St Lawrence Middle School, Brasher Falls NY

Original Research by School Decision on St Lawrence Middle School

St. Lawrence Middle School serves grades five through eight in Brasher Falls, a small rural hamlet in northeastern St. Lawrence County where the school sits on a campus somewhat apart from the downtown Main Street corridor. The school enrolls students from a small enrollment base, with class sizes that reflect the demographics of the surrounding agricultural community. Roughly three out of five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly white, with small numbers of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds.

On state assessments in 2024-25, the school shows uneven academic performance across grades and subjects. In mathematics, sixth-grade students performed substantially better than their peers in other grades, while fifth graders showed the lowest proficiency. Across seventh and eighth grades, roughly half to somewhat more than half of students met state proficiency. In English language arts, proficiency rates fall lower overall, ranging from below a third of fifth graders to just over a third of sixth and eighth graders, with seventh grade near two out of five students meeting the standard. In science, proficiency varies considerably by grade tested: fifth graders show similar low performance to their peers in ELA, while eighth-grade science proficiency sits around one in two students. Participation rates on state tests are strong, above nine in ten students in most grades, suggesting that the proficiency figures reflect actual performance rather than testing gaps. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index falls above the midpoint among districts in St. Lawrence County.

The school has not reported current data on English learners or students with disabilities, so it is unclear what share of the enrollment receives specialized support. No chronic absenteeism data or discipline records are available in the public reporting. State testing data for social studies is notably dated (from 2009-10) rather than current, reflecting changes in New York's assessment calendar.

Brasher Falls itself is experiencing the economic pressures common to North Country small towns, with a long-term population decline and a local economy centered on dairy farming and educational services. The district has taken steps to manage costs and improve facilities: voters approved a capital project in December 2023 funded largely by state aid with no impact on local taxpayers, addressing building renovations and a shortage of parking and expansion space. The 2024-25 budget marked a shift upward in the tax levy, rising more than the district's prior five-year average, though the exact figures are not disclosed here. The district also established a capital reserve fund to smooth future facility needs.

Families considering this school would likely be drawn by manageable school size and close-knit community context, and the absence of steep tax increases in the district's recent past. A parent should look further into the school's instructional approach to the lower reading proficiency rates and ask the district specifically about support services for students performing below grade level, especially in the early middle grades.

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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
Math	8	100.0%
Science	7	100.0%

Math

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 36% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 63% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 55% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 21 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 528%

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

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

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 35% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 37% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 35%

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

Science

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 33% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 585%

School 85% · district not reported

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 882%

School 82% · district not reported

▲ 4 pts above state median

This schoolBRASHER FALLS CENTRAL 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 5Lower-income26%Higher-income35%10 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income46%21 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income27%Higher-income55%28 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income29%Higher-income43%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income34%Higher-income45%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income54%Higher-income75%21 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income44%Higher-income73%29 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income57%Higher-income61%4 pp gap