Menlo Park Terrace Elementary School, Metuchen NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Menlo Park Terrace Elementary School

Menlo Park Terrace Elementary School serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade in Metuchen, a small, densely populated suburban borough that functions as a residential commuter town for New York City. Though the school’s address is in Metuchen, it is part of the Woodbridge Township School District. This is an important distinction for families to note: the borough of Metuchen has its own school district, but this particular elementary school belongs to the larger Woodbridge system. Metuchen itself has a walkable downtown anchored by independent businesses, a Whole Foods, and a train station with direct rail service to New York City. The borough is nicknamed “The Brainy Borough” due to the generations of artists, writers, and professors who have settled there, and its Main Street won the Great American Main Street Award in 2023.

The school enrolls a moderate-sized student body for its grade band. The student population is diverse: the largest group is Hispanic students, followed by roughly equal shares of Asian students and White students, a smaller but still sizable number of Black students, and a very small share of multiracial students. About half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a mix of economic backgrounds. Data on special education and English learner enrollment were not available in the current record.

On New Jersey’s state assessments in math and English language arts, performance varies by grade level. Third graders had a notably stronger showing in ELA, with a clear majority meeting proficiency. In math, third and fifth graders both performed at similar moderate levels, while fourth grade saw a dip in both subjects. Fifth graders also took the state science assessment, where about one-third of students demonstrated proficiency. Overall, across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s proficiency profile sits above the midpoint among the school districts in Middlesex County. This suggests academic performance that is solid relative to peers in the county, though there is room for growth in science and in fourth grade reading and math.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and no chronic absenteeism data were available. The directory describes Menlo Park Terrace as a regular public school; it is not a charter or magnet school, and its Title I status was not specified.

Housing in the area reflects Metuchen’s desirability as a commuter town. Home values are well above the state average and significantly above the national median, with rents also elevated. The median listing price for the county has risen modestly over the past year, and the market remains fairly active. For families considering a move to the area, the housing costs are a meaningful factor to weigh against the school’s academic profile.

The district itself did not have any recent parent-relevant changes documented in available sources, so the picture here is largely stable and without major shifts. For a family looking at this school, the key considerations are its solid but uneven test results, the diverse student body, and the fact that the school belongs to Woodbridge Township rather than the local Metuchen school district, even though it sits inside Metuchen’s borders. A parent may want to confirm attendance boundaries directly with the district to be sure about assignment.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 49% · ▲ 1 pts above district

even with state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 43% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 41% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 365%

School 65% · District 42% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 51% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 44% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 30% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolWoodbridge Township 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-income59%Higher-income76%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income53%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income54%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income38%Higher-income71%33 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income15%Higher-income50%35 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income43%Higher-income60%18 pp gap