The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Stillwater Township School
Stillwater Township School is a single-building public elementary school serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in a rural corner of Sussex County. The school is the only campus in the Stillwater Township School District, and it feeds into Kittatinny Regional High School, which sits outside the township in Hampton Township. For a family weighing this school, the academic numbers paint a reasonably clear picture, though some dimensions are simply not available.
On state assessments, students at Stillwater Township School post overall proficiency that places the school in the top quarter among districts in Sussex County. That is a solid position for a small rural elementary school. In English language arts, the school’s results are consistently strong: in third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, the share of students scoring proficient or above sits comfortably in what most families would consider a high range. Math performance is more uneven. Third, fourth, and sixth graders show similar strength, but fifth-grade math drops off noticeably. Science, tested only in fifth grade, shows a lower proficiency rate, which a parent may want to follow up on with the school to understand the curriculum or instruction in those areas. The pattern suggests the school reliably builds literacy skills across the grades, while math and science outcomes vary by grade level.
The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a modest share of Hispanic students and very small numbers of Black and multiracial students. About one in nine students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that signals a relatively low level of economic disadvantage compared to many districts statewide. The school does not report counts for students with disabilities or English learners, which is a gap in the data. A parent curious about special education or multilingual supports should ask the school directly about those populations.
The school is small, with enrollment typical for a single elementary building in a rural township. Grade-level groups are all in the dozens, which means most students know each other and the staff, and class sizes are likely manageable. The school serves pre-K through sixth grade, so the campus covers the full elementary span. There is no graduation rate to report because the school does not serve high school grades; students move on to the regional high school after sixth grade.
Stillwater itself is a rural farming community with a dispersed population. The township covers a wide area of farmland, forests, and lake communities. The village of Stillwater is a compact historic settlement along Main Street, where the school and several civic structures are located. Walkability is limited outside that village core. The area has seen modest population decline in recent decades, and the character remains agricultural and residential. Major employers are not prominent in the available data; the economy is largely residential and historically agricultural. Swartswood State Park, New Jersey’s first state park, is a major recreational anchor nearby.
The district has not surfaced any recent major changes such as a referendum, a curriculum overhaul, or a tax levy shift in the available research. For a small, stable district with a single elementary school, that absence itself is notable: families considering Stillwater should not expect a school in the middle of visible upheaval. The school’s strongest signal is its consistent English language arts performance and its strong countywide standing overall, with a few weaker spots in upper-elementary math and science that merit a direct conversation with the principal.
See more original research from School Decision →