Woodside Elementary School, River Vale NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Woodside Elementary School

Woodside Elementary School is one of two elementary schools in the River Vale Public School District, serving kindergarten through fifth grade in a small, regular public school setting. It is located in a residential suburban township in Bergen County's Pascack Valley, a community of single-family homes with a small commercial district at Rivervale Road and no traditional downtown. The school sits on its own campus, and students move on to Holdrum Middle School within the district for grades six through eight, then attend Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale as part of the Pascack Valley Regional High School District.

Academically, Woodside's performance on the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments places it firmly above the midpoint among the county's school districts, which is a solid standing for a Bergen County elementary school. Reading and language arts results are a clear strength, with a strong majority of students in both fourth and fifth grade achieving the proficient level or above. Math results are also on the positive side, with a slightly lower but still solid majority of students meeting the proficiency bar across all three tested grades. Science proficiency, which is only tested in fifth grade, sees a smaller majority reaching the state's benchmark. A parent would find that the academic picture here is one of consistent, above-average performance, with a notably strong showing in literacy.

A family looking at this school is buying into a stable, low-density suburban environment with limited walkability. There is no rail station in River Vale, but bus service to New York City and train access in neighboring towns are available. The housing market is expensive; the area carries a high price-to-income ratio, which reflects the premium placed on living in this school district. The community has seen modest population growth and some development pressure on remaining undeveloped watershed land, but no major new housing projects were identified in available search results.

The student body at Woodside is not especially diverse, with a large majority of students identifying as white. Asian students make up a notable minority, followed by a smaller share of Hispanic students, and very small numbers of Black or multiracial students. Free or reduced-price lunch data and special education and English learner counts were not available, leaving a gap in understanding the school's economic and support-service profile. The district has publicly reported that it is expanding social-emotional learning programs across all grade levels and has undertaken a significant capital construction investment, though specific details of that work were not provided.

Woodside Elementary is a good fit for a family seeking a high-performing suburban public school in an affluent, residential Bergen County community, where the primary pathway is a K-8 neighborhood district followed by a regional high school. The school's above-average test scores and particularly strong reading outcomes are its calling cards. The absence of data on economic diversity and support services is a limitation a parent may want to explore directly with the district.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 365%

School 65% · District 69% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 73% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 68% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 66% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 83% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 579%

School 79% · District 84% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Science

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 51% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

This schoolRiver Vale 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.