Pomona Middle School, Suffern NY

Original Research by School Decision on Pomona Middle School

Pomona Middle School is a middle school serving grades seven and eight in the East Ramapo Central School District, located in Suffern, a small village on the New York-New Jersey border in Rockland County. The school's academic results are substantially below state benchmarks and below the median performance of districts in Rockland County.

State assessment data from the 2024-25 school year shows that proficiency rates across tested subjects are low. In seventh-grade math, about one in ten students scored at proficiency. Eighth-grade math proficiency drops further, with just a very small number of students meeting the standard. In English language arts, about one in seven seventh graders scored proficient, and in eighth grade that improves slightly to roughly one in five students. Science proficiency for eighth grade, the school's strongest subject, sits around one in four students. Overall, the school's proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to other district schools in Rockland County.

The student body is predominantly Hispanic and economically disadvantaged. The overwhelming majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and very few students identify as white or Asian. This demographic profile reflects the broader East Ramapo district, which serves a heavily Hispanic, low-income population across multiple communities including Suffern, Montebello, and surrounding areas.

The school serves roughly balanced seventh and eighth grade cohorts. Enrollment numbers for special populations such as students with IEPs or English learners are not available in the data provided, though the district's own reports indicate a large multilingual population districtwide.

Suffern itself is a mature, walkable village centered on Lafayette Avenue with a historic downtown, train station, and access to employment anchors like Good Samaritan Hospital. The broader Suffern Central School District (distinct from East Ramapo) serves the village directly, while Pomona sits in the adjacent community of Montebello within the East Ramapo district. Housing costs in the area have risen, and the district is implementing significant changes, including a shift toward science-of-reading literacy instruction beginning in 2025-26 and the first property-tax levy increase in roughly a decade. East Ramapo also remains under state-monitor oversight, meaning major district decisions require state approval.

A parent considering Pomona should look into the school's specific intervention strategies and support structure for reading and math, given the wide proficiency gaps, and understand the broader district context of literacy reform and state oversight now in place.

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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
Science	57	63.0%
Math	39	51.0%

Math

Grade 711%

School 11% · District 14% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 83%

School 3% · District 11% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 714%

School 14% · District 17% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 25% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 28% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 871%

School 71% · district not reported

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below 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 5Lower-income0%Higher-income0%0 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income14%Higher-income17%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income19%Higher-income17%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income0%Higher-income0%0 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income10%Higher-income16%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income3%Higher-income4%2 pp gap