Riverhead Senior High School, Riverhead NY

Original Research by School Decision on Riverhead Senior High School

Riverhead Senior High School serves grades 9 through 12 in a mid-sized enrollment of roughly nearly two thousand students. The school draws from Riverhead, a town on Long Island that functions as Suffolk County's seat and one of the East End's commercial anchors. Downtown is walkable and centered on the Peconic River, while the broader town remains rural and agricultural, home to vineyards and farms. That context shapes the school's student body: about three-fifths of students identify as Hispanic, roughly a quarter as white, and smaller populations of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. About half the enrollment qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of economic diversity in the district.

State testing data at the high school level was not available in this dataset, so proficiency in English language arts, math, and science cannot be reported. The dataset included only middle-grade testing results, which showed no students tested at grades 8, a gap that likely reflects the school's role as a grades 9-12 building rather than a limitation in assessment administration. Without high school state results, a parent cannot compare Riverhead's proficiency standing to other schools in Suffolk County or the state through that lens. The comparison data that is available places the school in the bottom quartile on overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades when aligned to county districts, though this metric draws from incomplete subject-level reporting and warrants direct contact with the school for a clearer picture of actual achievement.

The district has faced substantial headwinds. Federal COVID relief funding that supported academic intervention specialists, guidance counselors, school psychologists, and teaching assistants expired in 2024. The district responded by eliminating staff positions, with the heaviest cuts falling on the four elementary schools and the intermediate school rather than the high school. That staffing reduction is nonetheless a direct factor in instructional support available to all students in the district. A nearly decade-old dual language program, expanded across all elementary schools in recent years, faced proposed elimination in 2024 and was partly restored only after parent advocacy and a shift to federal Title funding. Rising property taxes are another ongoing reality: recent budgets have increased the tax levy at or near the state cap, with voter support declining even as taxes rose. A proposed bond to address overcrowding and facility repairs failed decisively in 2020, leaving the high school and one intermediate school operating over capacity.

Riverhead itself is in a growth and development phase. Downtown is undergoing a revitalization centered on a town square project and mixed-use housing. The former Grumman industrial site, spanning a large acreage, is being marketed for higher-paying manufacturing and industry jobs. The town's population has risen over the past decade. Peconic Bay Medical Center, part of Northwell Health, is the largest employer with expansion underway, and Tanger Outlets draw millions of visitors annually. The retail and service economy anchors daily employment for many residents.

A parent or resident considering Riverhead Senior High should view it as a school in a working-to-middle-class town with a diverse and economically mixed student body, facing real resource constraints from the expiration of pandemic-relief staffing and from voter rejection of a facilities bond. The school is open and operational, and high school graduates do receive diplomas. Without current state proficiency data or graduation rates in the payload, a parent may want to seek those metrics directly from the school or the district to understand post-secondary outcomes and readiness.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

79.0%Cohort of 545 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

21 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

12 tested

50.0%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

28 tested

21.4%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

13 tested · Grade 10

30.8%

scored 3 or higher

Precalculus

55 tested

90.9%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

27 tested · Grade 10

44.4%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

35 tested

62.9%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 2

39 tested · Grade 10

30.8%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism

10 tested

30.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Mechanics

20 tested

55.0%

scored 3 or higher

English

Seminar

18 tested

66.7%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

European History

45 tested · Grade 10

31.1%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

35 tested

85.7%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

French Language and Culture

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Spanish Language and Culture

29 tested · Grade 10

93.1%

scored 3 or higher

Arts

Music Theory

5 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art Drawing

4 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

76 tested

44.7%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

54 tested

79.6%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 2d Design

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

World History

41 tested · Grade 10

78.0%

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
Ela	587	66.0%
Math	552	36.0%
Social Studies	524	67.0%
Science	135	68.0%

Math

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 11% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 31% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 48 pts below state median · ▼ 44 pts below county median

Science

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 26% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

This schoolRIVERHEAD 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.