Is Ward Melville Senior High School a good school?

Yes! Ward Melville Senior High School is one of the best high schools in the state. It ranks 56 th of 1242 New York high schools.

How many students attend Ward Melville Senior High School?

In the 2023-24 school year, 1,492 students attended Ward Melville Senior High School.

What is the racial makeup of Ward Melville Senior High School?

Students at Ward Melville Senior High School are 73% White, 13% Asian, 9% Hispanic, 2% African American, 2% Two or more races.

What schools feed into Ward Melville Senior High School?

Ward Melville Senior High School is fed by the following schools: Elementary : Arrowhead Elementary School Elementary : Minnesauke Elementary School Elementary : Nassakeag Elementary School Elementary : Setauket Elementary School Elementary : William Sidney Mount Elementary School Middle : Paul J Gelinas Junior High School Middle : Robert Cushman Murphy Junior High School

Ward Melville Senior High School

Summary:

Ward Melville Senior High School is a public high school in East Setauket, New York, serving 1,507 students in grades 9-12 as part of the Three Village Central School District, which is ranked 147 out of 865 school districts in New York and has a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Ward Melville Senior High School is an exceptional educational institution, consistently ranking among the top high schools in New York with a 5-star rating from SchoolDigger. The school demonstrates outstanding academic performance, with a high percentage of students proficient or better in Regents/Common Core exams across various subjects, often exceeding the scores of the district and the state. Additionally, the school has a very high four-year graduation rate and an exceptionally low dropout rate, much lower than the state average. Despite its relatively high per-student spending, Ward Melville Senior High School appears to be using its resources effectively, as evidenced by its exceptional student outcomes.

When compared to nearby high schools, such as Rocky Point High School, Sachem High School North, and Smithtown High School East, Ward Melville Senior High School consistently outperforms its peers across various metrics, including academic achievement, graduation rates, and student-teacher ratios. This highlights the school's ability to provide a superior educational experience for its students, even in a competitive regional landscape.

Detail:

Public 9-12

380 Old Town Rd
East Setauket, NY 11733-3499

(631) 730-4900

District: Three Village Central School District

SchoolDigger Rank:
56^th of 1,242 New York High Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures: $28,473

Feeder schools for Ward Melville Senior High School:

Elementary:	Arrowhead Elementary School
	Minnesauke Elementary School
	Nassakeag Elementary School
	Setauket Elementary School
	More...
	William Sidney Mount Elementary School
Middle:	Paul J Gelinas Junior High School
	Robert Cushman Murphy Junior High School

Student/teacher ratio: 10.7

Number of students: 1,492

Racial breakdown:

White:

73.2%

Asian:

12.9%

Hispanic:

9.5%

Free/discounted lunch recipients: 14.5%

See top rated New York high schools

Compare Ward Melville Senior High School to nearby high schools!

Performance Trends

Compare Details Ward Melville Senior High School ranks better than 95.5% of high schools in New York. (See more...)

Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 83.67. (See more...)

The four-year cohort graduation rate measures the percentage of students at Ward Melville Senior High School who earn a standard high school diploma within four years of starting ninth grade.

The high school dropout rate measures the percentage of students who do not complete their high school education.

Chronic absenteeism in a school refers to a situation where students repeatedly miss school, with the threshold often defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, excused or unexcused.

Student Body

Compare Details Racial makeup is: White (73.2%), Asian (12.9%), Hispanic (9.5%). (See more...)

Compare Details 14.5% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)

Compare Details (See more...)

Teachers

Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Ward Melville Senior High School is 10.7. (See more...)

Compare Ward Melville Senior High School employs 139.1 full-time teachers.

Finance

Compare Details The average total spent per student at Ward Melville Senior High School is $28,473.

Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Ward Melville Senior High School:

SchoolDigger ranks Ward Melville Senior High School 56^th of 1242 New York public high schools. (See Ward Melville Senior High School in the ranking list.)

High School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:

Multi-racial students:

English Language Learner students:

Special Education students:

Low Socio Economic Status students:

Female students:

Male students:

Asian students:

African American students:

Hispanic students:

White students:

Three Village Central School District:

SchoolDigger ranks Three Village Central School District 147^th of 865 New York school districts. (See district ranking list.)

Average Rating:

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Rank History for Ward Melville Senior High School

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Rank History for all students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2005	60.63	392^nd	935	58.1%
2006	62.26	383^rd	986	61.2%
2007	66.65	281^st	1002	72.0%
2008	61.62	434^th	1027	57.7%
2009	65.75	328^th	1086	69.8%
2010	61.74	429^th	1117	61.6%
2011	70.29	245^th	1165	79.0%
2012	69.23	328^th	1198	72.6%
2013	78.03	130^th	1217	89.3%
2014	77.39	94^th	1237	92.4%
2015	64.88	343^rd	1255	72.7%
2016	63.28	368^th	1255	70.7%
2017	80.56	101^st	1221	91.7%
2018	78.61	117^th	1210	90.3%
2019	79.38	110^th	1207	90.9%
2021	82.50	25^th	519	95.2%
2022	82.34	68^th	1190	94.3%
2023	82.35	80^th	1228	93.5%
2024	83.67	56^th	1242	95.5%

See the entire list of New York High School Rankings!

