Yorktown High School, Yorktown Heights NY

Original Research by School Decision on Yorktown High School

Yorktown High School serves students in grades nine through twelve in Yorktown Heights, a suburban hamlet in northern Westchester County about forty to forty-five miles north of New York City. The school draws from a residential community built largely in the mid-twentieth century, where single-family homes sit on spacious lots and daily life is car-oriented. The hamlet's defining employer is IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, a major research facility that shapes the economic character of the area and brings professional and technical families to the region.

The school enrolls roughly a thousand students, with fairly even distribution across the four high school grades. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller populations of Hispanic and Asian students and a smaller share identifying as Black or multiracial. A small fraction of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the relative economic stability of families in the district. Data on students with IEPs or English learners was not available.

State testing data and graduation rates were not provided, so a parent cannot assess proficiency or completion rates from the information at hand. The school's academic offerings and program strengths cannot be characterized from the available data. No information was available on class sizes, course breadth, AP offerings, career pathways, or specialized programs. A parent would need to visit the school's website or contact the district directly to understand the academic pathway, course selection, and support services available.

The district itself is undergoing visible change. Voters approved a multi-year capital bond in 2024 that will modernize school buildings, upgrade security, and add outdoor athletic facilities including a second turf field at the high school, with construction beginning in 2025 and running over several years. The district has also launched a therapeutic alternative program called FlexPath with limited seats to serve students with heightened mental-health needs, reflecting an acknowledged increase in student anxiety and depression across the district. In the elementary grades, the district is implementing a science of reading approach with dedicated literacy coaching support.

The housing market in the area shows substantial values, with homes in the Yorktown Heights zip code priced significantly above state and national benchmarks. The market has shifted noticeably in recent months, with pending transactions declining sharply and supply rising, though median days on market remain relatively short. For families considering the area, housing costs are a real constraint, and the tightness of supply that characterized the market in prior years has eased somewhat.

Yorktown Heights has civic anchors including parks with trails, pools, and recreation; a public library serving the town; and bus service through Westchester's Bee-Line system as well as Metro-North rail access to Grand Central. A downtown revitalization initiative is funding streetscape and pedestrian improvements, and a mixed-use development called Underhill Farms is underway, intended to strengthen the hamlet's walkability and retail character over the coming years.

To evaluate Yorktown High School as a fit, a parent would want to gather the academic performance data, graduation rates, and program offerings directly from the school or district, since those measures were not available here. The school's size, student composition, and location in a stable suburban community with professional-class employment are facts a family can assess against their own preferences and needs.

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Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

97.0%Cohort of 297 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

27 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

22 tested

90.9%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

11 tested

90.9%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

18 tested · Grade 10

72.2%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Precalculus

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

8 tested

62.5%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

45 tested

95.6%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

35 tested · Grade 10

85.7%

scored 3 or higher

Environmental Science

53 tested · Grade 10

47.2%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Mechanics

13 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

European History

32 tested

96.9%

scored 3 or higher

Human Geography

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Macroeconomics

15 tested · Grade 9, Grade 10

73.3%

scored 3 or higher

Microeconomics

7 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Psychology

43 tested · Grade 10

67.4%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

34 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

Chinese Language and Culture

1 tested · Grade 10

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

German Language and Culture

1 tested · Grade 10

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Italian Language and Culture

13 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Spanish Language and Culture

16 tested

87.5%

scored 3 or higher

Arts

Music Theory

6 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

42 tested

97.6%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

25 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 2d Design

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

20 tested

95.0%

scored 3 or higher

World History

2 tested

0.0%

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
Ela	273	93.0%
Social Studies	257	94.0%
Science	219	89.0%
Math	109	100.0%

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.