West Islip Senior High School, West Islip NY

Original Research by School Decision on West Islip Senior High School

West Islip Senior High School serves a suburban Long Island community of single-family homes along the Great South Bay, a place with no downtown and dependence on cars for daily errands. The school enrolls a small student body across the four standard high school grades, drawn predominantly from families in the surrounding residential neighborhood.

The student population is predominantly white, with a smaller Hispanic enrollment and very small numbers of other racial and ethnic groups. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, suggesting a generally middle-income enrollment, though not uniformly affluent. Data on English learners and students with disabilities were not available.

State assessment results for this school were not reported, and that absence reflects a structural fact: West Islip Senior High School serves grades 9 through 12 only, and New York's standardized testing program does not assess high school students in the traditional way across these grades. As a result, the school sits outside the state proficiency-rate comparisons used elsewhere. The school has no reported four-year graduation rate in the available data either, which warrants a parent asking the school directly for this core outcome. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how many of its students complete on time and where graduates go.

The school offers a music program; the full catalog of academic pathways, electives, AP, honors, or vocational courses was not available in the data provided. A parent interested in course breadth, dual-enrollment options, or career-focused instruction should consult the school's website or contact the district directly.

West Islip Union Free School District, the parent district, has held steady with modest property-tax increases over more than a decade, passing budgets within state limits and funding facility upgrades through a voter-approved capital reserve rather than bond debt. In 2025-26, the district used that reserve to install electronic security locks and card readers at the high school. The district has also recently restructured its pre-K program through a partnership with an outside center, introducing a lottery for placement since demand exceeds available seats in the state-funded program. These changes reflect a stable, financially conservative district managing growth and equity concerns through incremental adjustments.

The broader West Islip community is built out and mature, with new residential activity limited to scattered single-family homes rather than large developments. The nearby Robert Moses Causeway connects to Captree State Park for bay and ocean access, and the Babylon LIRR station sits just over a mile from parts of the hamlet, offering commuter rail to Penn Station. Good Samaritan University Hospital is the largest single employer, anchoring a medical office district along Montauk Highway. West Islip lacks a walkable downtown; the high school sits on a suburban campus on Lions Path, and residents rely on the library on Higbie Lane and the community organizations for civic life.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=99%Cohort of 366 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.

Advanced Placement & IB

35 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

41 tested

26.8%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

29 tested

48.3%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

14 tested · Grade 10

71.4%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

31 tested · Grade 10

74.2%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

40 tested

60.0%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

56 tested

89.3%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

46 tested

93.5%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

18 tested

72.2%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 2

14 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Mechanics

13 tested

84.6%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

European History

78 tested · Grade 10

76.9%

scored 3 or higher

Macroeconomics

33 tested

78.8%

scored 3 or higher

Microeconomics

34 tested

73.5%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

Spanish Language and Culture

5 tested

80.0%

scored 3 or higher

Arts

Music Theory

11 tested · Grade 9, Grade 10

18.2%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art Drawing

18 tested

83.3%

scored 3 or higher

International Baccalaureate

Ib Biology HL

7 tested

71.4%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Business and Management HL

4 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Business and Management SL

10 tested

50.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Environmental Systems SL

20 tested

90.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Film SL

10 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib History Hl History of the Americas

24 tested

75.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Literature English HL

27 tested

92.6%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language B Italian SL

10 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language B Spanish HL

9 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language B Spanish SL

14 tested

92.9%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Mathematics Analysis and Approaches SL

3 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Mathematics Applications and Interpretation SL

5 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Music HL

6 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Music SL

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Psychology HL

17 tested

64.7%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Psychology SL

14 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

50 tested

70.0%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

102 tested

79.4%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

11 tested

100.0%

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
Social Studies	301	96.0%
Ela	300	97.0%
Math	225	84.0%
Science	35	77.0%

Math

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 6% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 50% · ▼ 49 pts below district

▼ 48 pts below state median · ▼ 44 pts below county median

Science

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 0%

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

This schoolWEST ISLIP 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.