Shaw Avenue School, Valley Stream NY

Original Research by School Decision on Shaw Avenue School

Shaw Avenue School sits on the South Shore of Nassau County in Valley Stream, a village about twenty miles east of Manhattan that blends single-family residential neighborhoods with one of Long Island's largest retail destinations, Green Acres Mall, and a walkable downtown core along Rockaway Avenue. The LIRR station connects the village to the city, and publicly reported sources note that Valley Stream has been building transit-oriented housing near that station over the past decade, pursuing a state-recognized Downtown Revitalization vision centered on the Rockaway Avenue corridor. It is a community with genuine suburban bones and real urban transit access.

The school serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, which means there is no graduation rate to report and that metric does not apply here. The student body is racially diverse across several large groups, with Asian, Black, and Hispanic students each representing roughly comparable and substantial shares of enrollment, and white students a smaller portion. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a level that places this among schools serving a significant proportion of economically disadvantaged families. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs were not available in the materials we reviewed.

On state assessments, Shaw Avenue performs well in several tested grades and subjects. In math, third and fourth graders score at notably strong proficiency levels, comfortably above what one typically sees statewide in New York. Fifth grade math holds up solidly too. Sixth grade math drops to a more moderate level, and a parent whose child is heading into that year may want to ask the school specifically about how it supports the transition. In ELA, fifth grade is a clear strength, with a high share of students reaching proficiency. Third grade ELA is decent, while fourth and sixth grade ELA land at more middling levels. Science at fifth grade falls in the mid-range. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint relative to districts in Nassau County, which is a competitive county with many well-resourced suburban systems. That positioning is a genuine strength.

Participation rates in testing vary somewhat across grades, particularly in fourth and sixth grade ELA and sixth grade math, where rates dip noticeably below the levels seen in other grades. This is worth noting because lower participation can affect how proficiency figures should be read; a parent may want to explore with the school what drives that variation.

The housing market around Valley Stream is expensive relative to state and national benchmarks. Home values in the area are well above the New York state midpoint and dramatically above the national figure, with rents running high as well and annual rent growth running at a fast clip as of mid-2026. Nassau County listings are moving relatively quickly. For families considering a move to attend this school, the financial picture is demanding.

District-level information on strategic priorities, staffing, or program investments at Valley Stream 30 Union Free School District was not available; our research did not surface lasting district changes before the search was exhausted, so we left that section out rather than guess.

What Shaw Avenue offers, plainly, is a diverse elementary and middle-grades school with math and ELA results that compare favorably to its Nassau County neighbors, situated in a village that is actively investing in its downtown and transit connections. Families with children in the elementary years, and who want a racially diverse peer environment in a well-connected South Shore community, will find a school whose academic numbers, particularly in math and fifth grade reading, give them real reason for confidence. The sixth grade dip, in both subjects, is the one area worth a closer conversation with the school before settling in.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 76% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 78% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 569%

School 69% · District 74% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 67% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 365%

School 65% · District 70% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 65% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 578%

School 78% · District 79%

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

Grade 659%

School 59% · District 70% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 557%

School 57% · District 64% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 599%

School 99% · District 98% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

This schoolVALLEY STREAM 30 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-income57%Higher-income77%20 pp gap

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

Grade 5Lower-income75%Higher-income85%10 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income51%Higher-income65%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income69%Higher-income78%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income67%Higher-income78%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income63%Higher-income78%15 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income60%10 pp gap