Howitt School, Farmingdale NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Howitt School

Howitt School is a middle school serving sixth through eighth grade in Farmingdale, a revitalized Long Island village in Nassau County. The school's enrollment is spread across roughly balanced grade bands, with a student body that is majority white but meaningfully diverse: about a third Hispanic, and smaller shares of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

On state testing, Howitt's results are mixed and uneven across grades and subjects. Sixth-grade proficiency runs in the low-to-mid range, with math performing somewhat ahead of English language arts. Seventh grade shows a similar pattern, with math proficiency running a few percentage points higher than ELA. Eighth grade is notably weaker across the board: math proficiency falls to near-even odds, and ELA and science performance both decline sharply, with science posting the lowest result of any grade or subject tested. The school's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint among Nassau County's districts. These results suggest that instruction may face headwinds in the upper grades, and a parent might want to speak directly with the school about eighth-grade performance and what support systems exist for students who are struggling in that cohort.

Howitt sits on a suburban campus rather than downtown; the Farmingdale Union Free School District's schools are dispersed across separated campus locations, with administrative offices nearby. The village itself has undergone substantial revitalization over the past two decades, transforming from a declining factory town into a walkable downtown destination centered on Main Street and the Village Green, with shops, restaurants, and a restored LIRR station that connects to Penn Station in about an hour. Housing in the area commands mid-to-upper-range prices for Long Island, and the market has been active, with transit-oriented mixed-use development ongoing near the station.

The district approved a significant bond in January 2025 to repair roofs and electrical infrastructure across all six school buildings, with work expected to begin during the 2025-26 school year. That same election rejected a separate proposal to expand Career and Technical Education and Fine and Performing Arts facilities, so students seeking those programs will work within existing constraints. The district has maintained fiscal stability through consecutive passing budgets with modest annual growth, a baseline for predictable operations.

Howitt offers no stated magnet or specialized program within the data available. For families considering this school, the question is primarily whether the sixth- and seventh-grade instruction model aligns with their child's needs, and what interventions the school has in place for students who find eighth grade significantly more difficult.

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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	198	87.0%
Math	130	100.0%

Math

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 60%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 763%

School 63% · District 62%

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

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 50%

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

English language arts

Grade 652%

School 52% · District 52%

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

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 40%

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

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 46%

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

Science

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 891%

School 91% · district not reported

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

This schoolFARMINGDALE 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-income40%Higher-income61%21 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income30%Higher-income45%15 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income43%Higher-income49%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income69%22 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income49%Higher-income70%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income44%Higher-income55%11 pp gap