Van Cortlandtville School, Mohegan Lake NY

Original Research by School Decision on Van Cortlandtville School

Van Cortlandtville School is a kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary school serving a mid-sized cohort of students in Mohegan Lake, a residential hamlet within Yorktown in northern Westchester County. The school sits along Route 6, part of the Lakeland Central School District, which operates multiple schools spread across the wider town rather than clustered in a single civic center.

The school's enrollment spans the full early-elementary range, with roughly balanced classes across all grades served. The student body is racially and economically diverse, with Latino and white students each representing substantial shares, followed by smaller populations of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. Free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility data was not available, and English learner and special education enrollment counts were also not provided, so a reader looking for those details should contact the school directly.

State assessment results for spring 2025 show proficiency rates in the range of below average to moderate across mathematics, English language arts, and science. In math, fifth-grade students showed the strongest performance, with just over half meeting or exceeding state proficiency standards; fourth grade performed notably lower. In English language arts, fifth-grade proficiency was stronger than the other tested grades, while fourth grade was measurably weaker. Science testing, administered only in fifth grade, showed roughly four in ten students meeting proficiency. Participation rates were generally solid, particularly in fifth grade, though some grades showed lower testing participation. When measured against other elementary schools in Westchester County as a whole, Van Cortlandtville's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint, meaning the school's tested performance is lower than the typical district school in the county. A parent may want to look into further detail on how the school supports students who are not yet proficient and what specific interventions or small-group instruction are in place, particularly in the elementary grades where foundational skills matter most.

The school is located in Mohegan Lake, a largely car-dependent residential area built around a private lake and commercial corridors along Route 6. The community is mixed semi-rural and suburban, with neighborhood lake associations, town parks including Sparkle Lake and Granite Knolls Park, and local retail employment anchoring daily life. Housing values in the zip code are in the mid to upper range for the region; publicly reported data shows a modest year-over-year appreciation in home values and relatively stable market conditions with shorter median days on market. The area has experienced modest growth primarily through commercial redevelopment along Route 6 rather than major new residential construction, partly because Yorktown lies within the New York City watershed, which constrains high-density development.

The Lakeland Central School District, which encompasses Van Cortlandtville, has undertaken a substantial capital project including new STEAM labs and renovated library media centers across its schools, marketed by the district as tax-neutral through state aid and capital reserves. For the current school year, the district set its tax levy increase at the state-allowed maximum, signaling active growth in the property-tax burden for families in the district. This context matters for families comparing longer-term costs of living in the area.

Van Cortlandtville serves a community that values proximity to residential amenities and is willing to drive for schooling and services. It is a conventional neighborhood elementary school without specialized programs or magnet designation, serving the local early-grades population as the anchor institution in its hamlet.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 66% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 62% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 555%

School 55% · District 67% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 61% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 63% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 71% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 53% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 597%

School 97% · district not reported

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

This schoolLAKELAND 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-income29%Higher-income72%42 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income24%Higher-income55%32 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income65%Higher-income62%3 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income41%Higher-income65%25 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income58%24 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income58%8 pp gap