Franklin School, Saddle Brook NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Franklin School

Franklin School serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Saddle Brook, a predominantly residential suburban township in Bergen County. It is one of four K-6 elementary buildings in the Saddle Brook School District, feeding into a combined middle and high school for grades seven through twelve. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet.

On state assessments, Franklin’s results vary notably by subject and grade. In English language arts, the strongest performance comes in sixth grade, where a solid majority of students scored at or above the proficient level. Third through fifth grade ELA results were more mixed, with roughly a third to just under half of students meeting the proficiency bar. Math proficiency across all tested grades was lower, with the highest share of proficient students in third grade and a decline in fourth and fifth grades before a modest uptick in sixth grade. Science, assessed in fifth grade, showed about a quarter of students reaching proficiency. A parent may want to discuss with the school how math achievement progresses across the elementary years and what interventions are available. Overall, the school’s composite proficiency index places it in the bottom quarter of districts in Bergen County, a competitive region where many schools post higher rates.

The student body of roughly 300 children is diverse. Close to half the students are White, about two in five are Hispanic, and smaller shares are Asian, Black, and multiracial. More than a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a moderate concentration of economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the school’s reporting, so a parent may want to ask directly about special education and multilingual supports.

Saddle Brook itself offers the context of a built-out suburban town with no traditional downtown core. The district’s five schools are spread across separate campuses rather than clustered together. Major highways—the Garden State Parkway, Interstate 80, and US Route 46—run through or border the township, making commuting straightforward but reinforcing a car-dependent environment. The housing market in the zip code is expensive: home values are well above the national median, and rents also run high. The county market is active, with median listing prices near eight hundred thousand dollars. For a family buying or renting in Saddle Brook, the cost of housing is a significant factor.

The school itself is located on Caldwell Avenue in a residential part of town. No recent district-level changes such as budget referendums, curriculum overhauls, or major construction projects were found in publicly reported information, so the academic program has been stable in the near term.

Franklin is best suited for families who value a neighborhood elementary school within an affordable-by-Bergen-County-standards community, who want a diverse peer environment, and who are comfortable engaging with the school around areas where test scores are weaker, particularly in math. The strong sixth-grade ELA results suggest that students who stay through the full K-6 span can develop solid reading and writing skills by the time they leave. A parent whose priority is top-quartile test scores across all subjects may find better fits elsewhere in Bergen County, but those homes typically come with even higher housing costs. For a family looking for a regular public school in a highway-accessible, built-out suburb with a mix of students, Franklin is a reasonable option to investigate further.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 54% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 53% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 47% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

Grade 634%

School 34% · District 54% · ▼ 19 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 47% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 48% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 51% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Science

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 38% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

This schoolSaddle Brook 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-income36%Higher-income46%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income25%Higher-income45%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income38%5 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income69%24 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income47%Higher-income46%0 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income25%Higher-income32%7 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income21%Higher-income24%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income27%Higher-income36%9 pp gap