Rank History for Multi-racial students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile	SchoolDigger Rating
2023	83.87	13^th	272	95.2%
2024	73.02	66^th	306	78.4%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for Multi-racial Students!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2018	94.47	11^th	546	98.0%
2022	62.46	107^th	481	77.8%
2023	96.84	7^th	583	98.8%
2024	48.87	279^th	637	56.2%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for English Language Learner Students!

Rank History for Special Education students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2018	70.16	232^nd	1095	78.8%
2019	73.78	227^th	1132	79.9%
2021	77.58	23^rd	137	83.2%
2022	77.07	142^nd	1038	86.3%
2023	75.97	170^th	1130	85.0%
2024	79.30	156^th	1144	86.4%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2018	65.45	278^th	1154	75.9%
2019	70.73	202^nd	1179	82.9%
2022	72.06	156^th	1101	85.8%
2023	72.71	178^th	1155	84.6%
2024	75.37	138^th	1170	88.2%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2018	78.50	109^th	1176	90.7%
2019	78.76	130^th	1193	89.1%
2022	81.48	80^th	1155	93.1%
2023	83.68	61^st	1197	94.9%
2024	84.34	43^rd	1219	96.5%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Male students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2018	77.32	131^st	1176	88.9%
2019	78.51	118^th	1190	90.1%
2021	84.28	13^th	354	96.3%
2022	82.15	57^th	1154	95.1%
2023	80.89	97^th	1191	91.9%
2024	81.98	88^th	1211	92.7%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for Asian students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2018	77.48	38^th	426	91.1%
2019	77.75	33^rd	447	92.6%
2022	79.07	31^st	386	92.0%
2023	78.73	45^th	424	89.4%
2024	78.85	35^th	426	91.8%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for Asian Students!

Rank History for African American students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2022	79.63	70^th	593	88.2%
2023	95.68	6^th	671	99.1%
2024	92.59	10^th	690	98.6%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for African American Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2018	74.21	146^th	791	81.5%
2019	76.12	136^th	815	83.3%
2022	83.92	55^th	760	92.8%
2023	80.80	95^th	851	88.8%
2024	78.44	113^th	865	86.9%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for White students at Ward Melville Senior High School

Year	Avg Standard Score	Statewide Rank	Total # Ranked High Schools	NY State Percentile
2018	71.68	124^th	765	83.8%
2019	73.08	106^th	793	86.6%
2022	74.29	93^rd	738	87.4%
2023	73.02	119^th	776	84.7%
2024	76.97	62^nd	781	92.1%

See the entire list of Best New York High Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: NY State Education Department, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Data source: NY State Education Department

Review counts

All ratings (Avg rating: 1)

100%

Reviews:

by a student
Tuesday, May 10, 2022

This school is full of drugs, racism, and misdirected priorities. I am extremely disappointed in the way this school treats their students and what they take seriously. In my years of attending this school, I’ve seen things go on that had caused me trauma. This school disregards the real issues like mental health, student conflicts, sexism, homophobia, drug abuse and especially racism. There are NUMEROUS security guards in the school and the students are still not safe. They prioritize calling students out on meaningless things like hoodies and wearing certain forms of masks and harass them constantly in the hallways. The security guards can track down students that wear hoodies or headphones but can’t track down when a student is in need of help. If you are a person of color, parents of the lgbt community and you are thinking of making your child attend this school because of the high level education, DONT! No matter how good they say this school is, your child’s mental health will deteriorate. They may bring in therapy dogs in for a day to show support for the students but the next day they will go back to only caring about their reputation. I am ashamed to be an alumni of this high school! PLEASE take the one star reviews seriously because this is something I know FIRSTHAND! Close Quote

