Ogdensburg Borough School, Ogdensburg NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Ogdensburg Borough School

Ogdensburg Borough School is a single small school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in the Sussex County borough of Ogdensburg. It is a regular public school and the only school in its district. Students in ninth through twelfth grades attend Wallkill Valley Regional High School, which also serves Franklin Borough, Hardyston Township, and Hamburg Borough; Ogdensburg students may also apply to Sussex County Technical School in Sparta Township.

Ogdensburg itself is a compact, low-density residential borough with deep mining roots. The Sterling Hill Mining Museum, a National Register historic site on the former Sterling Hill zinc mine, sits within the town. The borough’s population has been broadly stable in recent years. Housing values in the immediate area sit above the national median but below the New Jersey state benchmark, a pattern that puts the school within reach of families who want a suburban-rural setting within commuting range of the region’s job centers. The school building is part of the community’s small center, alongside Borough Hall, rather than isolated on a large campus.

Enrollment is small enough that each grade typically holds between one and two dozen students. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population composing the largest minority group; Black, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students are each a small presence. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a moderate share indicating a mix of household incomes. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available from the source we used.

State testing results offer a mixed picture that parents will want to consider grade by grade. In English language arts, the school’s proficiency rates land in a range that spans from roughly half to well above half of students meeting the state standard across grades three through eight. The third-grade cohort performed notably well in ELA. In math, the pattern is more uneven: third grade also showed solid results, and grades four, five, and seven showed proficiency rates clustered around the midpoint of the state’s scale, but sixth grade and especially eighth grade posted lower rates. The eighth-grade math result, in particular, was very low, and the tested count was small enough that a single cohort’s performance can shift the number substantially. In science, tested in grades five and eight, proficiency rates did not reach the majority mark. Overall, the school’s composite proficiency across tested grades and subjects sits just above the midpoint among the districts in Sussex County, an indication that its average performance is in the middle range of the county rather than at either extreme.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate or college-readiness data to consider. Advanced courses such as AP or dual-credit programs are not applicable to this grade span. Parents looking for data on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or staffing ratios will not find them reported in the data we used.

This is a school that suits a family seeking a small, local elementary and middle school experience in a stable, modestly priced northwestern New Jersey borough with historic character. The academic profile is strongest at the early elementary level in reading and math and becomes more uneven in the middle grades, particularly in math. A parent with a student approaching sixth through eighth grade may want to discuss math support and eighth-grade transition planning with the school directly.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 67%

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

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 48%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 9%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 370%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 45%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 656%

School 56% · District 56%

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

Grade 756%

School 56% · District 56%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 52%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Science

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 48%

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

This schoolOgdensburg Borough 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 4Lower-income39%Higher-income50%12 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income39%Higher-income44%6 pp gap