities turned up little publicly reported information, so the narrative leaves that space empty rather than speculating. What is clear is that Highland Elementary operates as a straightforward, upper-elementary school in a stable, largely built-out suburban community where the academic results in English language arts are a clear strength, math is solidly above the county midpoint, and science is an area a prospective family may want to explore further with the school.
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