New Ranking Of New Jersey's Best School Districts Released

As the 2017-18 school year kicks off, parents and students heading to their first day of school can see how their school district stacks up against others in the state as Niche.com has released its annual rankings of the best school districts in the country.

According to Niche, the best school district in New Jersey is Princeton, which also ranked 14th in the entire country.

To arrive at these 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. The methodology for each category of ranking varied. (Click here for more information on how Niche calculates its rankings.)

Niche assigns a standardized score for each factor, which is then weighted before an overall score is calculated for each school district. The overall scores are again standardized and some districts are disqualified from receiving a final letter grade if there isn’t enough data. School districts are then ranked numerically and assigned grades.

According to Niche, these are the 146 best school districts in New Jersey (national rankings in parenthesis):

1. Princeton Public Schools (14th in nation)
2. Millburn Township Schools (36th in nation)
3. West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District (55th in nation)
4. Livingston Public Schools (97th in nation)
5. Summit Public Schools
6. The School District of the Chathams
7. Bernards Township School District
8. Montgomery Township School District
9. Tenafly Public Schools
10. West Essex Regional School District, North Caldwell
11. East Brunswick Public Schools
12. Pascack Valley Regional High School District, Montvale
13. Moorestown Township Public School District
14. Montclair Public Schools
15. Ridgewood Public Schools
16. South Brunswick Public Schools
17. West Morris Regional High School District
18. Hopewell Valley Regional School District
19. Glen Ridge Public Schools
20. Haddonfield Public Schools
21. Fair Lawn School District
22. Mountain Lakes School District
23. Somerset Hills Regional School District, Bernardsville
24. Northern Valley Regional High School District, Demarest
25. Berkeley Heights Public Schools
26. Westfield Public Schools
27. Edison Township Public Schools
28. Morris School District
29. Scotch Plains-Fanwood School District
30. North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District, Annandale
31. Hillsborough Township Public School District
32. Glen Rock Public School District
33. Holmdel Township School District
34. River Dell Regional School District
35. New Providence School District
36. Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Schools
37. Robbinsville Public Schools
38. Highland Park Board of Education
39. Pompton Lakes School District
40. Cranford Public School District
41. Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District, Martinsville
42. Leonia Public Schools
43. Mahwah Township Public Schools
44. South Orange-Maplewood School District
45. Lenape Regional High School District, Shamong
46. Morris Hills Regional School District, Denville
47. Cresskill Public School District
48. Bergenfield Borough School District
49. Randolph Township Schools
50. Freehold Regional High School District
51. Rancocas Valley Regional High School District
52. Park Ridge Public Schools
53. East Windsor Regional School District
54. Metuchen Public Schools
55. Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District
56. Ramsey Public Schools
57. Paramus Public Schools
58. Washington Township Public Schools, Sewell (Gloucester)
59. Lawrence Township Public Schools, Lawrenceville (Mercer)
60. Piscataway Township Schools
61. Montville Township School District
62. Old Bridge Township School District
63. Point Pleasant Beach Board of Education
64. Delsea Regional High School District, Franklinville
65. Monroe Township School District
66. Upper Freehold Regional School District, Allentown
67. Egg Harbor Township School District
68. Madison Public Schools
69. Westwood Regional School District, Washington (Bergen)
70. Verona Public Schools
71. Cherry Hill Public Schools
72. Roxbury Township Public Schools
73. Kinnelon Board of Education
74. Springfield Public Schools
75. Cinnaminson Township Public Schools
76. West Orange Public Schools
77. Rutherford Public Schools
78. Wayne Township Public Schools
79. Weehawken Board of Education
80. New Milford School District
81. Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools, West Caldwell
82. Hanover Park Regional High School District, East Hanover
83. Bloomfield Board of Education
84. Middletown Township Public Schools
85. Somerville Public Schools
86. Woodstown-Pilesgrove Regional School District
87. Ocean City School District
88. Hasbrouck Heights Board of Education
89. Dumont Board of Education
90. Woodbridge Township School District
91. Palisades Park Board of Education
92. Sparta Township Public Schools
93. Roselle Park Board of Education
94. Teaneck School District
95. Northern Burlington County Regional School District, Columbus
96. Midland Park Public Schools
97. Fort Lee Public Schools
98. North Brunswick Township Public Schools
99. Hammonton School District
100. Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District
101. Mount Olive Township School District
102. Cedar Grove Township School District
103. Wall Township Public Schools
104. Jackson Township School District
105. Butler Public Schools
106. Hackensack School District
107. Audubon Public Schools
108. Spotswood Public Schools
109. Waldwick School District
110. Ridgefield Park School District
111. Ocean Township School District, Oakhurst (Monmouth)
112. Burlington Township Board of Education
113. Hackettstown Public Schools
114. Secaucus Board of Education
115. Emerson Public Schools
116. Point Pleasant Boro Board of Education
117. Sayreville Public Schools
118. Newton Public Schools
119. Collingswood Public Schools
120. Union Township School District, Union
121. Black Horse Pike Regional School District, Blackwood
122. Pequannock Township School District
123. Delran Township School District
124. Manasquan School District
125. Ridgefield Public Schools
126. South Hunterdon Regional School District
127. Kenilworth Public Schools
128. Franklin Township Public Schools, Hillsborough (Somerset)
129. Middlesex Borough Public Schools
130. Central Regional School District, Bayville
131. Clark Township Public Schools
132. Middle Township Public Schools
133. West Deptford Township Public Schools
134. Haddon Township School District
135. Haddon Heights Public Schools
136. Phillipsburg School District
137. Toms River Regional School District
138. Saddle Brook Township Board of Education
139. Glassboro Public Schools
140. Bordentown Regional School District
141. Boonton Town School District
142. Vernon Township School District
143. Dunellen Public School District
144. Dover Public School District
145. Lyndhurst School District
146. Jefferson Township School District

(See the entire list by clicking here)

Niche’s data for its K-12 school district rankings comes from various sources, including the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics and the Civil Rights Data Collection.

The rankings also rely on data that is self-reported by Niche users and schools. (Click here to learn more about where Niche’s data comes from.)

What do you think of the rankings? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo: Flickr, Mark Bonica