Netcong Elementary School, Netcong NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Netcong Elementary School

Netcong Elementary School, located in the small borough of Netcong in southwestern Morris County, serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The school operates from a building that was once the town’s high school, before that building was converted and the district shifted to sending its older students to Lenape Valley Regional High School, a separate campus shared with the neighboring communities of Stanhope and Byram Township. This arrangement means that Netcong Elementary is the sole public school within the district, and families with children in ninth grade and above will send them to the regional high school.

The school itself is a regular public school with a modest enrollment. Its student body reflects the town’s composition, with a large share of students identifying as Hispanic or Latino, followed by a substantial share of white students, and smaller groups of Black and Asian students. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a notable level of economic need within the school community. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the district directly about those programs and supports.

On state assessments, Netcong Elementary’s results show a pattern worth examining closely. Overall, the school’s combined proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile among districts in Morris County. In math, the share of students meeting or exceeding state standards was lowest at the upper grade levels and noticeably higher in fourth grade, which stood out as the strongest math cohort. In English language arts, the picture shifted more sharply by grade. The school’s eighth graders posted a strong result, with most students reaching proficiency, and sixth and seventh graders also showed solid performance, with a clear majority meeting the bar. By contrast, third grade results in both math and ELA were weaker. Science results, tested in grades five and eight, were low relative to the state standards, with a relatively small share of students scoring at proficient levels. The grade-by-grade variation suggests that performance is not uniform across the school, and a parent may want to dig into how individual classrooms and curriculum differ across grade levels to understand why certain cohorts perform much better than others.

The school’s setting in Netcong contributes to its character. The borough is a compact, less-than-one-square-mile town on the shores of Lake Musconetcong, with a walkable Main Street that includes restaurants, a professional children’s theater, and a train station offering commuter service to Hoboken and New York City. The town has grown steadily in recent years and has been designated a Transit Village, with recent infrastructure projects including the replacement of a historic traffic circle. The borough also received approval for a Highlands Center designation, which may shape future development. Housing in the area commands values above the national median, consistent with Morris County’s overall market.

For a parent, this school presents a mixed academic picture. It is not a consistently high-performing school across all grades and subjects, but its ELA results in the upper elementary and middle school grades are a clear strength that sets a positive trajectory for students moving into high school. The small size of the school and the district, combined with the fact that it serves all elementary and middle grades under one roof, may appeal to families seeking a close-knit environment where teachers and staff know students across multiple years. The town’s walkability and transit access add to its appeal for commuters, though the property values reflect that demand. The biggest open questions for a prospective family are probably how the school addresses the weaker areas in math at the middle school level and what academic supports are in place for the younger grades that showed lower results.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 55%

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

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 728%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 21%

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

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 53%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 758%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 881%

School 81% · District 81%

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 15%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

This schoolNetcong 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 3Lower-income17%Higher-income35%19 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income52%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income45%9 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income59%Higher-income61%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income54%Higher-income62%8 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income79%Higher-income83%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income8%Higher-income53%45 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income57%3 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income27%Higher-income35%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income18%Higher-income39%21 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income17%Higher-income39%22 pp gap