Plainedge Senior High School

MASSAPEQUA · NY · PLAINEDGE UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT · Public


📚AP rigor: 82nd percentile nationally 📖14 AP courses 🎓96% 4-yr grad rate

🧭 A parent's read

  • 96% graduate on time. Nearly every student who starts 9th grade here finishes in four years — the strongest baseline signal a school can post.
  • Course rigor in the top 18% of US high schools. 14 AP courses plus advanced math and lab-science depth — measured against every high school in the country, not just the neighborhood.

Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 14 AP courses offered — Elite
  • 🔢 6 calculus classes · 8 physics · 13 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 82nd percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 72nd percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 96% (82nd percentile nationally)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

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💡

How Plainedge Senior High School compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 14 AP courses.
  • LocallyNY sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: WANTAGH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, AMITYVILLE MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL, ISLAND TREES HIGH SCHOOL and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

82nd percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
14
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
217
≈26 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
16
6 calculus · 10 advanced
Lab science classes
21
8 physics · 13 chemistry
Other rigor signals
No dual-enrollment or gifted program reported

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

72nd percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
170
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
20.2
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

82nd percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
96%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
251
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
2.5%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
37.5%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

16.5%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

<25% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Well below the Title I threshold; expect a higher-income student body on average.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

Stony Brook University

49%
admit rate
$10,931
in-state tuition/yr · $32,741 out-of-state
1320–1490
SAT 25–75 · ACT 28–33

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $18,784/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full Stony Brook University profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

💰 Pay for college in New York

New York's public scholarships

New York's Excelsior Scholarship makes SUNY and CUNY tuition-free for middle-income families — there's no GPA or test gate, but you commit to staying in New York after you graduate.

Promise Excelsior Scholarship
Free SUNY/CUNY tuition (last-dollar, up to $5,500/yr)
Income: Household AGI ≤ $125,000

Tuition-free SUNY/CUNY for NY families under $125k AGI — no GPA or test gate, but you must stay on track and live in New York after graduating. (Stay on-track (30 credits/yr); live & work in NY afterward for the years you received it.)

Official program details ↗

Eligibility rules change yearly — confirm with the official program before relying on it. Amounts are recent published figures; awards cover tuition/fees, not housing or books unless noted. Verified 2026-06-14.

🎓 Graduation, Diploma & Readiness

NY status: Good Standing

Do students graduate, with how strong a diploma — and how ready?

New York reports not just whether students graduate but which diploma they earn and how college/career/civic ready they are. A Regents diploma with Advanced Designation is the state's most rigorous — it takes extra Regents exams in math, science, and often a world language.

4-Year Graduation Rate
97%
Class of 2025 (4-year cohort)
Advanced Designation ★
69%
earned NY's most rigorous diploma
College/Career/Civic Ready
97%
reached NY's readiness bar · CCCR Index 171/200 · Level 3/4
Regents Diploma
26%
standard Regents diploma
Local Diploma
3%
lower-threshold diploma
Dropout Rate
0%
of the cohort — lower is better
What's a Regents diploma with Advanced Designation? →

Every NY public-school graduate earns a diploma by passing Regents exams (a score of 65+). A standard Regents diploma takes the core set. The Advanced Designation adds more — typically Algebra II and Geometry, an additional science, and a world-language Regents (or an approved alternative). It's the strongest signal of college-prep rigor New York publishes for a graduating class.

What are "readiness" and "NY status"? →

College/Career/Civic Ready is the share of students who reached at least New York's readiness bar — e.g., an advanced diploma, a qualifying exam or college credit, a career/technical credential, military readiness, or civic-readiness measures. NY also rolls this into a weighted CCCR Index (0–200) and a 1–4 performance level. NY status is the state's ESSA accountability designation: most schools are in good standing (managed locally), while a minority are state-identified for Comprehensive or Targeted support.

Source: New York State Education Department, High School Graduation Rate Database + School Report Card (CCCR readiness, ESSA accountability status), 2024-25, All Students, Class of 2025 (4-year cohort). Diploma shares are of the graduating cohort. NYSED masks small-group results for privacy.

📝 Regents Exam Results

How students score on New York's Regents exams.

Regents exams are New York's statewide end-of-course tests — the state's core academic benchmark, and a requirement for graduation. Below: the share of students scoring 65 or above on each, the score that earns diploma credit (and New York's "proficient" / Level 3+ benchmark).

English
94%
scored 65+ (proficient)
Algebra I
59%
scored 65+ (proficient)
Living Env. / Biology
85%
scored 65+ (proficient)
Global History
85%
scored 65+ (proficient)
U.S. History
91%
scored 65+ (proficient)
What does "scored 65+" mean on the Regents? →

New York scores each Regents exam on five performance levels. A score of 65 or above earns credit toward a diploma — and under New York's current framework that's Level 3 or above, the state's "proficient" benchmark (the number shown above). Exams are taken when a student finishes the course, so results reflect that subject's instruction, not a single grade.

Source: New York State Education Department, School Report Card — Annual Regents Examinations, 2024-25, All Students. NYSED masks small-group results for privacy and shows only exams with reported results.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
21.8%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
187
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
195:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
4.4
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
81
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 219 in 2021 to 204 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-6.8%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 856 students:

2025
854
2027
850
2029
847

≈ 9 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue at risk

At $34,719 per student in district revenue, the 9 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $312,471/year in funding at risk.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Most similar nearby high schools

The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
WANTAGH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
WANTAGH
Public 2.2 823 -0.8%
AMITYVILLE MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL
AMITYVILLE
Public 3.9 917 +0.4%
ISLAND TREES HIGH SCHOOL
LEVITTOWN
Public 1.8 699 -2.1%
WYANDANCH MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL
WYANDANCH
Public 6.1 833 +7.6%
W TRESPER CLARKE HIGH SCHOOL
WESTBURY
Public 5.7 888 +12.0%
BETHPAGE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
BETHPAGE
Public 3.8 977 +7.0%
SEAFORD SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
SEAFORD
Public 1.4 640 -2.4%
DIVISION AVENUE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
LEVITTOWN
Public 3.3 1,030 +3.9%

For Parents

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