The top reported proficiency rate is 81% in Math. The lowest is 73% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Memorial Elementary School
Memorial Elementary School serves pre-kindergarten through fourth grade in Montvale, a northern Bergen County suburb that mixes residential neighborhoods with a significant corporate office presence. The borough hosts U.S. headquarters for Sharp, Benjamin Moore, and Ingersoll Rand, among others, and is sometimes called "The Pride of the Pascack Valley." It is served by the Garden State Parkway and has a train station, though it lacks a traditional walkable downtown core. Retail is concentrated at The Shoppes at DePiero's Farm, a strip mall that includes the first Wegmans in Bergen County. The borough has seen steady population growth in recent years and is addressing state housing obligations.
The school itself is a regular public elementary school within the Montvale Board of Education School District. The district comprises just two schools: Memorial Elementary and Fieldstone Middle School, which serves grades five through eight. For high school, Montvale students attend Pascack Hills High School as part of the Pascack Valley Regional High School District, which also serves Hillsdale and River Vale. Saint Joseph Regional High School, a private Catholic school for boys, is also located in Montvale.
In terms of who attends Memorial, the student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Asian population and smaller shares of Hispanic and Black students. A very small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which suggests a relatively affluent peer environment. The school enrolls a moderate number of students across its early grades, with the largest grade being kindergarten. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a family for whom those support systems matter may want to ask the school directly about services.
On academic performance, Memorial posted strong results on the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments. In third-grade math, the proficiency rate was high. In fourth-grade math, it was also high, though somewhat lower than the third-grade level. In English language arts, third-grade proficiency was strong, and fourth-grade proficiency was also solid. Taken together, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Bergen County. This indicates that Memorial students, on average, are performing well above many of their county peers in the early elementary years.
The school does not serve grades that participate in state science assessments or high school graduation measures, so no data on those metrics is available. That is expected for a PK-04 building. There was also no data on chronic absenteeism or discipline, so a parent interested in those dimensions of school climate would need to follow up with the school or district.
In the community context, housing values in Montvale are substantially above both the state and national benchmarks, and rents are also high. The county housing market shows moderately priced listings and a modestly quick sales pace. This reflects a generally expensive market, which is common in northern Bergen County.
No recent major changes to district programming, curriculum, or facilities were identified from available sources. That absence is not unusual for a small, stable district. Families moving into the area may want to confirm current offerings in enrichment, special education, and early childhood programs directly with the school.
Overall, Memorial Elementary offers a strong academic start in a high-cost, suburban community within commuting distance of New York City. Its peer group is economically homogenous, and its test results place it among the stronger elementary schools in Bergen County. Families looking for a small, well-performing primary school in a borough with a corporate tax base and limited retail walkability will likely find it a comfortable fit. Those seeking more demographic diversity or a downtown setting will want to weigh that against the academic profile.
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