Enrollment information for Ward Melville Senior High School

Compare

Year	White	African American	Asian	Hispanic	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Not Specified	Total
1989	1852	22	33	25	0	n/a	n/a	0	1932
1990	1752	22	52	20	0	n/a	n/a	0	1846
1991	1652	24	47	19	0	n/a	n/a	0	1742
1992	1701	21	43	32	1	n/a	n/a	0	1798
1993	1627	34	79	28	0	n/a	n/a	0	1768
1994	1647	24	86	27	0	n/a	n/a	0	1784
1995	1455	14	63	19	0	n/a	n/a	0	1551
1996	1455	14	63	19	0	n/a	n/a	0	1551
1997	1375	23	62	24	0	n/a	n/a	0	1484
1998	1347	29	69	55	0	n/a	n/a	0	1500
1999	1345	34	80	64	0	n/a	n/a	0	1523
2000	1348	29	95	53	0	n/a	n/a	0	1525
2001	1355	35	57	96	0	n/a	n/a	0	1543
2002	1608	33	69	29	0	n/a	n/a	0	1739
2003	1608	33	69	29	0	n/a	n/a	0	1739
2004	1621	24	105	52	11	n/a	n/a	0	1813
2005	1669	22	103	45	6	n/a	n/a	0	1845
2006	1661	30	130	44	0	n/a	n/a	0	1865
2007	1679	35	148	52	0	n/a	n/a	0	1914
2008	1684	39	160	54	0	n/a	n/a	0	1937
2009	1651	47	132	64	0	n/a	n/a	0	1894
2010	1599	38	140	72	1	n/a	n/a	3	1853
2011	1613	31	127	76	2	0	0	0	1849
2012	1570	32	140	93	1	1	11	0	1848
2013	1595	31	149	86	2	1	11	0	1875
2014	1553	34	173	70	1	0	11	0	1842
2015	1570	28	186	65	1	0	3	0	1853
2016	1606	27	174	75	2	0	3	0	1887
2017	1525	25	166	73	3	0	6	0	1798
2018	1471	31	171	73	5	0	8	0	1759
2019	1417	29	159	72	4	1	6	0	1688
2020	1385	20	165	74	3	2	9	0	1658
2021	1283	21	166	83	2	2	13	0	1570
2022	1200	22	172	105	2	1	18	0	1520
2023	1138	26	189	127	1	0	25	1	1507
2024	1092	34	193	141	2	0	29	1	1492

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Ward Melville Senior High School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	1932	145.6	13.2	n/a
1990	1846	137.0	13.4	n/a
1991	1742	134.0	13.0	n/a
1992	1798	125.6	14.3	n/a
1993	1768	110.9	15.9	n/a
1994	1784	110.9	16.1	0
1995	1551	108.1	14.3	1.6
1996	1551	108.1	14.3	1.6
1997	1484	111.0	13.4	2.1
1998	1500	109.6	13.7	2.2
1999	1523	113.5	13.4	2.4
2000	1525	113.0	13.5	2
2001	1543	120.7	12.8	3.2
2002	1739	124.3	14.0	2.1
2003	1739	124.3	14.0	2.1
2004	1813	n/a	n/a	n/a
2005	1845	140.9	13.1	2.1
2006	1865	129.0	14.5	2.1
2007	1914	127.1	15.1	2.6
2008	1937	130.8	14.8	2.6
2009	1894	141.8	13.4	4.7
2010	1853	144.6	12.8	4.6
2011	1849	135.5	13.6	3.3
2012	1848	140.0	13.1	4.9
2013	1875	129.9	14.4	4.7
2014	1842	122.5	15.0	6.6
2015	1853	124.0	14.9	7.1
2016	1887	131.0	14.4	6.5
2017	1798	132.9	13.5	9.9
2018	1759	137.8	12.7	0.2
2019	1688	126.8	13.3	11.2
2020	1658	154.9	10.7	14.8
2021	1570	144.4	10.8	15.3
2022	1520	145.8	10.4	15
2023	1507	140.9	10.6	14.8
2024	1492	139.1	10.7	14.5

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Ward Melville Senior High School

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Year	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/Teacher ratio	% Free/Discounted Lunch
1989	1932	145.6	13.2	n/a
1990	1846	137.0	13.4	n/a
1991	1742	134.0	13.0	n/a
1992	1798	125.6	14.3	n/a
1993	1768	110.9	15.9	n/a
1994	1784	110.9	16.1	0
1995	1551	108.1	14.3	1.6
1996	1551	108.1	14.3	1.6
1997	1484	111.0	13.4	2.1
1998	1500	109.6	13.7	2.2
1999	1523	113.5	13.4	2.4
2000	1525	113.0	13.5	2
2001	1543	120.7	12.8	3.2
2002	1739	124.3	14.0	2.1
2003	1739	124.3	14.0	2.1
2004	1813	n/a	n/a	n/a
2005	1845	140.9	13.1	2.1
2006	1865	129.0	14.5	2.1
2007	1914	127.1	15.1	2.6
2008	1937	130.8	14.8	2.6
2009	1894	141.8	13.4	4.7
2010	1853	144.6	12.8	4.6
2011	1849	135.5	13.6	3.3
2012	1848	140.0	13.1	4.9
2013	1875	129.9	14.4	4.7
2014	1842	122.5	15.0	6.6
2015	1853	124.0	14.9	7.1
2016	1887	131.0	14.4	6.5
2017	1798	132.9	13.5	9.9
2018	1759	137.8	12.7	0.2
2019	1688	126.8	13.3	11.2
2020	1658	154.9	10.7	14.8
2021	1570	144.4	10.8	15.3
2022	1520	145.8	10.4	15
2023	1507	140.9	10.6	14.8
2024	1492	139.1	10.7	14.5

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.

Immunization Rates