The top reported proficiency rate is 99% in Science. The lowest is 83% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on North Side School
North Side School serves kindergarten through fourth grade in East Williston, an affluent and built-out residential village on central Long Island where the housing market is high-value and growth is constrained by zoning. The school is a regular public elementary school within the East Williston Union Free School District.
Academic performance at North Side is solid across measured subjects. In recent state testing, third graders achieved strong proficiency rates in both math and English language arts, with roughly nine in ten scoring at the proficient level or above in math. Fourth-grade math proficiency matched that level. English language arts results for fourth grade were somewhat lower, with about three in four students proficient, a notable dip from the third-grade cohort. Science testing from a few years ago showed exceptional performance, with nearly all fourth graders proficient. The school participates fully in state testing, with participation rates in the low-to-mid nineties. Math scale scores held steady across grades three and four, and the school's overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades ranks in the top quartile among Nassau County's school districts, a meaningful positioning that reflects consistent strong results.
The enrollment is modest for an elementary school, roughly split across the five grades served, with a slightly larger fourth-grade cohort. The student body is economically advantaged; only a small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The racial and ethnic composition is predominantly white, with a substantial Asian population and smaller shares of Hispanic, multiracial, and other backgrounds. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available.
East Williston itself is a quiet, entirely residential village of single-family homes where the median property value is high and homeownership is near-universal. The village is zoned and developed to preserve that residential character, and it has nearly reached its capacity for new construction. Population has remained essentially flat. Residents are overwhelmingly white-collar professionals and managers. Civic life centers on a compact historic core with the Village Hall, library, and Village Green, but the schools sit on separate campuses outside the village, with North Side located in the village proper on East Williston Avenue. The village is walkable and compact, and the LIRR East Williston station is accessible to most families, offering about a half-hour commute to Manhattan.
The broader housing market context matters for families considering the area. Property values in East Williston remain substantial and have ticked upward slightly in recent months. The district's school board has consistently adopted budgets at the maximum property-tax increase allowed under New York law in recent years, a pattern that signals sustained pressure on homeowner costs and one homebuyers should factor into long-term affordability calculations. The district has also recently voters approved a new long-term capital reserve fund and directed funds from an existing reserve toward facility work at the schools, including library upgrades at North Side, indicating attention to the learning environment.
North Side is a straightforward neighborhood elementary school serving a stable, economically privileged community. Its academic results are above the median for the county. For families seeking a small-scale primary school in a settled residential environment with strong baseline performance, it fits that profile clearly. Parents may want to look into recent fourth-grade English language arts results further with the school to understand whether they reflect a single year's variation or a wider pattern worth monitoring.
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