Harrison High School, Harrison NY

Original Research by School Decision on Harrison High School

Harrison High School is the sole public high school serving grades nine through twelve in the Harrison Central School District, a single-building pathway for every student in Harrison who moves through the public system. The school sits on Union Avenue in a town that is both a village and a town under New York law, divided between a walkable downtown core near the Metro-North station to the south and the more campus-like, corporate Purchase hamlet to the north. That setting shapes who lives here and, by extension, who enrolls.

The school carries a midsized enrollment for a four-year high school. Its student body is majority white, with Hispanic students making up roughly a fifth of enrollment, Asian students a smaller but present share, and Black students a small fraction. A meaningful portion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects some economic diversity within what is, by any measure, a high-cost housing market. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs were not available in the materials reviewed.

On academic performance, there is a real gap to acknowledge. State assessment results were not available, and the graduation rate was also not reported in the data provided. Proficiency comparisons relative to other districts in Westchester County could not be calculated for the same reason. A parent interested in how the school's tested outcomes compare with its neighbors should ask the school directly or consult the New York State Education Department's public reporting, which carries school-level data by subject and year.

What is documented is the community context around the school. Harrison is a place where corporate headquarters, including PepsiCo and Mastercard, are rooted in the Purchase hamlet, and those employers are part of why the town draws a more affluent and more highly educated population than Westchester County as a whole, according to publicly reported municipal data. Metro-North access to New York City on the New Haven Line also makes Harrison a commuter community, which contributes to the enrollment growth the district has been managing.

That growth is directly relevant to any family considering the district. In late 2023, Harrison Central voters approved a substantial facilities bond to add classrooms, secure building entrances, and improve athletics and arts spaces across all six schools in response to enrollment that had exceeded projections. Construction started in the summer of 2024 with a completion target of 2027. Publicly reported district communications tie the growth partly to new residential development, including the Avalon Harrison transit-oriented development that opened in 2023 near the train station, and to students arriving from New York City. The bond passed, work is underway, and families at Harrison High School should expect some construction activity in the district during these years, with facilities improvements arriving on a rolling basis.

The district also crossed a line it had held for years when it proposed a tax levy above the New York State cap for the first time for the 2024-25 school year. That required a higher vote threshold to pass. The district framed this as driven by enrollment growth and rising costs, and noted it had maintained programs and class sizes through the period it stayed under the cap. For anyone buying into the Harrison market specifically for the schools, this signals that the budget picture is less static than it was.

The housing market here is, simply, expensive. Home values run well above the New York State median and far above the national median. Rents have been rising at a pace that consumes a very large share of a typical household income. Inventory has been tight, though new listings picked up in spring 2026, and homes have been moving relatively quickly. A buyer or renter coming here specifically for the school district is entering one of the more expensive ZIP codes in an already expensive county.

Program-level detail for Harrison High School, such as AP course offerings, dual enrollment, or career pathways, was not available in the data reviewed. A parent wanting a full picture of the academic program should contact the school or review the district's course catalog directly.

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Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

98.0%Cohort of 250 students · Class of 2021

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,253 schools plotted. 14 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Advanced Placement & IB

46 subjects offered · 2023-24

Each card is one AP or IB subject. The headline number is the share of students scoring 3 or higher on the exam — the threshold for college credit at most universities. The bar below each rate shows the underlying distribution across performance levels.

Score:12· no credit345· extremely well qualified

Math and Computer Science

Calculus BC

62 tested

64.5%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

15 tested · Grade 10

93.3%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Chemistry

1 tested · Grade 10

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

29 tested

48.3%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

Comparative Government and Politics

1 tested · Grade 9

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

European History

1 tested · Grade 9

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Human Geography

2 tested · Grade 9

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

3 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

Chinese Language and Culture

1 tested · Grade 10

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

French Language and Culture

5 tested · Grade 10

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Japanese Language and Culture

3 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Spanish Language and Culture

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

International Baccalaureate

Ib Biology HL

45 tested

86.7%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Business and Management HL

63 tested

82.5%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Business and Management SL

8 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Dance HL

5 tested

60.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Dance SL

5 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Design Technology HL

5 tested

80.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Economics SL

53 tested

69.8%

scored 3 or higher

Ib History HL

100 tested

89.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib History SL

21 tested

90.5%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Language and Literature English SL

204 tested

89.7%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Language and Literature French HL

7 tested

42.9%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Language and Literature French SL

5 tested

60.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Language and Literature Italian HL

3 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Language and Literature Italian SL

24 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Language and Literature Spanish HL

14 tested

35.7%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Language and Literature Spanish SL

72 tested

73.6%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Literature English HL

50 tested

84.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language Ab Initio Spanish SL

10 tested

80.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Mathematics Analysis and Approaches SL

83 tested

88.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Mathematics Applications and Interpretation SL

154 tested

50.6%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Music HL

4 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Physics HL

67 tested

82.1%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Physics SL

11 tested

90.9%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Psychology HL

86 tested

88.4%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Psychology SL

16 tested

56.3%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Sports Exercise and Health Science SL

65 tested

90.8%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Theatre Arts HL

4 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Theatre Arts SL

4 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Visual Arts HL

17 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Visual Arts SL

5 tested

80.0%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

1 tested · Grade 9

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

1 tested · Grade 9

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

1 tested · Grade 9

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

World History

172 tested · Grade 10

73.3%

scored 3 or higher

New York Regents Exams

4 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
Ela	284	92.0%
Social Studies	279	96.0%
Science	261	87.0%
Math	168	100.0%

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.