Hempstead Elementary School, Spring Valley NY

Original Research by School Decision on Hempstead Elementary School

# HEMPSTEAD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Hempstead Elementary serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Spring Valley, a densely built, ethnically diverse village on the eastern shore of Rockland County. The school sits in a community that mixes compact urban neighborhoods with residential streets, anchored by a walkable downtown with small businesses, transit hubs, churches, and municipal facilities. The school itself draws from a neighborhood that is predominantly Hispanic, with a large Haitian community and many Hasidic residents, reflecting what civic leaders describe as roughly 42 ethnic groups living in the village.

The enrollment is about evenly distributed across the seven grade levels served, with roughly equal cohorts moving through the building. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the school's student body mirrors the village's composition: the large majority are Hispanic, with smaller populations of Black, Asian, and White students. English learners and students with disabilities are present in the enrollment, though specific counts were not available.

Academic performance on New York state testing is notably low across the school. In mathematics, proficiency falls well below what the state marks as grade-level standard across the tested grades, with students in fourth and fifth grade showing single-digit proficiency. English language arts proficiency is similarly constrained, though fourth-grade students show slightly better results than younger peers. Science performance in the fifth grade, the only grade tested, is also well below state standard. When positioned against other districts in Rockland County, Hempstead's overall proficiency sits in the bottom quartile. State testing data for sixth grade was not available, as the state does not administer exams at that level in New York.

The school is part of the East Ramapo Central School District, which has been navigating substantial change. For 2024-25, the state forced through the district's first property tax levy increase in nearly a decade, a shift that directly affects family housing costs in the community. More broadly, the district is overhauling core literacy instruction, moving toward the research-based "science of reading" model starting in the 2025-26 school year. This represents a pedagogical shift away from balanced-literacy approaches across all grades, including for students learning English and those receiving special education support.

The district operates under expanded state-monitor oversight, a governance structure that stems from years of fiscal and leadership challenges. Monitors are empowered to review and approve budgets, financial plans, board policies, and district decisions, serving as nonvoting board members. This level of state involvement is unusual and reflects the state's determination to stabilize the district's operations.

Housing values in the 10977 zip code where the school is located place the area above the national benchmark but below the state benchmark, with a price-to-income ratio above the national average. Rental affordability also strains household budgets relative to income. The village itself is undergoing slow downtown revitalization, with mixed-use development and housing projects aiming to bring residents back to the commercial core, and under a federal fair-housing settlement, the village must ensure new affordable rental units are completed by 2030.

A parent considering this school may want to look into the district's literacy transition plans further with school leaders, as the shift to science-of-reading instruction is still rolling out and will shape reading instruction across all grade levels. The low state proficiency results reflect the challenges this school and its peers face; understanding what targeted academic supports the school is offering to students, particularly in math and reading, would be worth exploring directly.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 25%

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

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 19% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 18% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 23% · ▼ 23 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 21%

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

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 20% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 23% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 24% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 46 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Science

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 12% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 596%

School 96% · district not reported

▲ 4 pts above state median · even with county median

This schoolEAST RAMAPO CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT (SPRING VALLEY), 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-income15%Higher-income42%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income35%Higher-income0%35 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income20%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income23%Higher-income31%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income19%Higher-income0%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income20%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income30%Higher-income60%30 pp gap