Cayuga Heights Elementary School, Depew NY

Original Research by School Decision on Cayuga Heights Elementary School

Cayuga Heights Elementary School serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Depew, a compact industrially-rooted suburb east of Buffalo. The school sits on the district's main academic campus at Como Park Boulevard, separated from the civic spine of Terrace Boulevard where Village Hall and Veterans Park anchor community life. The school draws from a village that is essentially built out, with steady employment in manufacturing, health care, and retail.

The school enrolls a diverse body of students, roughly split between those from households meeting federal meal assistance thresholds and those above it. The enrollment is stable across the grade bands, with solid participation from the community. The student composition is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Asian, multiracial, and other students. Specific enrollment counts for students with disabilities and English learners were not available from the data.

On New York state assessments in 2024-25, Cayuga Heights shows mid-range performance in reading and math, with particular softness in science. In English language arts, proficiency runs close to six in ten students across grades 3, 4, and 5, consistent across those grades. In math, third grade sits a bit lower, closer to half of students meeting proficiency, while fourth and fifth grades each reach approximately six in ten. Science proficiency in grade 5 is notably lower, with about four in ten students meeting the standard. All three core subjects show respectable participation rates in the upper grades, though fifth-grade participation in science and ELA dips to around seven in ten and just under. The school's overall proficiency index positions it above the midpoint among the county's tested elementary schools.

Depew voted in 2021 to approve substantial capital improvements spread across three bond propositions. The district specifically funded a new auditorium addition at Cayuga Heights, the school's first dedicated performance space, replacing a 1970s cafetorium. The same vote authorized district-wide air conditioning, with the elementary school prioritized, and building rehabilitations that upgraded safety features including new lockdown-capable doors. These physical upgrades arrived in a school that had operated with limited infrastructure for student performances and without full cooling.

The housing market in the Depew area shows moderate affordability compared to state and national benchmarks, with median home values in the mid-range and rental costs stable. The area has seen recent growth in active listings and modest price adjustments downward year over year, suggesting a market with supply available. The village is pursuing revitalization efforts including a state Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant for home rehabilitation and a major redevelopment of a former bank site into an Erie 1 BOCES instructional campus, set to open in 2027.

A parent considering Cayuga Heights would find a school of traditional size for its grade band, serving a stable suburban neighborhood with steady employment anchors. The test results show solid proficiency in reading and math, though a parent may want to look further into the school's science instruction, particularly in the upper grades, to understand how the lower proficiency reflects curriculum, resources, or other factors. The recent capital investments in facilities represent a meaningful upgrade to the learning environment. The absence of data on students with disabilities and English learners means a family with students in those categories would benefit from asking the school directly about those services and supports.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 49%

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

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 61%

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

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 59% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 57% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Science

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 39% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 595%

School 95% · district not reported

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

This schoolDEPEW UNION FREE 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-income47%Higher-income74%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income44%Higher-income71%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income74%30 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income37%Higher-income62%24 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income67%14 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income75%31 pp gap