Hudson Junior High School, Hudson NY

Original Research by School Decision on Hudson Junior High School

Hudson Junior High School serves the middle grades in a small Hudson Valley city where the school sits apart from the walkable commercial downtown, on a river-overlook campus about half a mile from the Warren Street corridor that defines civic life. The school enrolls students across grades six through eight. Most students live in a city shaped by 19th-century architecture, independent retail and galleries, and proximity to the Amtrak station; housing costs in the area have risen modestly, with rentals climbing notably.

The school's state test results show proficiency well below the midpoint among Columbia County districts. In ELA, the school's students show modest performance at sixth and eighth grades and somewhat lower results at seventh. In math, sixth-grade proficiency is quite low; seventh-grade results improve somewhat; eighth grade shows an especially sharp drop. Eighth-grade science proficiency trails ELA and math. Math proficiency in eighth grade is particularly worth asking the school to explain, given its extremity. The school does participate in state testing with reasonable attendance, though eighth-grade science participation and eighth-grade math participation both dip below the school's overall participation baseline.

The student body is economically diverse, with a majority of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment mirrors the wider demographic composition of the area: students are racially and ethnically mixed, with substantial representation across white, Hispanic, Black, Asian, and multiracial populations, and no single group constituting an overwhelming majority. The school is moderate in size for a junior high.

The Hudson City School District, which operates Hudson Junior High alongside an elementary and high school, is in the midst of instructional overhaul. The district holds a New York State Target District designation, which means state officials have identified it as needing comprehensive improvement, particularly to address performance gaps among Hispanic students. The district has brought on a new Executive Director for Teaching and Learning and rolled out Rubicon Atlas, a curriculum-mapping platform designed to align instruction with state standards and close instructional gaps. This work began in the 2024-25 school year and reflects recognition that student performance, particularly at the elementary level but with implications for secondary grades, needs structured attention.

In May 2025, district voters approved capital-improvement funding for facility upgrades across all school buildings, including work at the junior high, with no local tax increase attached. The district has also managed a modest tax levy increase for the 2025-26 budget while preserving staff and programs. Later that fall, voters approved the sale of a closed elementary school building to a developer for conversion to senior housing, a community-facing decision that reshapes the district's footprint.

A parent weighing Hudson Junior High should expect a school in a community-improvement cycle, where instructional systems are being deliberately strengthened but results to date are well below what students and families see in stronger-performing districts in the county. The school's asset is its location in a walking city with strong civic anchors and relatively affordable housing relative to pricier Hudson Valley towns. Its central challenge is academic performance, which the district has squarely acknowledged and begun to address through curriculum and leadership change. How quickly those efforts translate into improved student outcomes is something a parent may want to look into further with the school directly.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

1 course 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
Math	21	76.0%

Math

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 29 pts below state median

Grade 730%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 23 pts below state median

Grade 84%

School 4% · District 4%

▼ 33 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 15 pts below state median

Grade 728%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 19 pts below state median

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 19 pts below state median

Science

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 8 pts below state median

This schoolHUDSON CITY 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-income21%Higher-income55%34 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income45%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income25%Higher-income38%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income13%Higher-income21%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income43%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income4%Higher-income4%1 pp gap