Chestnut Ridge Middle School, Chestnut Ridge NY

Original Research by School Decision on Chestnut Ridge Middle School

Chestnut Ridge Middle School serves seventh and eighth graders in the village of Chestnut Ridge, a low-density, wooded residential community in Rockland County. It is part of the East Ramapo Central School District (Spring Valley), a district with an unusual governance history that any prospective family should understand before making a housing decision.

The school's enrollment is sizeable for a two-grade building. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with Black students making up most of the remainder. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in the records we reviewed, though the district as a whole serves a large multilingual population and a significant share of students with disabilities.

State assessment results on the New York State Testing Program tell a candid story. In both seventh and eighth grade math, only a small fraction of students tested at proficient or above, with eighth grade results somewhat weaker than seventh. ELA results follow a similar pattern in seventh grade, though eighth grade ELA is noticeably higher than seventh, suggesting some upward movement as students progress. Eighth grade science results are in a similar range to eighth grade ELA. Across subjects, proficiency is low in absolute terms. Placed against the other districts in Rockland County, the school's overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile of that group. A sixth-grade cohort appears in the state data system but shows no tested students, which may reflect a transition in grade configuration or an administrative quirk; parents may want to ask the school directly about grade assignments and feeder patterns. Social studies data in the system is from a much earlier school year and is not useful for current comparison.

A graduation rate does not apply here because this is a middle school with no graduating cohort.

The district context shapes what families encounter at this school in real ways. East Ramapo has operated under state monitor oversight for years, with monitors empowered to review budgets, financial plans, and board policies, and to serve as non-voting board members. That oversight was strengthened by state legislation several years ago and remains active. For 2024-25, the state directed the board to implement the first meaningful property-tax levy increase in roughly a decade, with the additional revenue earmarked specifically for public schools. Homeowners moving into the district should factor that change into their cost picture, and the trajectory of levy decisions is worth watching. Separately, the district is publicly reported to be overhauling core literacy instruction toward a science-of-reading model starting in 2025-26, retraining teachers and redesigning tiered support across grades. For a school population that includes many multilingual learners, how that transition is implemented will matter. Program details specific to Chestnut Ridge Middle School were not available in the data we reviewed.

The village itself is car-dependent and quiet, with no traditional walkable downtown. Housing in the area runs well above both state and national medians, and the price-to-income ratio is notably high by national standards, meaning buyers are entering an expensive market. The village is in the middle of its first-ever comprehensive planning process, and a large mixed-use development proposal along Red Schoolhouse Road could bring new residents and additional school-age children to the area over time, though its final built status was not confirmed in our research.

For a family weighing this school, the honest picture is one of low measured academic proficiency relative to neighboring Rockland County districts, a student population with high economic need, and a district navigating real institutional challenges under ongoing state oversight. Parents who want to understand where students are academically and what the district's concrete improvement plans look like at the building level would be well served by direct conversations with school leadership.

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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	25	92.0%
Math	21	100.0%

Math

Grade 60%

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

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

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 14% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 88%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 60%

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

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

Grade 714%

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

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

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 25% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 28% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 867%

School 67% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 23 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 7Lower-income13%Higher-income19%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income26%Higher-income22%3 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income13%Higher-income8%5 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income9%Higher-income5%3 pp gap