The top reported proficiency rate is 74% in English language arts. The lowest is 16% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lakeside School
Lakeside School is the single public middle school for the Pompton Lakes School District, serving grades six through eight. The school sits in the small outer-ring suburb of Pompton Lakes, a compact borough of just under a few square miles located in a river valley northwest of New York City. Three rivers run through the town, shaping both its landscape and history. The borough has experienced very slow population growth in recent years, and its housing costs, while below the state median by some measures, are above the national average. Roughly a fifth of Lakeside’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that places the school in a particular economic context relative to other communities in Passaic County.
The student body of about 400 is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic representation and smaller numbers of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. Because this is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school does not offer advanced placement or career-and-technical education pathways in the way a high school would. Academically, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile among districts in Passaic County, according to the comparison set available. That aggregate position, however, masks a split between two very different subjects.
English language arts results are the school’s clear strength. In sixth grade, a large majority of students scored proficient, and seventh and eighth graders also posted strong proficiency rates. These are solid performances by any standard. Eighth-grade science results, by contrast, are quite low, with only a small share of students reaching proficiency. The greatest academic challenge lies in mathematics. The sixth and seventh grade math proficiency rates are near the middle of the range, but eighth grade math shows a steep drop, with only a small minority of students meeting the bar. That pattern, an eighth-grade math wall, is a place a parent moving into the district would want to understand better. It may reflect a curriculum shift, a cohort effect, or a school-level instructional challenge, though the data available does not specify the cause. The school’s science results, also only tested in eighth grade, are similarly low, reinforcing the sense that the eighth-grade year presents a tougher academic hurdle than the earlier middle school grades.
The school’s academic supports and program offerings were not detailed in the available data. Information on special education enrollment, English learner population, discipline rates, and chronic absenteeism was also absent, leaving noticeable gaps for a family trying to assess student support systems. The district itself has no recent publicly reported changes or major initiatives that surfaced in the search, so the current picture is largely one of stability.
For a family considering Pompton Lakes, the housing market is relatively active. The borough sits within a county where median listing prices have risen modestly and homes tend to sell or go pending within a short window. The commute out of the borough is typical for a suburban New York bedroom community, with most residents working outside the town. Six municipal parks, a state forest trailhead, and the three rivers provide recreational context.
Lakeside School offers a clear academic profile. The English language arts results are strong, and the overall performance relative to other Passaic County districts is favorable. The math and science results in the upper middle school grades are meaningfully weaker, and a family with a student heading into eighth grade would want to ask about math placement, intervention programs, and how the school supports students as they transition into algebra-level work. The gaps in the available data around special populations and discipline mean that families with students who have an individualized education program or who are English learners should inquire directly about those services. This is a school that performs well in literacy but faces a real challenge in eighth-grade math and science, a pattern worth investigating before enrolling.
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