Mckenna Elementary School, Massapequa Park NY

Original Research by School Decision on Mckenna Elementary School

McKenna Elementary serves children from kindergarten through fifth grade in Massapequa Park, a residential community on Long Island. The school enrolls roughly one-half of a typical elementary school for its grade span, drawn largely from families living in the surrounding neighborhoods. Most students are white, with a smaller share of Hispanic students and minimal representation among other racial and ethnic groups. A small proportion of the school's families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

On New York State tests in reading and math administered in the 2024-25 school year, McKenna's results show a pattern of declining proficiency as students progress through the grade levels. In third grade, proficiency in math exceeds the midpoint; by fourth grade it falls noticeably, and by fifth grade it stands at half the class. Reading proficiency follows a similar trajectory, opening at roughly two-thirds in third grade and falling to roughly one-third by fifth grade. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits near half. When the school last reported social studies results, a decade ago, proficiency was substantially higher.

The data raises questions about what students encounter as they move through the upper elementary grades. A parent may want to look into this further with the school: whether classroom staffing or instructional approaches shift at fourth grade, whether the school has identified the drivers of the drop and what steps it has taken to address it, and what assessment results tell about growth rather than snapshot performance.

When compared against the sixty-one school districts across Nassau County, McKenna's overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint. This is context for the snapshot but not a verdict on the school itself; proficiency varies widely within the county, and many factors unrelated to school quality influence test results.

The community where McKenna sits is affluent. Homes in the zip code are valued high for the region, and housing costs are rising. The local real estate market shows active inventory with properties moving at a typical pace, suggesting a stable residential area where families are rooted.

The Massapequa Union Free School District, McKenna's home district, approved a substantial infrastructure bond in October 2023 to fund facility upgrades across its schools, including new boilers, roofs, playground equipment, athletic fields, and energy-efficiency work. Many of those projects are now complete, though the resulting debt service has elevated the district's tax-cap limit. The district is also engaged in ongoing litigation over its use of a Native American team name and logo; New York State regulations adopted in 2023 ban such imagery in public schools, and districts that fail to comply face potential loss of state aid and forced rebranding. A federal court dismissed a lawsuit challenging the ban, leaving the district's long-term stance uncertain. A family considering the area may want to track how this dispute resolves, as it touches both the district's state funding and its identity in the community.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 374%

School 74% · District 67% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 70% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 60% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 60% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 56% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 55% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 59% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 590%

School 90% · district not reported

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

This schoolMASSAPEQUA UNION FREE 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-income50%Higher-income69%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income77%27 pp gap