Montauk School, Montauk NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Montauk School

Montauk School is a small public school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Montauk, a beach resort and fishing hamlet at the easternmost tip of Long Island. The school enrolls a relatively small cohort of students, with individual grades running in the mid-to-high twenties, and sits at 50 South Dorset Drive within the Montauk Union Free School District.

The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic enrollment representing the largest minority population, reflecting both the year-round community and the seasonal influx tied to hospitality and agricultural work. A modest share of the overall enrollment appears to reflect the area's demographics and economic mix. Data on free-or-reduced-price-lunch status and English learner enrollments were not available, and the school does not report counts for special-education participation, limiting a full picture of economic or academic-need distribution.

On state testing, Montauk shows uneven performance across grades and subjects. In English language arts, the school demonstrates strength in the upper grades, notably a perfect proficiency result in eighth grade, but lower proficiency in third and fifth grade. Fourth-grade ELA performance is notably solid. Mathematics results are more mixed: fourth grade performs well, but third grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, and seventh grade all show proficiency rates below or near the midpoint. Sixth-grade math is particularly soft. Science testing is limited to fifth and eighth grade; fifth grade shows reasonable proficiency while eighth grade lags. The state testing results are now several years old for social studies, so they offer historical rather than current context.

Across tested subjects and grades, Montauk's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile when compared to districts in Suffolk County, a meaningful strength. This positioning reflects the school's best grades outweighing its softer ones, suggesting real academic capability in portions of the student body and curriculum. However, the wide variation between grades and between subjects warrants attention; a parent may want to look into further with the school what drives these gaps and how the school addresses students in grades or subjects where proficiency lags.

The school serves a community shaped by heavy seasonality. Montauk's year-round population is modest but swells dramatically each summer with tourists and temporary workers. Housing in the area is expensive; median home values are well above state and national norms, though rental supply and costs are also elevated. The local economy hinges on tourism, hospitality, fishing, and a second-home market, all of which are highly seasonal and create labor-demand peaks in summer. Lack of affordable housing is a documented strain on the local workforce.

The district has undergone two significant changes in recent years. Voters approved a bond in late 2025 to fund an extensive renovation of Montauk School, alongside a separate capital project, representing a lasting property-tax commitment for residents. Additionally, for the 2023-24 school year the district placed an over-the-tax-cap budget on the ballot for the first time, seeking a tax-levy increase above the state cap, a notable shift in tax burden for the community. These changes underscore that Montauk is a district that has moved from spending down reserves to seeking new revenue, a sign of either rising costs or a shift in financial priorities.

In a positive development for families with special-education needs, Montauk is now part of a shared regional special education program established with East Hampton, Amagansett, and Springs, opening for the 2026-27 school year at the Springs campus. This allows local students to receive services closer to home rather than traveling to a BOCES facility in Westhampton Beach, a meaningful convenience for families.

Grade eight shows notably suppressed test data due to low participation, a pattern worth understanding in context of the school's size and eighth-grade transition practices. The school does not serve a ninth grade, as it ends at eighth, so students move on to regional or private high schools.

Montauk School is a small, community-embedded school in an expensive seasonal resort area. Its test results are respectable in aggregate but uneven by grade and subject, suggesting both strength and variability. Families considering this school should understand its role in a tight-knit but property-tax-burdened community, its small cohorts and peer environment, and the reality that academic outcomes are mixed, strongest in ELA upper grades and fourth-grade math but softer in several other grade-subject combinations.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

2 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
Math	17	94.0%
Science	16	100.0%

Math

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 475%

School 75% · District 75%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 7 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 52%

even with state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 478%

School 78% · District 78%

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 674%

School 74% · District 74%

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

Grade 767%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 8100%

School 100% · District 100%

▲ 52 pts above state median · ▲ 56 pts above county median

Science

Grade 564%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 5100%

School 100% · District 100%

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

Grade 895%

School 95% · District 92% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

This schoolMONTAUK 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.