The school was the 176th-ranked publichigh school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 96th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 112th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 135th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 97th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 127th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics and language arts literacy components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.
Extracurricular activities
The school's publications are The Crown monthly newspaper and Serendipity literary and arts magazine. The Marching Royals Marching Band, under the direction of K-12 Music Supervisor Matt Tracey and high school band director is the largest Group I marching band in the state of New Jersey. The band participates annually in the NCAA Men's college basketball tournament "Coaches vs. Cancer" at Madison Square Garden and at the NCAA Men's college basketball tournament "Legends Classic" at the IZOD center in the Meadowlands sports complex. The band has performed for Michael Jordan's basketball classic. In 2009, the Marching Royals were the Grand National Marching champion at the Orlando All-star music festival. The Ridgefield Choirs are led by Tom Voorhis. The Academic Decathlon team has consistently gone to the state competition for the past14 years, and has received awards and medals, including in the 2002–03 season, which saw them represent New Jersey in the National Finals in Phoenix, Arizona.
Athletics
The Ridgefield Memorial High School Royals compete in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, made up of private and public high schools located in Bergen County, Passaic County and Hudson County, following a 2010 reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 389 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North II, Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 73 to 487 students in that grade range. Prior to realignment that took effect in the fall of 2010, Ridgefield was a member of the Bergen County Scholastic League. The school has 22 varsity sports programs. Interscholastic sports offered at the school include:
The football, soccer and track events are all held at Willis Field. The Royals golf team won five consecutive league titles from 2006-2010. The Royals boys' cross country team also won a league title during the 2009 fall season. The baseball team won the North II Group I state sectional championships in 2012 with a 6-4 win against Dunellen High School. The team won the North I, Group I title in 2014 with a 2-1 win against Cedar Grove High School in the tournament final. For the 2015 season, the school only fielded a JV football team, after only 13 players participated in a fall football camp. The school will forfeit all of its varsity games, repeating what was done in the 2011 season after the team had lost its first three games. The future of the varsity football program is unclear, but the NJSIAA offers schools the option of creating a co-op program with another school.
