Seaford Manor School, Seaford NY

Original Research by School Decision on Seaford Manor School

Seaford Manor School sits on Washington Avenue in Seaford, a South Shore hamlet in Nassau County roughly 25 miles east of Manhattan. It is a regular public elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade, part of the Seaford Union Free School District. The building shares a campus corridor with the district's middle school, set back from the commercial bustle of Merrick Road on a residential suburban block.

The school's academic results stand out. Across the tested grades in both English language arts and math, proficiency rates are solidly strong, and by fifth grade the rates in both subjects climb to particularly high levels. Science proficiency at fifth grade is also healthy. Placed against districts across Nassau County, the school's overall proficiency picture lands in the top quartile of that group, which includes 61 districts. For a public elementary school on Long Island, that is a meaningful position.

One thing a parent should be aware of before reading too much into the results: participation rates on state assessments are notably low in several grade and subject combinations, meaning the tested group in some grades represents well under half of enrolled students. When participation is that limited, the reported proficiency figures reflect a narrower slice of the student body, and parents may want to ask the school directly how nonparticipation is handled and how broadly the results represent the full enrollment.

Enrollment is substantial for a K-5 building. The student body is predominantly white, with Hispanic students making up a meaningful share of the school and smaller Asian and multiracial populations also present. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is low relative to what you would see in many New York public schools. Data on students with IEPs and English learners was not available in the records we reviewed. Discipline and chronic absenteeism data were also not reported here, so we left those out rather than guess.

The district itself has been making moves that matter for families. A Universal Pre-K program, free to residents, launched after the district had previously concluded it lacked the space and eligible partner programs to run one. The program now operates on a lottery basis with a meaningful number of funded seats, which is worth knowing if you have a child approaching that age. The district also publicly reported expanding college-level course access at the high school through a partnership with Long Island University, adding forensics and virtual enterprises, alongside technology investments that reach down to the elementary level. Third graders received new laptops as part of that effort.

Property taxes are a live question in any Nassau County conversation. The district has publicly reported staying at or below the state tax levy cap in recent budgets, with the proposed cap for the coming school year described as the second-lowest in roughly a decade. That pattern provides some predictability for homeowners, though the broader county housing market itself is not inexpensive. Home values in Seaford track well above the state median and far above the national median, rising year over year. Rental data for Seaford specifically was not available. The county market as a whole shows homes selling relatively quickly, with listing prices continuing to climb.

Seaford as a place has a grounded, neighborhood feel. Canal-front streets, Seamans Neck Park with kayak launches and ball fields, Cedar Creek Park with a year-round roller rink and a bike path to Jones Beach, and the Tackapausha Nature Preserve on the western edge all give families outdoor options without leaving the hamlet. The LIRR Babylon Branch station provides a rail connection toward Manhattan for commuting households. Commerce runs along Merrick Road, where independently owned restaurants and shops give the corridor a local rather than purely chain character.

A graduation rate does not apply here since Seaford Manor ends at fifth grade. Trend data across years was not available, so the performance picture is drawn from the most recent testing cycle only.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 79% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 74% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 590%

School 90% · District 81% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 377%

School 77% · District 73% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 475%

School 75% · District 58% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

Grade 591%

School 91% · District 83% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 59% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 598%

School 98% · district not reported

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolSEAFORD 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 3Lower-income88%Higher-income76%12 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income60%Higher-income78%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income100%Higher-income89%11 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income88%Higher-income71%17 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income88%Higher-income91%3 pp gap