Town of Webb School, Old Forge NY

Original Research by School Decision on Town of Webb School

Town of Webb School sits in the center of Old Forge, a small Adirondack village built around tourism and seasonal recreation. The school is the only K-12 building in the district, serving a community whose year-round population is in the low hundreds and whose housing stock is dominated by vacation homes and second residences. Enrollment is small, clustering around students in individual grades, and the school draws from a student body that is overwhelmingly white, with nearly half of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

On state assessments in math, the school's results are uneven. Third grade shows strength, with the majority meeting or exceeding proficiency. Performance drops significantly in grades four and five, where proficiency falls to less than half and then to a small single-digit share. By grades six and seven, results recover somewhat, with grade seven showing solid performance. Grade eight math proficiency sits in the mid-range. English language arts follows a similar pattern: third grade is strong, fourth grade drops sharply, fifth grade is very low, and the school rebounds in grades six through eight, with grades seven and eight both showing proficiency near or above three-quarters. Science results are available only for grades five and eight; fifth grade science proficiency is very low, while eighth grade is considerably stronger.

Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among districts in Herkimer County, a meaningful position in a rural region. The pattern visible in these results—strength in early elementary and upper middle grades, with a notable dip in grades four through six—is worth discussing with the school directly, as it may reflect curriculum transitions, shifting class composition, or implementation challenges in a small setting where individual cohort size can drive swings in measured outcomes.

The school serves grades PK through 12, meaning it is responsible for early childhood through high school in a single building. No graduation rate data is available, so a parent seeking secondary outcomes should ask the school about college and career pathways, completion rates, and what post-secondary options the school tracks or reports. Program information at the secondary level was not provided, so inquiries about course breadth, electives, career pathways, or dual-credit opportunities would need to come directly from the school or district.

Old Forge itself is a village where civic life—the library, school, town offices—clusters in the center along Main Street rather than on separated campuses. The area is deeply shaped by its location inside the Adirondack Park, which restricts development and preserves landscape character but also limits housing and economic growth. School enrollment has been declining alongside population shifts. A town-wide property reassessment is underway and will conclude in 2026, which means some households may see changes in their school tax bills as assessed values are updated. For families weighing a move to the area, this is a practical consideration: depending on how a home's assessed value changes relative to others, a family's school tax share could rise, fall, or stay stable.

The school operates in a small-town setting with a tourism-dependent economy. Most families work in hospitality, retail, restaurants, or small business, or commute to jobs outside the area. The community is quiet in winter and busy in summer, with a heavy seasonal layer of visitors. A parent choosing this school should understand it as a small, town-centered option with solid proficiency results overall but with a pattern of academic softness in upper elementary grades that warrants conversation with the school. Housing is scarce and expensive relative to the area's income, second homes dominate the landscape, and both the school and town are working through questions of sustainability and local access in a place where tourism drives the economy but year-round living is increasingly difficult.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 24 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

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.

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
Math	21	90.0%
Ela	20	100.0%
Social Studies	19	79.0%
Science	9	78.0%

Math

Grade 382%

School 82% · District 82%

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 40% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 14%

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

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 41% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 381%

School 81% · District 81%

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 46 pts above county median

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 23% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 6%

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

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 777%

School 77% · District 77%

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 72% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Science

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 13%

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

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 69% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

This schoolTOWN OF WEBB UNION FREE 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 3Lower-income83%Higher-income80%3 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income17%Higher-income33%17 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income11%Higher-income0%11 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income40%Higher-income100%60 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income67%Higher-income100%33 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income86%Higher-income80%6 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income29%Higher-income57%29 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income0%29 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income40%Higher-income88%48 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income46%Higher-income40%5 pp gap