The top reported proficiency rate is 61% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Franklin D Roosevelt Elementary School
Franklin D Roosevelt Elementary School is one of five public schools in North Arlington, a densely populated borough at the southern edge of Bergen County. The school serves children in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, making it a neighborhood entry point for families with young children. Students move on to North Arlington Middle School for grades six through eight.
North Arlington itself is a small, urban borough that blends residential streets with commercial corridors and a sizable cemetery that covers nearly an eighth of the borough’s land. It was ranked by a national magazine as one of the best places to live, cited for its economy and home affordability. Major employers include a FedEx freight distribution facility, the cemetery, and the school district. The borough’s five schools are spread through its street grid rather than clustered on a single campus, so Roosevelt Elementary is one of several elementary options within walking distance of different neighborhoods.
The school enrolls a modest number of students for its grade band. The student body is roughly evenly split between Hispanic and White children, with smaller shares of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. About three in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a share that sits below what many New Jersey districts report. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the public record, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those programs and supports.
On state assessments, the school’s profile is mixed. In English language arts, proficiency rates across grades three, four, and five cluster near the three-in-five mark, meaning most students meet the state’s bar. That is a solid result for a small elementary. In math, the picture is less consistent. Proficiency in grade three sits near the halfway point, dips slightly in grade four, and drops to roughly a quarter of students in grade five. The downward trajectory through the upper elementary years is worth a close look. Science results for grade five show that no student reached the proficient level on the state’s science assessment. That is a clear soft spot. Because science is tested only once in elementary school, it may not reflect the full curriculum, but a family moving in may want to ask how the school builds science learning across all grades.
When compared with other schools in Bergen County, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades lands in the bottom quarter of the county’s districts. That comparison is somewhat broad — it lines the school’s elementary results up against district-wide averages that include middle and high school students — but it still signals that overall performance here trails many neighbors.
The school is a regular public school. Program offerings, such as art, music, or enrichment, were not reported in the available data. No recent changes to the district’s curriculum, boundaries, or funding were found in public sources.
For a family weighing this school, the strengths are in early-grade English language arts. The math decline and the science result are the areas to dig into. The community is dense, walkable in parts, and has a mix of older homes and newer industrial development. Roosevelt Elementary sits within a small district where children will move through a single middle school and high school, giving a degree of continuity. The missing pieces — special education and English learner support, class sizes, enrichment — are best answered by a visit and a conversation with the school’s principal.
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