Brookfield Central School, Brookfield NY

Original Research by School Decision on Brookfield Central School

Brookfield Central School is a small rural PreK-12 school serving a single agricultural town in southeastern Madison County. The school enrolls roughly two hundred students across its full grade span and draws from a community that has experienced gradual population decline over the past several years. The town itself sits at low density, centered around farming and outdoor recreation, with residents largely owning their homes and the school playing a central role in local life.

State test results from the most recent year show proficiency rates that are below the county median across tested subjects and grades. In math, proficiency ranges from the mid-thirties to low fifties across grades three through eight, with grade seven notably weaker. English language arts results track similarly, clustered in the low-to-mid range except for eighth grade, which reaches the low sixties in both math and ELA. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits near the low-to-mid range, while eighth-grade science is among the school's stronger showings. Overall, the school's mean proficiency across tested subjects and grades falls below the midpoint when compared to other districts in the county. A parent may want to look into the school's approach to mathematics instruction, particularly in the middle grades, as that appears to be an area where performance is most muted.

The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a substantial majority of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that reflects the economic strain in this rural area. State testing data on special education enrollment and English learner counts were not available. High school enrollment is quite small; the senior class numbers in single digits, which shapes the peer environment significantly. The school offers instruction across all grade bands in a single building, meaning students remain in one facility from pre-K through twelfth grade.

The district has been selected as one of a statewide cohort of twenty-three schools to participate in New York's Performance-Based Learning and Assessment Networks Pilot, a multi-year initiative that shifts instructional practice toward project- and performance-based assessment in place of traditional Regents exams. This reflects a state-level policy shift toward alternative demonstration of learning, with the state planning to make Regents passage optional for students entering ninth grade in 2029-30. For families, this means the school's teaching and assessment methods will evolve meaningfully over the coming years as educators receive training in performance-based approaches.

Housing in the surrounding town is affordable relative to state benchmarks, with median home values well below the state average. The area lacks fixed-route public transit and has no public library within the town; residents rely on nearby libraries through the regional library system. The broader landscape includes the Brookfield Trail System, a regionally known resource for hiking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, and mountain biking spanning state forests, and the Madison County Fair, held annually in the town. Daily life operates at rural density with longer commute times and car dependence rather than walkable downtown streets.

This is a small, tight-knit community school in a declining agricultural town where academic performance needs attention and where the pedagogy environment is shifting toward performance-based learning as a district priority.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 20 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,253 schools plotted. 14 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

New York Regents Exams

1 course reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Ela	10	90.0%

Math

Grade 353%

School 53% · District 50% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 35% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 5 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 715%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 42 pts below county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 42% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 25% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 35% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 36%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 731%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 860%

School 60% · District 50% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 35% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 860%

School 60% · District 50% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

This schoolBROOKFIELD 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-income30%Higher-income20%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income75%Higher-income0%75 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income50%25 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income60%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income63%Higher-income13%50 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income50%0 pp gap