Wildwood Middle School, Wildwood NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Wildwood Middle School

Wildwood Middle School serves grades six through eight in the Wildwood City School District, located in a compact barrier-island resort community on the New Jersey coast. The school is a regular public school that is not a charter or magnet. The town’s year-round population is small, though it swells dramatically with tourists during the summer. The economy is nearly entirely driven by tourism, hospitality, and the boardwalk’s amusement piers. The year-round residential base gives the community a quiet off-season character. The local housing market, based on recent data, shows home values that are above the national median, a point a family considering a move here may want to weigh against local wages.

The middle school itself enrolls a modest number of students across three grades. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker that the school serves a population with significant economic need. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial white minority and a smaller Black population.

State assessment results for the most recent year show that proficiency rates in math were very low at every grade level tested. The same pattern held for science at the eighth-grade level. In English language arts, results were mixed: sixth-grade performance was higher, though still below half of students meeting the state’s proficiency benchmark. Seventh-grade ELA results were very low, and eighth-grade results were higher than seventh but still below the sixth-grade level. Overall, the school’s proficiency index, which combines results across tested subjects and grades, falls in the bottom quartile when compared to other districts in Cape May County. This is a clear soft spot in the school’s academic profile, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly around what academic supports are in place.

The school has a standard grade configuration for a middle school. There is no public information in the data about advanced coursework, elective options, or career pathways at this school. The district-level data shows no recent major changes, such as budget shifts, construction, or curriculum initiatives, that were available for review. The school’s discipline, attendance, and staffing data were not reported in the available record, so a parent would need to seek those directly from the school.

This is a school where the academic results are notably low, the student body is almost entirely economically disadvantaged, and the community is defined by a strong seasonal tourism economy and a small year-round population. A family weighing this school would benefit from understanding what academic interventions, enrichment opportunities, and student support services are in place, as the assessment data suggests the school is facing substantial academic challenges.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 612%

School 12% · District 12%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 76%

School 6% · District 6%

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 12 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 74%

School 4% · District 4%

▼ 53 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 27%

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

Science

Grade 82%

School 2% · District 2%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

This schoolWildwood City 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.