Pine Beach Elementary School, Pine Beach NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Pine Beach Elementary School

Pine Beach Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade and is part of the Toms River Regional School District. The school is located in the small, residential borough of Pine Beach in Ocean County, a community the borough itself describes as oriented toward family life and retirement. The district context matters here: Toms River Regional has faced sustained financial pressure. It has lost a substantial sum in state aid under New Jersey’s funding formula in recent years, leading to staff reductions and program cuts, and local property taxes have risen to offset the gap. In addition, voters rejected a large bond referendum for infrastructure repairs across the district’s 18 schools, which means facility needs remain unaddressed. A previous bond for full-day kindergarten, approved in 2022, did pass and launched in 2023, adding classrooms across the elementary schools.

Academically, the picture from the most recent state testing is mixed and leans soft. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above hovered in the low to mid-forties across grades three, four, and five. Performance in English language arts was lower, with the third grade logging the weakest result and fourth and fifth grades somewhat higher but still below half of students meeting the proficiency bar. In fifth-grade science, roughly a fifth of students reached proficiency. The school’s overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Ocean County. There is no multi-year trend data available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent a change from prior years. A parent may want to ask the school directly about how these scores compare with their own internal benchmarks and what support structures are in place for students who are not yet meeting state standards.

The student body is majority white, with a Hispanic enrollment that makes up about a quarter of the school, and small shares of students who are Black, Asian, or of two or more races. Just over two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a moderate level of economic need. Data on students with individualized education plans and English learners was not available, which is a gap a family may want to clarify with the school to understand the full range of support services. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and serves a single neighborhood borough within the larger regional district.

Pine Beach itself is a compact borough of less than a square mile, with slow, incremental population growth. It has no downtown commercial district; civic life is anchored by riverfront parks, a yacht club, a volunteer fire department, and a chapel rather than retail or industry. Most residents likely commute elsewhere for work, as the borough advertises itself as within easy commuting distance of both New York City and Philadelphia. Housing values in the area are above the national median, and the local market shows a mix of rising inventory and a slight decline in median listing price year over year, but the borough is largely built out, so new development is not a major story. A family considering this school should weigh the academic environment against the financial realities of the district, including ongoing state aid cuts and the recent failure of a facilities bond, and should also consider that the school’s test results place it in a moderate range relative to peers in the county. It is a school that fits a family looking for a small, residential community setting with the understanding that academic performance is an area of active attention rather than a standout strength.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 41% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 39% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 33% · ▲ 10 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 34% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 40% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 44% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Science

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 20% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolToms River Regional 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-income8%Higher-income40%32 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income37%Higher-income38%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income25%Higher-income48%23 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income28%Higher-income55%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income34%Higher-income47%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income25%Higher-income60%35 pp gap