The top reported proficiency rate is 33% in Math. The lowest is 24% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Memorial School
Memorial School serves the younger elementary grades in Totowa, a small suburban borough in Passaic County. The school covers preschool through third grade, a limited grade span that means families will move their children to another school in the district for fourth grade and to a regional high school, located in a neighboring community, for ninth through twelfth grades. Totowa itself is a compact residentially zoned borough, roughly four square miles, with a car-dependent character and no concentrated downtown. The borough has historically marketed its low property tax rate compared to other Passaic County communities. Housing values in the area are above the national benchmark, and the county market shows active listings up and median days on market short, indicating a competitive market for buyers.
Memorial enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic share and smaller numbers of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. About one in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is a regular public school with no charter or magnet designation. It operated without a reported Title I status, and data on special education and English learner populations was not available. A parent may want to ask the school directly about how they serve students with individualized education plans and English language learners, since those breakdowns were missing from the available records.
Academic performance data comes from the state’s NJSLA assessments and covers only third grade, which is the first tested grade in New Jersey. In math, roughly one-third of third graders scored at the proficient or advanced level. In English language arts, roughly one-quarter of third graders did so. Both figures place Memorial below the midpoint relative to other districts in Passaic County when looking at overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. These results reflect a single grade level, so they offer a snapshot rather than a full picture of the school’s academic trajectory. Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether performance has been improving, holding steady, or declining. A parent looking at these numbers may want to follow up with the school about its literacy and math instruction for the younger grades and how it supports students who are not yet meeting the proficiency benchmark.
Because there is no high school, there is no graduation rate to report here. The absence of chronic absenteeism data and discipline data also limits the full picture of school climate. The district brief turned up no recent changes that meet a high bar for parent relevance, such as significant boundary changes, program closures, or budget shifts.
Memorial School serves a foundational role for Totowa’s youngest students. The setting is suburban and car dependent, housing is expensive relative to national norms, and the school’s test results in third grade trail the county median. Families considering this school should expect that their child will transition to Washington Park School for fourth through eighth grades and then to Passaic Valley Regional High School, and they may want to learn how the three schools coordinate curriculum and services across the grade levels.
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