General Herkimer Elementary School, Utica NY

Original Research by School Decision on General Herkimer Elementary School

General Herkimer Elementary School sits on Keyes Road in Utica, serving children from kindergarten through sixth grade within the Utica City School District. The school runs across a full elementary-to-middle span, so a family with young children could spend seven years here before transitioning elsewhere in the district.

The student body is racially and ethnically diverse, reflecting Utica's broader character as a city shaped by decades of refugee resettlement from more than forty countries. White students make up roughly a third of enrollment, with Black, Hispanic, and Asian students each representing meaningful shares, and multiracial students adding to the mix. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school squarely in a high-need economic context. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in what we received.

On state assessments, General Herkimer's results tell a mixed story. In math, third graders post the strongest results of any tested grade, with more than half reaching proficiency, but those rates fall in fourth and fifth grade and drop further in sixth. ELA proficiency ranges across tested grades from roughly the upper thirties to the low forties. Fifth-grade science proficiency, the one grade tested, sits well below the math and ELA figures. Placed alongside the other districts in Oneida County, the school's overall proficiency index lands below the midpoint relative to districts in Oneida County. These are areas a parent would reasonably want to discuss with the school, asking about what instructional supports are in place as students move into the upper elementary grades where the numbers soften. No multi-year trend data was available in what we received, so we cannot characterize whether results are improving or holding steady.

A graduation rate does not apply here because the school serves only elementary and middle grades.

The surrounding city provides a particular kind of everyday context. Utica is a mid-sized Mohawk Valley city with a commercial downtown anchored on Genesee Street, residential neighborhoods that vary considerably in character, and civic assets including an Olmsted-designed park system, a historic public library, the Utica Zoo in Roscoe Conkling Park, and Amtrak service at Union Station. Healthcare has become a dominant economic force, with a major new downtown hospital opening in late 2023 replacing two older campuses. The city's population has stabilized in part because of refugee arrivals, though the broader metro has seen modest ongoing decline. Walkability is moderate across most of the city.

For families thinking about housing near this school, the local market looks quite affordable by both state and national measures. Home values in the surrounding zip code are well below the state average and below the national benchmark as well, and the price-to-income ratio is favorable compared to the national picture. Rent levels similarly leave room in a household budget relative to what most American renters face. Year-over-year home values have risen at a pace faster than the national rate, suggesting some market momentum, though the base remains low.

On the district side, voters approved a substantial capital project in May 2025, publicly reported as carrying no tax-levy increase for local homeowners. The work covers facilities across all district schools over multiple years, with the high school's pool and locker rooms among the longer-horizon projects. For an elementary family, the relevant question is what facility work is planned at General Herkimer specifically, which the district would be the right place to ask.

Program and course-access data for the school was not available in what we received, so we cannot characterize enrichment, special programs, or extracurricular offerings beyond what the state assessment picture implies about the academic environment.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 42% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 43% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 40% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 634%

School 34% · District 37% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 35% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 40%

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

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 42% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 642%

School 42% · District 40% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 36% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 593%

School 93% · district not reported

▲ 2 pts above state median · even with county median

This schoolUTICA CITY 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-income39%Higher-income39%0 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income37%Higher-income64%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income64%34 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income38%Higher-income57%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income56%Higher-income64%8 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income46%Higher-income67%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income34%Higher-income71%37 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income24%Higher-income67%43 pp gap