Bulkeley Middle School, Rhinebeck NY

Original Research by School Decision on Bulkeley Middle School

Bulkeley Middle School is a public middle school serving grades six through eight in Rhinebeck, a small Hudson Valley village. The school sits on a shared campus with Chancellor Livingston Elementary and Rhinebeck Senior High at North Park Road, within walking distance of the village's tree-lined residential streets and historic downtown.

Academically, Bulkeley is performing well above the midpoint among Dutchess County districts. In the most recent state assessments, proficiency rates across tested grades and subjects cluster in the high range. Sixth-grade math and English language arts both show strong performance, with the vast majority of sixth graders reaching proficiency. Seventh-grade math reaches a similarly high proficiency level. Eighth-grade students show solid proficiency in ELA and science, with math proficiency also holding firm. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to other districts in the county.

The school serves about a third of its grades in roughly equal cohorts across grades six, seven, and eight. About one-fifth of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is predominantly white, with Hispanic students representing the next-largest group, followed by students identifying as two or more races. The school has a small Asian population and very few Black students. Counts for students with individualized education programs and English learners were not available in the data provided.

Rhinebeck itself is a walkable community centered on East Market and Montgomery streets, where independent shops and dozens of restaurants occupy 18th- and 19th-century buildings. The village retains a historic district aesthetic with sidewalk-lined streets and shade trees. The region's housing market is moderately expensive, with home prices above both state and national medians. Rental costs are also elevated. The dominant local employer is Northern Dutchess Hospital, an acute-care community facility, alongside the Omega Institute and Rhinebeck Bank. Transit includes the Amtrak station at nearby Rhinecliff with multiple intercity lines.

The district has recently launched a full-day, play-based pre-K program in collaboration with the Rhinebeck Community Nursery School at the elementary school, beginning with one class and expanding to a second class in the 2025-2026 school year. Rhinebeck High School adopted a rotating, eight-day schedule beginning in 2024, allowing students to take eight classes with a community lunch period, a structural change to how secondary students organize their coursework.

A parent evaluating Bulkeley would find strong state testing results across the grades and subjects measured, an enrollment small enough to support community feel, and a location within an intact, walkable village with clear civic anchors. The school's upper-grade math and science proficiency rates are solid, though a parent may want to look into recent trends in eighth-grade participation on state math assessments, which showed a notably lower testing participation rate for that grade level.

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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	22	100.0%
Science	14	93.0%

Math

Grade 683%

School 83% · District 83%

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

Grade 785%

School 85% · District 85%

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

Grade 880%

School 80% · District 80%

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 685%

School 85% · District 85%

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

Grade 778%

School 78% · District 78%

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 881%

School 81% · District 81%

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Science

Grade 879%

School 79% · District 79%

▲ 46 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 892%

School 92% · district not reported

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolRHINEBECK CENTRAL 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-income60%Higher-income87%27 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income53%Higher-income85%32 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income64%Higher-income85%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income60%Higher-income85%25 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income69%Higher-income90%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income67%Higher-income86%19 pp gap