Ward Melville Senior High School, East Setauket NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ward Melville Senior High School

Ward Melville Senior High School is a four-year public high school in East Setauket on Long Island's North Shore, serving a substantially white, affluent suburban enrollment where nearly three-quarters of students are white, about one in eight are Asian, and smaller shares are Hispanic and Black. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school sits within the Three Village Central School District and is entering a structural transition.

Starting in fall 2025, the district moved its grade organization, placing ninth grade into Ward Melville for the first time and creating a true four-year high school model. Previously, the district kept ninth graders in its middle schools, an unusual configuration. This change means the student body, peer groups, and available electives and activities are now different from what they were. Families considering Ward Melville should expect a school in transition to a more conventional high school structure, with both the benefits of a larger four-year campus and the adjustment period that comes with that shift.

The hamlet of East Setauket itself is primarily residential, with tree-lined streets and a mix of older and newer single-family homes. It is car-oriented and built along Route 25A and other highways rather than around a traditional walkable downtown. Nearby Stony Brook and Port Jefferson provide shopping, dining, and entertainment. The local civic center is the historic Setauket Village Green, home to the Emma S. Clark Library and Frank Melville Memorial Park. Transit is limited; the area is served by county bus routes and the Long Island Rail Road's Port Jefferson Branch, with the Stony Brook station a short drive away.

The housing market in the zip code is in a mid-to-high price range, with median home values reflecting strong suburban demand. Rents are correspondingly elevated. Employment is anchored by Stony Brook University and Stony Brook University Hospital, along with education and health care jobs, and much of the area's commercial activity clusters in medical and office parks rather than throughout the hamlet. Recent population growth has been modest; the most recent census showed a slight decline from earlier counts, though median family income in the area is high.

The Three Village Central School District is currently navigating two significant challenges. A bond referendum in January 2026 asking voters to approve borrowing for building repairs and improvements did not pass. Rather than pursue another bond vote, the district plans to fold repair costs into annual operating budgets over time, a slower funding approach that has contributed to budgetary pressure. That failed referendum, combined with reductions in state building aid, created an unusually high tax cap for the 2026-27 budget year, which included a substantial tax-levy increase. Parents in the district are absorbing these financial pressures.

No recent state testing data or graduation rates were available for Ward Melville in the data provided. The school serves approximately one thousand five hundred students across grades nine through twelve. Detailed information on the school's specific academic programs, course offerings, extracurriculars, or performance metrics was not included in the available materials, so a parent or prospective student would benefit from visiting the school's website or arranging a visit to understand the school's strengths, course pathways, and day-to-day environment firsthand.

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Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

97.0%Cohort of 546 students · Class of 2021

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,253 schools plotted. 14 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Advanced Placement & IB

30 subjects offered · 2023-24

Each card is one AP or IB subject. The headline number is the share of students scoring 3 or higher on the exam — the threshold for college credit at most universities. The bar below each rate shows the underlying distribution across performance levels.

Score:12· no credit345· extremely well qualified

Math and Computer Science

Calculus AB

28 tested

75.0%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

78 tested · Grade 10

88.5%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

35 tested

94.3%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

110 tested · Grade 10

90.0%

scored 3 or higher

Precalculus

79 tested · Grade 10

93.7%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

70 tested · Grade 10

84.3%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

22 tested

81.8%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

23 tested

95.7%

scored 3 or higher

Environmental Science

37 tested

89.2%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

41 tested

95.1%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 2

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism

25 tested

84.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Mechanics

25 tested

92.0%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

Comparative Government and Politics

45 tested

86.7%

scored 3 or higher

European History

8 tested

75.0%

scored 3 or higher

Macroeconomics

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Microeconomics

27 tested

88.9%

scored 3 or higher

Psychology

98 tested · Grade 10

67.3%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

155 tested

96.1%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

Chinese Language and Culture

9 tested · Grade 10

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

French Language and Culture

20 tested

70.0%

scored 3 or higher

Italian Language and Culture

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Spanish Language and Culture

34 tested

85.3%

scored 3 or higher

Arts

Music Theory

10 tested · Grade 10

50.0%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art Drawing

12 tested

66.7%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

162 tested · Grade 10

81.5%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

79 tested

91.1%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 2d Design

7 tested

85.7%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

23 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

World History

187 tested · Grade 10

88.2%

scored 3 or higher

New York Regents Exams

4 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
Ela	468	94.0%
Social Studies	449	96.0%
Science	223	83.0%
Math	73	56.0%

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.