East Islip Middle School, Islip Terrace NY

Original Research by School Decision on East Islip Middle School

East Islip Middle School serves grades six through eight in Islip Terrace, a small residential hamlet on Long Island's South Shore. The school enrolls a student body that reflects modest economic diversity; roughly a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the majority of students are white, with Hispanic, Black, and Asian students together making up a smaller share. The hamlet itself is a quiet, family-oriented neighborhood of mid-20th-century single-family homes, with commercial life concentrated on Carleton Avenue and more robust shop-and-restaurant options a few blocks away in neighboring East Islip.

The school's state test results tell a straightforward story: proficiency across math and English language arts sits below the midpoint when compared to other districts in Suffolk County. In math, sixth-grade students showed the strongest showing, while seventh and eighth grades dropped notably lower. English language arts mirrored a similar arc, with sixth grade above eighth grade. Eighth-grade science proficiency ran well below math and ELA. The participation rate in testing is notably low across all grades and subjects, which a parent may want to look into further with the school to understand what accounts for this pattern. The most recent data available on social studies, from the 2009-10 school year, reported much stronger results, but that snapshot is too old to carry weight in understanding current performance.

The school sits within the East Islip Union Free School District, which spans Islip Terrace, East Islip, Great River, and parts of Central Islip and North Great River. The district has passed steady budgets with modest, predictable tax increases in recent years. A more immediate change affecting families: in May 2025, voters approved new transportation propositions that alter which students qualify for bus service, a practical consideration for families weighing enrollment. Additionally, the district retired its longtime Redmen mascot in 2024-25 after New York State banned Native American mascots in public schools, a visible shift in school identity that is now complete.

Housing in Islip Terrace runs in the range of mid-to-upper-value single-family homes typical of suburban Long Island, with some newer rental apartment and townhome options added in recent years. The market is moderately active by regional standards. Transit to Manhattan via the Long Island Rail Road is available from nearby stations, though the hamlet itself is car-oriented for daily life. Schools including East Islip Middle and East Islip High are embedded in the neighborhood rather than clustered in a downtown center.

A parent considering this school should view it as serving a neighborhood-based, moderately economically diverse middle school population in a stable suburban district. The academic data shows room for improvement, particularly in upper grades and science. The low testing participation warrants direct conversation with the school about underlying reasons and how students not captured in proficiency rates are being served.

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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
Science	121	99.0%
Math	67	100.0%

Math

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 63%

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

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 47%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 39%

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

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 51%

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

Science

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 35%

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

Social studies

Grade 890%

School 90% · district not reported

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

This schoolEAST ISLIP 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 6Lower-income22%Higher-income62%40 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income39%Higher-income39%0 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income47%Higher-income53%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income32%Higher-income76%44 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income44%Higher-income54%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income43%Higher-income50%7 pp gap