One Hudson County Public School District Landed In Top 25 In NJ For 2024

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — One public school district in Hudson County is among the top 25 best in New Jersey, according to new 2023-2024 rankings released last week by the education platform Niche.

Niche, which uses reviews to help people determine where to live and send their kids to school, crunched data on 94,058 public schools and 12,192 school districts, they said.

They ranked 390 districts in New Jersey.

“Deciding where to send their children to school is one of the most important decisions parents will have to make,” said Luke Skurman, CEO of Niche. “Primary and secondary education can set a trajectory for a person’s life ... our 2024 K-12 rankings are one tool we hope will help make families feel confident in their choices."

Several counties dominated the top of the list, including Bergen County, which had four districts in the top 10.

But one hardy district in Hudson County muscled its way in — and, in fact, it got an A in every category, which many of the schools in the top 10 failed to do.

Best In The State

The Weehawken Public Schools squeaked into the top 25 at number 25 this year.

The schools received grades in categories like academics, diversity, teachers, and clubs.

Weehawken got an A in everything, which even the highest ranked districts did not.

For college prep and administration, they got an A+. There were A's for teachers, clubs, and diversity, and an A- in academics.

In terms of academics, 55 percent of students were listed as proficient in reading, but only 21 percent in math, the summary says.

The average SAT was 1150.

The district has only 1,322 students, as opposed to some of the larger and regional districts that made the list.

A recent user review said, "This district is truly unique. The community's size and diversity lends to it being extremely vibrant, supportive, and caring."

All schools in the district factor into the grades received, but not private schools.

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

1. Northern Valley school District: 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 rankings differ from others that rely on test scores because these also include 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.

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.

Search the database by school here.