Harold D Fayette School, North Merrick NY

Original Research by School Decision on Harold D Fayette School

Harold D Fayette School serves kindergarten through sixth grade in North Merrick, a built-out residential suburb on Long Island's South Shore. The school enrolls a small to mid-sized population of students across its grade band, with the student body drawn from a community that is predominantly white, with meaningful shares of Hispanic, Asian, and Black students. About one in nine students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

State assessment results from the 2024-25 school year show strong proficiency across tested grades and subjects. In mathematics, third-grade students achieved proficiency at the highest level, while fourth-grade proficiency was in the high eighties. Fifth and sixth grades showed solid performance in the mid-to-high eighties and mid-seventies respectively. English language arts results were comparably strong: third grade reached the mid-nineties, fourth grade the low eighties, fifth grade the upper eighties, and sixth grade the upper sixties. Fifth-grade science proficiency was in the mid-to-high eighties. Across these tested areas, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among districts in Nassau County.

A few notes on testing: participation rates across grades and subjects ranged from about forty to sixty-seven percent, meaning a notable portion of students did not sit for state tests, a pattern common in elementary settings. The school did not report results for earlier grades in literacy, as New York does not assess kindergarten through second grade under the state testing program. Social studies data from the school are more than a decade old and not reflected in current performance.

The district has made deliberate curriculum choices that shape the early literacy and academic pathway here. All K-3 classrooms now use the Fundations phonics program as part of a Science of Reading approach, with structured, explicit instruction in phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. The district has also added a K-6 foreign language program, a technology teacher focused on coding and digital learning, new hands-on science experiences, and updated social studies resources. These are lasting additions to what students encounter day to day.

North Merrick itself is a fully developed, car-dependent suburb where homes are rooted and turnover is unusually low. The median home value in the zip code is in the high hundreds of thousands, with prices rising modestly year over year. The market is tight, with high demand and few listings; homes tend to sell quickly. The community is anchored by schools, libraries, parks, and LIRR commuter rail service to New York City, along with local retail and service businesses. There is no single dominant employer; most residents commute to the city on a hybrid schedule or work in education, healthcare, or local retail. The town has a chamber-driven civic life and a school-centric identity.

This is a neighborhood and a school where the academic instruction is steady and thoughtfully aligned, where the student population is stable and mixed, and where families are settling in for the long term. The proficiency data suggest clear instruction and engaged learners, though a parent may want to discuss testing participation rates directly with the school to understand what they reflect.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 3100%

School 100% · District 66% · ▲ 34 pts above district

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

Grade 492%

School 92% · District 87% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 588%

School 88% · District 73% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 675%

School 75% · District 62% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 395%

School 95% · District 68% · ▲ 27 pts above district

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

Grade 481%

School 81% · District 79% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 588%

School 88% · District 71% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 58% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 587%

School 87% · District 70% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 45 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 5100%

School 100% · District 99% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

This schoolNORTH MERRICK 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 6Lower-income40%Higher-income73%33 pp gap