Cohoes Middle School, Cohoes NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Cohoes Middle School

Cohoes Middle School serves grades six through eight in the Cohoes City School District, a small urban district in Albany County along the Hudson River. The school draws from a city that sits within the broader Albany metro area, where publicly reported information describes Cohoes as part of New York's Tech Valley region, though the largest local employers are tied more to the wider Albany area than to Cohoes specifically.

The student body reflects the city's economic character. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this squarely in the higher-need range for a middle school. The enrollment is moderate for a three-grade middle school. White students make up the largest share, with Hispanic and Black students each representing meaningful portions of the population, and students of two or more races adding further diversity. Data on English learner counts and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.

On the New York State Testing Program, proficiency in both math and ELA across sixth and seventh grades sits in the roughly one-quarter range, which puts the school in the bottom quartile on the overall proficiency index relative to districts in Albany County. Eighth grade shows a more encouraging picture: ELA proficiency climbs noticeably, and science proficiency at grade eight reaches a level approaching half of tested students. The gap between sixth and eighth grade across subjects suggests some growth across the middle school years, though the overall starting point is low and parents will want to discuss with the school what academic supports are in place for students who arrive below grade level. Trend data across years was not available, so it is not possible to say whether results have been improving or holding steady.

Chronic absenteeism data was not provided. Given the economic context, that is a metric worth asking the school about directly, since absenteeism patterns at schools with higher poverty concentrations can significantly affect the trajectory data captures.

On the district side, families should know about several concrete developments. Voters approved a capital project that included renovation of the middle school's science labs along with other facility upgrades, structured to carry no additional tax impact. More recently, a capital reserve fund was approved to finance future facility work identified through an ongoing HVAC audit and building condition survey, also at no tax increase. These are real physical improvements to the environment students learn in. At the high school level, the district has publicly reported a substantial expansion of dual-credit and early-college opportunities through partnerships with Hudson Valley Community College and the University at Albany, including a Future-Ready Pathways program where selected students can earn up to 60 college credits and an associate's degree at no cost to families. That pathway is a few years away for current middle schoolers, but it matters for families thinking about the full trajectory through Cohoes schools.

Housing in the area around the school sits noticeably below the New York State benchmark for home values, which makes Cohoes a more accessible entry point into the Albany metro market. Rents have been rising at a pace faster than home values, a pattern worth watching for families weighing ownership versus renting. The price-to-income relationship locally is more manageable than in many parts of the state.

For a family considering this school, the honest picture is a middle school serving a predominantly lower-income community where tested proficiency is below county midpoints, where eighth grade results are more encouraging than the entry grades, and where the district is making real investments in facilities and high school pathways. The academic support question is the one to press the school on.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

2 courses 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
Math	28	100.0%
Science	26	96.0%

Math

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 47% · ▼ 47 pts below district

▼ 51 pts below state median · ▼ 53 pts below county median

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 25% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 726%

School 26% · District 25% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 36%

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

English language arts

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 50% · ▼ 50 pts below district

▼ 54 pts below state median · ▼ 58 pts below county median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 24% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 728%

School 28% · District 28% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 47%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 45% · ▼ 44 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 50 pts below county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 883%

School 83% · district not reported

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

This schoolCOHOES CITY 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 6Lower-income20%Higher-income38%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income42%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income41%Higher-income61%20 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income39%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income20%Higher-income38%18 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income29%Higher-income48%19 pp gap