The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in Math. The lowest is 27% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Roosevelt Public School
Roosevelt Public School is a small, regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the western Monmouth County borough of Roosevelt. It is the only school in the Roosevelt Borough Public School District, which means every elementary-age child in this historically compact community attends the same building. The student body of roughly that size for its grade band is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and a smaller share of students who identify as two or more races; Black students represent a very small portion of the enrollment. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is low, reflecting the borough’s overall economic profile.
State testing data from the most recent year shows a pattern that parents will want to examine grade by grade. In third grade, the proportion of students scoring proficient or above in English language arts was well above the midpoint among tested schools in the state, and the math result for that same grade was also strong. By fifth grade, however, the picture shifts: ELA proficiency dropped roughly by a quarter, and math proficiency was notably lower. Science results for fifth graders were the weakest of the three subjects tested. Fourth-grade results for both math and ELA were suppressed, so no conclusion can be drawn for that cohort from the available data. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across all tested subjects and grades, places it above the midpoint when compared with other districts in Monmouth County. Because the school ends at fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report.
Roosevelt itself is a place with an unusual story. It was founded during the New Deal as Jersey Homesteads, a planned cooperative community for Jewish garment workers, and the entire borough is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. The school building houses a famous mural painted by Ben Shahn that depicts the community’s origins. The borough is small, rural in character, and has been slowly losing population over recent decades. Housing values in the area are elevated relative to national benchmarks, and the market shows moderate activity with median listing prices typical of a desirable Monmouth County location. There is no traditional downtown; the school and borough hall are the civic anchors. For grades six through twelve, Roosevelt sends its students to the East Windsor Regional School District under a long-standing sending-receiving relationship, so families choosing Roosevelt Public School should also consider their experience with the middle and high school programs in neighboring Hightstown.
The district itself does not appear to have undergone any major referendums, curriculum overhauls, or tax changes in recent years that would have a lasting impact on the school. The academic results present a mixed picture: the third-grade cohort performed well, but the fifth-grade results suggest that a parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly around how the school supports students as they move through the upper elementary grades. For a family drawn to a very small, historically rooted school community with a tight-knit feel and a distinctive origin story, Roosevelt Public School offers a clear, contained elementary experience before students transition to a larger district.
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