Henry B. Whitehorne Middle School, Verona NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Henry B. Whitehorne Middle School

Henry B. Whitehorne Middle School serves students in grades five through eight in Verona, a primarily residential township in Essex County nestled between the First and Second Watchung Mountains. Verona has a small-town suburban feel, with neighborhood elementary schools, a community center, and Verona Park as its main gathering place. The school is one of several separate campuses distributed across the township, not part of a single centralized complex. Commercial activity is limited along corridors like Bloomfield Avenue rather than concentrated in a downtown. The most significant recent development has been the adaptive reuse of the former Annin & Co. flag manufacturing plant into apartments. Population growth has been modest and incremental in this nearly built-out community.

The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a very small share of students who are Hispanic, Asian, Black, multiracial, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. A very small fraction of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the records provided. The school is a regular public school and is not a charter, magnet, or Title I school.

On state assessments, student performance varies notably by grade and subject. In English language arts, proficiency rates are strong across most grades, with a particularly high share of seventh graders meeting the bar. Fifth, sixth, and eighth graders also show solid results. In mathematics, the pattern is less consistent. Fifth and especially seventh graders post good proficiency rates, sixth graders are moderately lower, and eighth graders show a substantially weaker result that a parent may want to look into further with the school. In science, about half of fifth graders demonstrate proficiency, while the share among eighth graders is markedly lower. Because this is a middle school with no high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Overall, the school’s proficiency index across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint when compared with districts across Essex County.

No recent district-level changes of lasting impact were found in publicly reported sources. The school’s environment and course access data was not available, so it is not possible to describe offerings like music, art, world languages, or elective pathways from this record. Discipline and attendance data were also absent.

Housing in Verona is expensive. Home values are well above the national benchmark and sit above the statewide average. Rents are also high. The market is competitive, with homes typically going under contract quickly. A family moving into the district should expect a substantial cost of entry.

This school fits a family that values a traditional middle school experience in a stable, affluent suburban community with solid academic results in English language arts and an uneven but generally above-average math profile. The student population has limited economic and racial diversity, which is characteristic of the community. The eighth-grade math and eighth-grade science results are the clearest soft spots in an otherwise strong academic picture, and anyone considering the school should discuss with the staff how those subject areas are addressed in the upper grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Grade 659%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 772%

School 72% · District 72%

▲ 37 pts above state median · ▲ 49 pts above county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 32%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 670%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 783%

School 83% · District 83%

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Science

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 831%

School 31% · District 31%

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

This schoolVerona Public 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.