Heights Elementary School, Oakland NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Heights Elementary School

Heights Elementary School is a regular public elementary school in Oakland, a primarily residential suburban borough in Bergen County, New Jersey. It serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and is one of the district's four elementary schools feeding into Valley Middle School. Oakland itself is a low-density, auto-oriented suburb with a small downtown commercial strip along Ramapo Valley Road, and its public school students through eighth grade attend schools within the Oakland Public School District. High school students attend Indian Hills High School, which is part of the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District serving Franklin Lakes, Oakland, and Wyckoff.

Academically, Heights Elementary's performance is a mixed picture. On the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA), the school's proficiency rates in English language arts show a clear upward trend across the grades. In third grade, just over half of students met proficiency, while by fourth and fifth grade, roughly three-quarters did, a solid result. Math proficiency rates were more variable. Third-grade math proficiency sat at about half, fifth-grade math was similar, but fourth-grade math was stronger, with roughly three in five students meeting the mark. Science proficiency for fifth graders, the only tested grade in that subject, was at about half. When compared to other districts in Bergen County, Heights Elementary's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint. The school's data does not include a chronic absenteeism rate or a graduation rate, which is expected given it serves only elementary grades.

The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial share of Hispanic students, smaller shares of Asian students and students of two or more races, and very small shares of Black and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. A very small portion of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on the share of students with disabilities and English learners was not available.

The school is situated within a housing market that carries a high cost of entry. Home values in the zip code are well above national and state medians, and the median listing price in Bergen County is also elevated, reflecting the region's desirability and limited inventory. The county's housing market shows a high supply score and moderate demand, with active listings and new listings both up compared to the prior year. This context means that families moving into the district likely face a significant financial commitment for housing.

The Oakland Public School District itself has recently taken steps to prepare for enrollment growth. According to district reporting, it entered into a lease for a wing of a local church to house Early Childhood Learning and special services staff, anticipating increased enrollment driven by new housing construction, including the approved McCoy Road Subdivision and other developments adding affordable housing units. This signals that the district expects a period of sustained growth, which could have implications for class sizes and the need for additional space and resources in the coming years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 61% · ▼ 11 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 65% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 65% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 357%

School 57% · District 67% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 473%

School 73% · District 76% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 18 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 81% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 54% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

This schoolOakland Public 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

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income30%Higher-income55%25 pp gap