Manhasset Secondary School, Manhasset NY

Original Research by School Decision on Manhasset Secondary School

Manhasset Secondary School is a mid-sized high school serving grades nine through twelve in an affluent North Shore hamlet of Nassau County. The school enrolls a student body that is majority white, with a substantial Asian population and smaller Hispanic and Black populations. Roughly one in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

The school sits near the Manhasset LIRR station and Manhasset Valley Park, placing it within walking distance of downtown Plandome Road—a compact, locally anchored commercial strip with cafes, delis, and locally owned restaurants—rather than isolated on a campus. This location matters: the school shares civic space with North Hempstead Town Hall, the Manhasset Public Library, and a walkable downtown that hosts community events and summer outdoor-dining programming. The commute to the school from within the district is short; the commute from the school to New York City via LIRR is under an hour.

State testing data and graduation rates were not available, and no trend data showed how the school has performed over time. Without those metrics, it is not possible to place the school's academic standing in any comparison. The comparison set against other Nassau County districts could not be applied because proficiency data, graduation rates, and chronic absenteeism figures were missing from the school's reporting.

What is clear from district-level information is that the secondary program is experiencing active curriculum expansion. The Manhasset Union Free School District has added and expanded a biomedical sciences pathway, a business pathway, broadcast journalism, engineering, and computer science pathways, alongside new world-language offerings and AP courses in Comparative Government, Chinese, and Italian. A virtual enterprise course is also newly in place. This breadth of pathway choice means students interested in career-oriented acceleration have structured options beyond traditional academics. New and expanded courses in world languages and advanced placement studies offer another dimension of choice for students headed toward selective colleges.

The district is also investing in secondary school facilities. In December 2022, voters approved a major capital bond addressing aging infrastructure across all three buildings in the district. Manhasset Secondary School, which is over half a century old, is included in the multi-year modernization plan. This means families should expect renovated spaces—refreshed instructional areas, library improvements, upgraded climate control, and enhanced safety systems—to roll out over the next few years. The capital project will add a modest annual school-tax cost to property assessments, a lasting consideration for families buying into the district.

The broader context is a premium housing market. Homes in the Manhasset zip code command high valuations, with recent sales and new construction at significant price points. Rental housing is also expensive relative to incomes in the region. At the same time, the district's budget is overwhelmingly funded by local property taxes, and school tax levies have increased at or near the state tax-cap ceiling in recent years. This dynamic means families considering Manhasset should factor in sustained, predictable annual school-tax growth.

Elementary and middle grades are experiencing a parallel refresh in math and literacy instruction, with new coaching positions and expanded instructional time. This sustained attention to foundational skills in the lower grades feeds into the secondary program's expanded pathways and course offerings.

A parent looking at Manhasset Secondary School should seek out the school directly about recent proficiency outcomes and how students in the new pathways have performed on state exams and in post-secondary placement. The data needed to assess academic standing was not present here. What can be said is that the school is positioned in a walkable downtown with good rail access, sits within a district investing in facilities and curriculum breadth, and draws from a community of means—a profile that does not guarantee outcomes but does reflect infrastructure and intentional program growth.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

98.0%Cohort of 305 students · Class of 2021

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.

Advanced Placement & IB

29 subjects offered · 2023-24

Each card is one AP or IB subject. The headline number is the share of students scoring 3 or higher on the exam — the threshold for college credit at most universities. The bar below each rate shows the underlying distribution across performance levels.

Score:12· no credit345· extremely well qualified

Math and Computer Science

Calculus AB

42 tested

64.3%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

98 tested · Grade 10

89.8%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

35 tested · Grade 9, Grade 10

85.7%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

14 tested

85.7%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

105 tested · Grade 10

99.0%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

45 tested · Grade 9

88.9%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

15 tested · Grade 10

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Environmental Science

100 tested · Grade 9

62.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

100 tested

86.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 2

26 tested

61.5%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism

39 tested

43.6%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Mechanics

39 tested

87.2%

scored 3 or higher

English

Research

27 tested

96.3%

scored 3 or higher

Seminar

24 tested · Grade 10

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

Human Geography

108 tested · Grade 9, Grade 10

81.5%

scored 3 or higher

Macroeconomics

65 tested · Grade 10

70.8%

scored 3 or higher

Microeconomics

64 tested

82.8%

scored 3 or higher

Psychology

71 tested · Grade 10

78.9%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

190 tested

91.6%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

French Language and Culture

10 tested

70.0%

scored 3 or higher

Italian Language and Culture

12 tested

91.7%

scored 3 or higher

Spanish Language and Culture

35 tested

85.7%

scored 3 or higher

Arts

Art History

15 tested

33.3%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art Drawing

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

154 tested

85.7%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

131 tested

81.7%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 2d Design

17 tested

82.4%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

119 tested

84.9%

scored 3 or higher

World History

66 tested · Grade 10

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

New York Regents Exams

4 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
Social Studies	269	100.0%
Ela	240	98.0%
Science	21	62.0%
Math	16	81.0%

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.