School 45-mary Mcleod Bethune, Rochester NY

Original Research by School Decision on School 45-mary Mcleod Bethune

School 45-Mary McLeod Bethune sits on Clifford Avenue in Rochester's northeast side, serving children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade within the Rochester City School District. The school is a standard public school, not a charter, and its grade span means it keeps students through the end of middle school, which is notable given the district's recent decision to reestablish a separate middle-school tier after years without one.

The academic picture is one a parent should understand plainly. On New York's state assessments, proficiency rates in math and English language arts across the tested grades are quite low, placing the school in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Monroe County. Math results in the third and fourth grades are in the low double digits, and fifth-grade math proficiency falls to nearly zero tested students meeting the bar. ELA results run similarly, with the fifth grade showing modestly better results than math but still far below state expectations. Fifth-grade science proficiency is also very low. There are no tested results for grades seven and eight, which appears to reflect the school's enrollment structure rather than an absence of students at those ages, since students are enrolled in those grades; a parent would want to ask the school directly why state testing data does not appear for those grades. The social studies data in the file is from a much earlier school year and is not current. Trend data was not available, so whether performance has been moving in any direction cannot be determined from what was provided.

A very substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this school among the most economically concentrated in the region. The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic. IEP and English learner rates were not available in the data.

The school sits inside a district going through major structural upheaval. The Rochester City School District closed a large number of schools and restructured grade configurations starting in the 2024-25 school year, making this one of the most sweeping reorganizations the district has undertaken in a very long time. Families whose schools were closed entered a reassignment lottery. The district also lost a substantial number of staff positions when federal COVID-relief funding ended, and projections point to further budget pressure ahead. These district-level changes form the backdrop for every school in the system, including School 45.

Rochester itself is an urban city along the Genesee River, with an Olmsted-designed park system, a downtown that has drawn reinvestment in recent years through adaptive-reuse housing and state revitalization funding, and a transit network of bus lines radiating from a downtown hub. The region's largest employers are concentrated in healthcare and higher education, including the University of Rochester Medical Center and several major hospital systems. Housing values in the zip codes around the school are well below both state and national benchmarks, and significantly below the Monroe County median listing price, making the area among the more affordable in the region. Rents have risen noticeably over the past year, though they remain low by statewide standards. Monroe County's housing market broadly moves quickly, with homes typically pending within a few weeks of listing.

For a family weighing this school, the academic proficiency data is a clear soft spot, and a parent would reasonably want to ask the school about its instructional supports, how students in the untested upper grades are performing, and what specific resources are in place given the district's budget contraction. The school carries the name of Mary McLeod Bethune, a historically resonant choice, and serves a community where the vast majority of children come from low-income households. Program and staffing detail were not available in the data provided.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 311%

School 11% · District 25% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 48 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 416%

School 16% · District 17% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 52%

School 2% · District 13% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 49 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 66%

School 6% · District 18% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 70%

School 0% · District 15% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 53 pts below state median · ▼ 46 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 4% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 22% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 413%

School 13% · District 19% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 19% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 616%

School 16% · District 20% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 70%

School 0% · District 17% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 47 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 19% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 48 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Science

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 14% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 10% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 573%

School 73% · district not reported

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

This schoolROCHESTER CITY 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 7Lower-income13%Higher-income0%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income7%Higher-income0%7 pp gap