Toms River Among Top NJ School Districts In New Rankings

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional School District has received an overall B grade from data compiler Niche, which looked at school districts across the country leading into the 2019-2020 school year.

Toms River ranked 126th out of 377 school districts rated on the website, according to rankings released Monday as part of the website's 2020 K-12 ratings. It called the Toms River schools "an above average, public school district.

Each New Jersey district received a letter grade in the following categories: Academics; Diversity; Teachers; College Prep; Clubs & Activities; Health & Safety; Administration; Sports; Food; and Resources & Facilities.

To arrive at the rankings, Niche looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as test scores, college data, and ratings collected from Niche users. (You can read more about the methodology here.)

The top-ranked school district in New Jersey is Princeton. Niche gave Princeton an A or an A+ in all categories except for diversity (B+), sports and food (B). Last year, Millburn was number 1.

Toms River received the following grades:

1. Academics B
2. Diversity B+
3. Teachers B
4. College Prep A-
5. Clubs & Activities A-
6. Health & Safety B+
7. Administration A-
8. Sports A+
9. Food B
10. Resources & Facilities B-

Students who weighed in with reviews praised the staff and what they learned in the schools, while also raising concerns about the facilities. Voters in the four-town regional district approved a $147 million package in January to address critical facilities issues across the district. That work began when school finished for the year and is in addition to $17 million in work under and Energy Savings Improvement Program.

"Toms River Schools has the best staff from teachers and principals to janitors," wrote one reviewer, who graduated in June. "In my 12 years of being in the district, all of the people I have encountered have treated me with nothing but respect and want kids to achieve greatness and want them to succeed."

"Toms River schools does incredible things for people and gives them new opportunities to start a new life in big ways. I'm very grateful for the people I have met along the way in this journey and I will forever be grateful for the Toms River Regional School District," the reviewer wrote.

"I feel that there were good opportunities presented to me here and I am now enrolled in a university where I feel I have been successfully prepared to handle the courses I take," another graduate wrote.

"Toms River Schools was a great place to grow up and learn. I experienced a very diverse education there. The only problem was that a lot of schools buildings were not in the best condition. Hopefully they're fighting for the funding to get that fixed soon," a third graduate wrote.

More reviews on the Niche site are here.

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