Summary:
The city of Valley Cottage, New York is home to two elementary schools, Valley Cottage School and Liberty Elementary School, both part of the Nyack Union Free School District. Based on the available data, Valley Cottage School emerges as the standout performer, consistently outpacing Liberty Elementary and the district/state averages on key metrics.
Valley Cottage School has demonstrated significantly higher proficiency rates in English Language Arts and Math across all grade levels compared to Liberty Elementary. For instance, in the 2023-2024 school year, Valley Cottage School had a 71.43% proficiency rate in 3rd grade ELA, compared to 53.97% at Liberty Elementary, 64.29% in the district, and 42.6% statewide. Similarly, in 5th grade Math, Valley Cottage School achieved a 78.85% proficiency rate, while Liberty Elementary had 40%, the district had 62.73%, and the state average was 48.93%. This performance gap is reflected in Valley Cottage School's higher rankings and ratings, reaching as high as 204 out of 2,445 New York elementary schools and earning a 5-star rating from SchoolDigger.
The demographic and financial indicators suggest that factors such as a lower percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch (33.77% at Valley Cottage vs. 46.6% at Liberty) and a lower student-teacher ratio (10.5 at Valley Cottage vs. 11.6 at Liberty) may contribute to the school's academic success. The per-student spending is also slightly higher at Valley Cottage School ($20,967) compared to Liberty Elementary ($20,314). These insights highlight the importance of conducting in-depth analyses to identify high-performing schools, understand the factors driving their success, and use these learnings to drive improvements across the education system.
Thank you for your feedback!