Locust Valley Middle School, Locust Valley NY

Original Research by School Decision on Locust Valley Middle School

Locust Valley Middle School serves a neighborhood-scale student body in grades six through nine on Long Island. The school sits within the Locust Valley Central School District, a suburban district that recently navigated a budget rejection in May 2026, forcing a revote and creating some uncertainty around athletics and extracurricular funding. Voters approved a revised proposal and also expanded transportation eligibility district-wide effective next school year, a change that will affect which families qualify for busing.

The school's enrollment is small to moderate, with slightly more students in grade six than in the upper grades. About one in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic enrollment of about one in four and smaller Asian and Black populations. Data on students receiving special education services and English learners was not available.

Academically, the school shows a mixed picture across the grade band. In math, sixth and seventh graders perform solidly, with a strong majority meeting state proficiency standards. Eighth-grade math performance dips noticeably below the sixth and seventh-grade level. English language arts follows a similar pattern: sixth graders show the lowest proficiency, seventh graders improve substantially, and eighth graders land in the middle. Across both subjects, participation rates in state testing are moderate to low, ranging from about half to over six in ten, a detail a parent may want to explore directly with the school to understand whether all students are being tested and why rates vary by grade. Science and social studies testing data are sparse; only eighth-grade science is reported for the current year, and prior social studies results are from over a decade ago, so the school's current standing in those subjects is unclear.

On a proficiency index comparing the school to other districts in Nassau County, Locust Valley Middle sits above the midpoint, positioning it ahead of many of its county peers in overall tested performance.

The broader housing and economic context matters for families considering the area. Homes in the Locust Valley zip code carry a median home value in the high range for Nassau County, with monthly mortgage costs substantial relative to regional income. Rents are also high in relation to household income. The housing market is currently showing above-average supply, with median time on market shorter than a year ago, though demand remains moderate.

The district recently adopted a new research-based literacy curriculum across elementary grades, a structural change that shapes reading and writing instruction early on and may have downstream effects as students enter middle school. The prior budget tension and the need for a revote signal fiscal pressures that could bear on program stability, particularly if contingency budgets become necessary. For a family considering Locust Valley, the school offers solid academic fundamentals above average to peers in the county, a manageable enrollment size, and a neighborhood setting, alongside the cost of housing and some near-term district budget uncertainty worth monitoring.

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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	63	100.0%

Math

Grade 681%

School 81% · District 81%

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

Grade 782%

School 82% · District 81% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 873%

School 73% · District 73%

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 658%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 772%

School 72% · District 71% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 868%

School 68% · District 68%

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

Science

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 65%

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 897%

School 97% · district not reported

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

This schoolLOCUST VALLEY 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 6Lower-income36%Higher-income64%28 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income53%Higher-income77%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income56%Higher-income70%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income69%Higher-income83%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income67%Higher-income85%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income67%Higher-income74%7 pp gap