The top reported proficiency rate is 46% in English language arts. The lowest is 38% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Kennedy Elementary School
Kennedy Elementary School is a regular public school in Succasunna, an unincorporated community that serves as the downtown and population center of Roxbury Township in Morris County. The school serves a single grade band, kindergarten through fourth grade, and enrolls a modest total student body, a size typical for a neighborhood elementary school. Its student population is predominantly white, with a Hispanic share that represents a meaningful minority and other racial groups present in much smaller numbers. A very small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate well below what is common in many New Jersey districts. This composition reflects the broader community context: Succasunna is a suburban, largely owner-occupied residential area with a housing stock of single-family homes and a homeowner vacancy rate that is very low, indicating a stable, settled housing market.
Academically, the picture is mixed and depends on which grade and subject you look at. In fourth grade, proficiency rates in both English language arts and mathematics finish notably above what a flat expectation would suggest, with a majority of students meeting state standards. The third-grade results are softer. The ELA proficiency rate in third grade falls below a majority, and the math proficiency rate in that grade is lower still. When the school is placed in context relative to other districts in Morris County, its overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades lands in the bottom quartile of the county. A parent considering this school should note that these results are from a single year and that the school serves only early elementary grades, where academic foundations are still being built. The pattern of stronger fourth-grade outcomes may be a point to explore with the school, as could the third-grade numbers.
The school is part of the Roxbury Township School District, though the district brief did not yield identifiable recent changes or initiatives that might shape a family’s decision. No program offerings, such as specialized academies, arts or music enrichment, or gifted-and-talented tracks, were available in the data. For kindergarten through fourth grade, such differentiated offerings are less common than at the secondary level, but a family with specific enrichment interests may want to ask directly.
Succasunna itself has experienced notable population growth in recent decades, continuing a pattern of suburban expansion in this part of Morris County. The community is primarily suburban in character, with New Jersey Route 10 as its main commercial corridor and Horseshoe Lake providing a recreational anchor with a playground and natural areas. Housing values in the area sit well above national medians, and the market shows moderate activity with active listings having increased and median days on market remaining relatively short. This is a place where housing is expensive, and the school’s socioeconomic profile, with a very low share of students in poverty, aligns with that broader economic context.
Because Kennedy Elementary School serves only through fourth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and no chronic absenteeism data was available. The school’s disciplinary data, course access, and staffing measures were also absent from the record. The absence of those metrics is not unusual for an early elementary school, where state testing is limited and certain civil-rights data collection thresholds may not apply. A parent choosing this school will feed into a middle school within the Roxbury district after fourth grade, and the performance at those later grade levels would be a separate consideration.
For a family seeking a small, suburban elementary school with a largely homogeneous and comparatively affluent student body, and where the academic results show a sharper uptick by fourth grade than in the earlier grade, Kennedy warrants a direct visit and a conversation with the principal about the third-grade proficiency pattern. The county-level comparison is a meaningful signal, but the limited grade span means it captures only the early years of a student’s academic career.
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