The top reported proficiency rate is 81% in English language arts. The lowest is 47% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Berkeley Elementary
Berkeley Elementary, a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade, is one of the elementary schools in the Westwood Regional School District, which also serves neighboring Washington Township. The school is located on Berkeley Avenue in Westwood, a Bergen County borough known as “The Hub of the Pascack Valley” for its compact downtown and train station providing commuter rail service to Hoboken and connections to Manhattan. For a family considering this school, the academic picture is strong in literacy and math, with a notable soft spot in science that a parent may want to follow up on.
State assessment results, from the NJSLA, show that Berkeley Elementary’s students perform well in English language arts and mathematics across grades three through five. In both subjects the school’s proficiency rates climb steadily from third to fifth grade, with fifth graders achieving especially high outcomes in ELA. Math results are similarly strong, with each grade posting a solid majority meeting or exceeding the state’s proficiency standard. When compared with other elementary schools across Bergen County districts, Berkeley Elementary’s overall proficiency index lands in the top quarter of the county, an indication that its academic outcomes are among the stronger ones in the region. There is no trend data available to show whether performance has improved or declined over recent years, so that context is missing from the picture.
The one area where results dip is fifth-grade science. The proficiency rate is lower than what the school achieves in ELA and math, and the assessment in science uses a different proficiency standard than the one used for ELA and math. A parent may want to ask the school about how science instruction is structured and what support is available, given the gap between science and the other tested subjects.
Berkeley Elementary enrolls a modest student body. The student population is predominantly White, with Hispanic students making up the second largest group, followed by smaller shares of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. About one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a rate that is below the national average and reflects the relative affluence of the area. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source material, so those dimensions of the school’s support structure are not possible to characterize here.
The school itself is a neighborhood elementary, and the district operates several other K-5 schools in the area, so attendance boundaries may matter for families looking to live within walking distance of Berkeley. Westwood itself is a densely built, walkable community with a downtown commercial strip, a public library, and rail access to New York City. Housing values in the zip code are high, well above the state median, and the local real estate market has been active with a growing number of listings. The borough’s population grew modestly over the past decade and then stabilized, and local officials are engaged in planning around affordable housing obligations. The district brief turned up no major recent changes to report, so the operational picture appears stable.
Because Berkeley serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to consider, and no data on chronic absenteeism or discipline was available. The school does not appear to offer any specialized magnet or charter programs; it is a regular public school. For a family seeking a solid academic foundation in a commuter-friendly suburban town with strong test scores in the core elementary subjects, Berkeley Elementary presents a compelling option, though the science results are worth a closer look. The absence of trend data and certain student-support metrics means that some questions about year-to-year consistency and how the school serves its full range of learners will need to come directly from the school office or the district.
See more original research from School Decision →