Rhodes Academy of Humanities and the Arts, Hempstead NY

Original Research by School Decision on Rhodes Academy of Humanities and the Arts

Rhodes Academy of Humanities and the Arts serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Hempstead, a diverse and historically significant village on Long Island's geographic center. The school is embedded in the Hempstead Union Free School District, which operates under state oversight by a monitor due to prior governance and performance issues. The district has recently undergone a major pedagogical shift, becoming an authorized International Baccalaureate district offering the Primary Years Programme (PYP) in K-6 and the Middle Years Programme (MYP), meaning inquiry-based learning now shapes instruction across all grades at Rhodes.

The school enrolls families from a predominantly low-income, Latino, and Black community. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is small to mid-sized for its grade band, distributed evenly across grades with slightly smaller upper elementary cohorts. The student body is overwhelmingly Latino, with smaller shares of Black and Asian students and minimal white enrollment. No data on English learners or special education rates were available.

State assessment results from spring 2025 show that academic proficiency at Rhodes lags well behind the midpoint among Nassau County districts. In math, proficiency ranged from roughly one-third of fourth graders to somewhat under half of fourth graders across tested grades, with fifth grade showing the softest results. In English language arts, results clustered in the mid-to-upper thirties and low forties, with fifth grade performing somewhat stronger. Science proficiency in fifth grade sat near one-third. Across subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index placed it in the bottom quartile of county districts. Participation rates were consistently high, indicating strong test administration. A parent may want to discuss with the school how the PYP framework is being leveraged to address these proficiency gaps, and what supports are in place for students working below grade level.

Hempstead itself is experiencing a significant long-term downtown revitalization. The community sits adjacent to the LIRR Hempstead Branch and the Rosa Parks Transit Center, an intermodal hub serving multiple bus routes. The downtown is walkable, mixing retail, civic offices, schools, libraries, and cultural institutions including the Nassau County African American Museum. Hofstra University, Long Island's largest private university, anchors the broader area. Housing values in the Hempstead zip code are mid-range for Nassau County, with monthly rents above typical affordability thresholds. The market has seen modest appreciation and increased housing supply recently. The community is actively constructing mixed-use, transit-oriented residential and commercial projects aimed at attracting families and reducing historic disinvestment.

The school does not carry the magnet or charter designations and operates as a regular public school. State testing data covers grades three through six; kindergarten through second grade results are not available because those grades are not tested statewide. No discipline, attendance, or staffing data were provided. The school's website was not available to review program details, so information about specific arts or humanities offerings, class size, or special programming could not be verified from this data set.

Rhodes Academy serves families seeking proximity to downtown Hempstead and public school instruction anchored in the IB inquiry model. The recent state proficiency results indicate that students need strengthened support in foundational math and literacy skills to reach grade-level benchmarks. For families considering the school, understanding the school's current implementation of PYP, the pace and sequence of remediation if a child enters below grade level, and the long-term academic trajectory under state oversight and district change would be important conversations to have directly with school leadership.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 40% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 36% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 36% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 643%

School 43% · District 36% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 33% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 36% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 42% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 34%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Science

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 31% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

This schoolHEMPSTEAD 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-income36%Higher-income44%8 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income37%Higher-income39%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income54%10 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income36%Higher-income27%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income35%Higher-income44%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income45%Higher-income54%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income34%Higher-income17%17 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income41%Higher-income50%9 pp gap