Dual Language School, Fords NJ - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Dual Language School

Dual Language School is a regular public school serving grades four through eight in the Perth Amboy Public School District. Although it is a district school, its building sits just across the municipal line in Fords, a densely populated census-designated place within Woodbridge Township. This means the school draws its students from Perth Amboy but occupies a site in a neighboring community, a detail that matters for those navigating school boundaries and commute patterns. The school’s name signals a bilingual program, but no specific details about the dual-language model were present in the data available for this profile.

The student body is large for a middle-school grade band and overwhelmingly Hispanic. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a high-poverty context. Enrollment is uneven across grades, with the largest group in fourth grade and the smallest in eighth, which may reflect the school’s place as a feeder into high school. Data on English learner and special education populations was not provided.

On state assessments, the picture is mixed. In English language arts, proficiency rates trend upward across the tested grades: fourth grade shows about half of students meeting the bar, fifth grade a similar level, and sixth grade improves to a clear majority. These results are the school’s strongest academic signal. Math proficiency is lower across all three tested grades, with a notable soft spot in fifth grade where only about one in five students reached the proficient threshold. Science results, available only for fifth grade, are low, with a small share of students scoring at proficient levels. Overall, the school’s combined proficiency index places it below the midpoint among districts in Middlesex County, a comparison set that includes schools from a wide range of communities. A parent may want to ask the school about specific instructional strategies for math and science, particularly given the upward trend in ELA that suggests some grade-level programming is working.

Because Dual Language School does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism and discipline data were also absent from the available records, so those dimensions of school climate cannot be assessed here.

The surrounding community of Fords is shaped by major highway corridors—the New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway, and U.S. Route 1 all cross or border the area—making it a commuter-heavy suburb where most residents drive to work. The housing market in the broader Middlesex County area shows active inventory with moderate price growth. The CDP itself has experienced population decline in recent decades, and its land area has been redelineated, suggesting a stable or contracting residential base rather than a rapidly growing one. There is no traditional downtown; commercial and civic functions are strung along the highways. The school is embedded within this residential fabric, not on a separate campus.

For a family considering this school, the central question is how it fits as an academic pathway. Students enter in fourth grade with a range of literacy skills, and by sixth grade a majority are meeting state standards in reading, which is a meaningful strength. Math and science gaps are real, and the school’s overall academic standing is below the county median. The dual-language focus, if actively implemented, could be a draw for families seeking bilingual development, but the available data does not clarify the program’s structure or outcomes. The demographic profile points to a high-need student population, and the school is part of a larger district where recent publicly reported changes were minimal. Families should seek direct information from the school about its dual-language approach, how it supports math and science learning, and what the transition looks like for students moving on to high school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 22% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 20%

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

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 14% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 35% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 33% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Grade 665%

School 65% · District 36% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Science

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 11% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

This schoolPerth Amboy 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

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income42%Higher-income64%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income51%Higher-income47%3 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income48%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income64%Higher-income70%6 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income62%Higher-income61%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income65%Higher-income55%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income43%Higher-income36%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income29%Higher-income36%7 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income18%Higher-income28%10 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income32%Higher-income30%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income16%Higher-income26%11 pp gap