Polk Street School, North Bergen NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Polk Street School

Polk Street School is a regular public school in North Bergen, serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It is a neighborhood school within the North Bergen School District, drawing from the dense, hilly residential blocks that define this Hudson County township. With an enrollment in the low hundreds, it is a relatively small school for a K-8 building, and every enrolled student identifies as Hispanic. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the community it serves.

The state testing picture for the most recent school year shows very low proficiency rates across all tested subjects and grade levels. In math, the share of students reaching proficiency in grades three through eight was in the single digits or low teens, with several grade levels reporting zero percent proficient. English language arts results followed a similar pattern: no third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh graders met the proficiency bar, and only a small fraction of eighth graders did. Science results in both grade five and grade eight also reported zero percent proficiency. Compared to other districts in Hudson County, Polk Street’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. A parent considering this school would want to ask the school directly about academic support, intervention strategies, and how instruction is being tailored to help students meet grade-level expectations.

Because Polk Street serves only grades K through eight, there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available in the source material. The school does not appear to offer specialized magnet or charter programming; it operates as a standard district elementary and middle school. No data on course access, staffing ratios, or discipline was provided, so those dimensions of school life remain uncharacterized here.

The community around the school is North Bergen, one of the most densely populated municipalities in the country. The township’s topography is extreme, with steep hills that rival San Francisco for density of slopes. Bergenline Avenue, a continuous commercial corridor lined with hundreds of stores and restaurants, functions as the main street, while the school itself sits in a residential area off that spine. Walkability is high along the commercial avenues but limited on the steep side streets. NJ Transit buses connect residents to New York City and neighboring towns, and a sizable share of the workforce commutes to Manhattan. The area has seen steady population growth over the past decades, though recent estimates suggest a modest decline from the 2020 census. Housing values in the zip code are moderate for the region but well above the national median, and rents are high relative to household incomes, making affordability a challenge for many families. The district has not publicly reported any major recent changes, such as boundary shifts or program overhauls, that would affect a family’s decision.

For a family considering Polk Street, the core takeaway is straightforward. This is a small, predominantly Hispanic, high-poverty K-8 school in a dense urban township with a steep terrain and a strong commuter culture. Its state test results are among the lowest in the county, and a parent should expect to engage closely with the school to understand what academic supports, tutoring, or individualized plans are available. The school’s size and community feel may appeal to families who want a neighborhood school where their child is known, but the academic numbers are a soft spot that warrants direct conversation with the principal and teaching staff.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 318%

School 18% · District 34% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 413%

School 13% · District 32% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 28% · ▼ 28 pts below district

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

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 23% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 74%

School 4% · District 27% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 15% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 30%

School 0% · District 28% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 45 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 40% · ▼ 40 pts below district

▼ 55 pts below state median · ▼ 49 pts below county median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 39% · ▼ 39 pts below district

▼ 54 pts below state median · ▼ 49 pts below county median

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 41% · ▼ 41 pts below district

▼ 54 pts below state median · ▼ 51 pts below county median

Grade 70%

School 0% · District 45% · ▼ 45 pts below district

▼ 57 pts below state median · ▼ 54 pts below county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 49% · ▼ 45 pts below district

▼ 53 pts below state median · ▼ 50 pts below county median

Science

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 17% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 8% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

This schoolNorth Bergen 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.