C V Starr Intermediate School, Brewster NY

Original Research by School Decision on C V Starr Intermediate School

C.V. Starr Intermediate School serves third through fifth grade in Brewster, a compact village in Putnam County with a strong Hispanic population and a diverse, tight-knit character. The school enrolls roughly equal cohorts across its three grades and sits within a district that is active in curriculum adoption and facilities investment.

The picture on test performance is mixed. In the most recent state assessment results, English language arts proficiency hovered at roughly half the school across grades three through five, holding steady across the grade band. Math performance was similar: third grade slightly above half, fourth grade just below, fifth grade at roughly half. Science, tested only in fifth grade, fell lower, with proficiency at roughly two-fifths. These results place C.V. Starr below the midpoint among districts in Putnam County when a composite proficiency measure is calculated across all tested subjects and grades. A parent may want to look into further what the school is doing to address the science outcome in particular, and what support structures exist for students not yet meeting proficiency in core subjects.

The school's student body is ethnically and economically diverse. About half the enrollment qualifies for free or reduced price lunch, and roughly half the students are Hispanic, with white students making up the next largest share. Spanish-speaking students and families are a meaningful presence. The district has adopted the American Reading Company's ARC Core literacy program, which explicitly supports both monolingual and dual-language instruction, signaling an intentional pedagogical approach to serving this population. The district uses Math in Focus for elementary math and Project Lead the Way for elementary science, representing a recent curricular overhaul in how these subjects are taught.

Brewster itself is a rapidly changing place. The village is pursuing a major transit-oriented redevelopment project called Brewster Crossing, aimed at attracting commuters with mixed-use housing, retail, and commercial space. The project, in development for over a decade and anchored by the Metro-North station, has raised community questions about preservation of historic buildings and businesses, and residents report concern about displacement and rising rents. Housing values in the zip code are above state and national benchmarks, and affordability relative to median household income is tighter than many areas nationally. These conditions may affect families considering a move to the district.

The district itself is making substantial infrastructure investments. In March 2023, voters approved a capital project that includes a new cafetorium and classroom space at C.V. Starr, alongside district-wide repairs, a new turf field and track, and security upgrades. This multi-year construction is underway and will reshape the facilities families use.

The school operates within the public, non-charter, regularly designated Brewster Central School District. Data on special education enrollment or English learner count was not available, so understanding the depth of support services or the share of students learning English requires conversation with the school directly.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 51% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 49%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 50%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 48%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 52%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Science

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 594%

School 94% · district not reported

▲ 3 pts above state median

This schoolBREWSTER CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income64%30 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income63%32 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income35%Higher-income62%27 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income67%33 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income57%17 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income32%Higher-income66%34 pp gap