John F Kennedy High School, Bellmore NY

Original Research by School Decision on John F Kennedy High School

John F. Kennedy High School serves roughly a thousand students in grades nine through twelve in Bellmore, a small, built-out residential hamlet on Long Island's South Shore. The school sits within the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, which spans multiple communities and serves the secondary grades for the area.

The school's enrollment is drawn almost entirely from the surrounding communities, with the student body predominantly white, reflecting the demographic makeup of the Bellmore-Merrick region. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The racial and ethnic composition includes Asian, Hispanic, Black, and multiracial students, though the plurality remains white. Data on English learners and students receiving special education services were not available.

State testing data was not provided, so we cannot report proficiency results or how the school performs relative to other districts in Nassau County on standardized measures. Graduation rate data was also not included. These gaps are common for individual schools when state reporting focuses on district-level aggregates; a parent may want to ask the school directly for recent performance data and graduation outcomes.

The school is in a community where housing values are substantial. Median home values in the Bellmore area reflect an upper-middle-class market, with active listings showing steady pricing and modest year-over-year appreciation. For families considering the area, the housing market shows more supply than demand, meaning less competitive buying but still significant entry cost. The region's median household income is solid, and unemployment is stable.

Bellmore itself is a walkable hamlet with a downtown corridor along Bedford Avenue near the LIRR station, offering independent shops, restaurants, and civic life centered on Newbridge Road Park—a major public amenity with pools, an ice rink, athletic fields, and year-round programming. The Long Island Rail Road provides commuter rail access to Manhattan in roughly an hour. The community pairs closely with North Bellmore and Merrick, and daily life extends across these neighboring hamlets.

The district recently invested in capital improvements and facilities upgrades for Kennedy High School, reflecting a commitment to building infrastructure. Additionally, the district implemented a district-wide one-to-one Chromebook program for all students in grades seven through twelve, with devices available both at school and at home—a structural choice that embeds technology into daily learning across the secondary grades. The operating budget has remained within the state tax-levy cap over several years, signaling predictable property-tax growth for homeowners.

A parent evaluating Kennedy High School would want to request direct information on course offerings, AP or honors pathways, post-secondary outcomes, and recent state assessment results, as these were not available in district-level summaries. The school's position in an affluent, stable residential community suggests a peer environment shaped by that demographic, though the specific academic programming and support structure would be worth exploring directly with the school.

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Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

97.0%Cohort of 273 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

30 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

32 tested

75.0%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

18 tested

61.1%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

13 tested

46.2%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

26 tested · Grade 10

88.5%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

39 tested · Grade 10

61.5%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

40 tested · Grade 10

72.5%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

14 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Environmental Science

70 tested

31.4%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

73 tested

54.8%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 2

14 tested

78.6%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism

4 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Mechanics

13 tested

61.5%

scored 3 or higher

English

Research

22 tested

95.5%

scored 3 or higher

Seminar

61 tested · Grade 10

98.4%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

European History

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Human Geography

20 tested · Grade 10

50.0%

scored 3 or higher

Macroeconomics

85 tested · Grade 10

57.6%

scored 3 or higher

Psychology

55 tested

78.2%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

123 tested

95.1%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

Chinese Language and Culture

9 tested

22.2%

scored 3 or higher

French Language and Culture

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Italian Language and Culture

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Spanish Language and Culture

42 tested

90.5%

scored 3 or higher

Arts

Studio Art Drawing

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

149 tested

61.7%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

84 tested

81.0%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 2d Design

20 tested

90.0%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 3d Design

4 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

44 tested

95.5%

scored 3 or higher

World History

111 tested · Grade 10

95.5%

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	295	92.0%
Ela	283	94.0%
Math	247	85.0%
Science	247	85.0%

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.