La Fargeville Central School, La Fargeville NY

Original Research by School Decision on La Fargeville Central School

La Fargeville Central School sits on Sunrise Avenue in La Fargeville, a small rural hamlet in northern Jefferson County, north of Watertown. The school is the hamlet's civic anchor in a literal sense: all grades from pre-kindergarten through twelfth share a single building, and publicly reported accounts describe it as sitting in the center of town. The community around it is a farming hamlet with one small market, a dairy processing plant as its dominant private employer, a public library, and several historic churches. Most residents own their homes, and driving is the only practical way to reach anything beyond the hamlet itself.

The school draws students from a relatively small enrollment for a PK-12 building. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the rural, working-class character of the area. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares of Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.

On New York State assessments, the picture varies meaningfully by grade and subject. In math, fourth grade stood out with all tested students reaching proficiency, and fifth grade was also strong. Third and seventh grade math results were more moderate, and sixth grade sat near the midpoint. Eighth-grade math showed no tested students in the data, which is unusual and worth asking the school about directly. In ELA, fourth and eighth grade results were solid, fifth and sixth grade were in a reasonable range, and seventh grade ELA was notably lower than the other grades, with fewer than a third of tested students reaching proficiency. Science results at fifth grade were in a similar range to ELA, while eighth-grade science participation was lower than expected. Across tested subjects and grades combined, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Jefferson County, which is a genuine strength within its peer context.

Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether results are improving, holding steady, or declining. A graduation rate was not reported in the data provided, which is a meaningful gap for families with high school students; that figure is worth requesting from the district directly. Program offerings were not available in the payload.

The housing market around La Fargeville is considerably more affordable than both the New York State median and the national median. Home values are substantially below the state benchmark, and the local price-to-income ratio is comparatively modest. Rental data was not available for the immediate area. The town of Orleans, which contains La Fargeville, has seen a slow, modest population decline in recent years, and no major new housing development specific to the hamlet was found in sources reviewed.

One concrete development families should know about: district voters approved a substantial capital project in late 2022 by an overwhelming margin, with no impact on school taxes. The work, which began in summer 2024 and was expected to wrap up in summer 2025, addressed the aging boiler and heating system (the largest cost), the cafeteria kitchen, plumbing, roofing, and masonry. For families moving in now or soon, that means the single building their children would attend from pre-K through graduation has been, or is nearly, through a significant infrastructure renewal.

For a family weighing this school, the honest picture is a small, all-grades-in-one-building rural school with uneven but often above-midpoint test results among its Jefferson County peers, a community shaped by agriculture and dairy industry employment, genuinely affordable housing, and very limited local amenities beyond the school and library themselves. The seventh-grade ELA results and the missing eighth-grade math data are specific things worth discussing with the school.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=90%Cohort of 43 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

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.

New York Regents Exams

3 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	47	96.0%
Social Studies	33	91.0%
Science	30	73.0%

Math

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 54%

▼ 5 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 4100%

School 100% · District 96% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 48 pts above county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 47% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 757%

School 57% · District 57%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 0%

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 53 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 52%

even with state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 68% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 564%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 63% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 29%

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

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Science

Grade 564%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolLA FARGEVILLE CENTRAL 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-income39%Higher-income67%28 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income61%Higher-income89%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income61%Higher-income69%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income53%Higher-income77%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income22%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income53%Higher-income85%32 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income41%Higher-income67%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income100%Higher-income100%0 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income65%Higher-income83%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income40%Higher-income62%22 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income57%Higher-income56%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income5%Higher-income31%26 pp gap