These Are The Best School Districts In NJ, New Ranking Says

NEW JERSEY — The Northern Valley Regional High School District has been ranked as the best in New Jersey in Niche’s 2024 Best Schools and Districts rankings, which was released this week.

The Bergen County district was among 390 New Jersey school districts included in Niche’s ranking of 12,192 school districts nationwide. The list includes 364 newly ranked school districts.

Niche gave the Northern Valley Regional High School District a letter grade of A+. Grades in specific categories were:

Academics: A+
Teachers: A+
Clubs and activities: A
Sports: A
Resources and facilities: B
Diversity: B-
College prep: A+
Administration: A
Food: A+

The school district, which has 2,076 students in three buildings, received high marks from students, parents and teachers. Reviewers noted how good the district was at preparing students for college, and that teachers were caring and engaged:

"Everything about the school was great," a parent wrote in a Summer 2023 review. "Strong academics. Motivated students and teachers to achieve academically. Strong focus on and understanding of the stress teenagers are facing. Socially, excellent school spirit with sports and college-curricular activities."

For more information, read the full report on the Northern Valley Regional High School District.

The top 25 school districts in New Jersey and the letter grades assigned by Niche include:

1. Northern Valley Regional High School, Demarest: A+
2. Princeton Public Schools, Princeton: A+
3. Millburn Township School District, Millburn: A+
4. West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, West Windsor: A+
5. Ridgewood Public School District, Ridgewood: A+
6. Summit Public School District, Summit: A+
7. Tenafly Public School District, Tenafly: A+
8. Haddonfield Public Schools, Haddonfield : A+
9. Mountain Lakes School District, Mountain Lakes: A+
10. Moorestown Township Public School District, Moorestown: A+
11. South Brunswick School District, North Brunswick: A+
12. Livingston Board of Education, Livingston : A+
13. The School District of the Chathams, Chatham: A+
14. Westfield Public School District, Westfield: A+
15. New Providence School District, New Providence : A+
16. Bernards Township School District, Basking Ridge: A+
17. Pascack Valley Regional High School District, Montvale: A+
18. West Essex Regional School District, North Caldwell: A+
19. West Morris Regional High School, Chester: A+
20. Holmdel Township School District, Holmdel: A
21. River Dell Regional School District, River Edge: A
22. Hopewell Valley Regional School District, Pennington: A
23. Somerset Hills Regional School District, Bernardsville: A
24. Fair Lawn School District, Fair Lawn: A
25. Weehawken Public School District, Weehawken: A

The Niche.com rankings, which have come out for the past nine years, compare K-12 schools and districts across the United States. The website combines input from current students, alumni and parents with hard data from sources including the U.S. Department of Education.

Niche also ranked 94,058 public schools and 30,809 private schools. The platform said its rankings were created to provide families with valuable information — both quantitative and qualitative — on schools in their area or in a neighborhood they’re not familiar with yet. It also includes a list of the best high schools by state, which Patch highlighted on Tuesday.

The rankings differ from others that rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic performance in that it also includes input from students, alumni and parents, as well as quantitative data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities.

A major change this year is that SAT and ACT-related factors have been removed from the K-12 rankings, said Niche.

Related article: These Are The Top 25 Public High Schools In NJ, New Rankings Say

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