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2020 Best School Districts in Tompkins CountyAbout this List

The 2020 Best School Districts ranking is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking factors include state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, and more. Read more on how this ranking was calculated.

1 – 6 of 6
Best Districts
6 results

  1. Lansing Central School District

    • School District
    • Lansing, NY
    • 11 reviews
    #1 Best School Districts in Tompkins County

    Senior: A small school district that truly cares about their students and their futures. The teachers, faculty, staff and administrators all put tremendous effort into making this a great school district.
    Read 11 Reviews

    • A
      Overall Niche Grade
    • 3 Total Schools
    • 1,176 Students
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  2. Ithaca City School District

    • School District
    • Ithaca, NY
    • 19 reviews
    #2 Best School Districts in Tompkins County

    Senior: Ithaca City School District offers excellent education for everyone that attends. Where I met some of the best friends I've had to this day. Throughout each grade level, from elementary to high school, teachers have always provided a hands-on approach to ensuring each student is successful in their academic endeavors. Although the on site involvement of teachers and administration is above average, there are some issues with the inner workings of the school district. The most prominent issue is the lack of recycling within the district. Though we do have separate binds for recycling and trash, at the end of the day it is all combined into one. As of now the Green Team club at the high school is working to decrease the impact of this issue. In the future, I hope the extreme importance of recycling is recognized and action is taken to save our environment, in changing our recycling policies.
    Read 19 Reviews

    • A
      Overall Niche Grade
    • 12 Total Schools
    • 5,314 Students
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  3. Trumansburg Central School District

    • School District
    • Trumansburg, NY
    • 4 reviews
    #3 Best School Districts in Tompkins County

    Alum: Trumansburg central school district is a great place to enroll your children. This school district has some of the top academic scores in the state. There are many diverse opportunities to involve your children in outside of the school district. They have top level teachers from the area. As well it is located near Ithaca, New York so a lot of professors from Cornell and Ithaca College come to settle down in Trumansburg.
    Read 4 Reviews

    • B+
      Overall Niche Grade
    • 3 Total Schools
    • 1,080 Students
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  4. Newfield Central School District

    • School District
    • Newfield, NY
    • 4 reviews
    #4 Best School Districts in Tompkins County

    Senior: Well, Newfield is an extremely small school. But I honestly love it.. The teachers know each and every one of you. And genuinely care about everyone.. Newfield is a place where I would want my kids to go.. The teachers are all great, and truly know their subjects that they are teaching. It's a place where I and many other students feel safe and enjoy going. The staff, is the best part about Newfield. Each and every teacher does their absolute best to see each student succeed, and most kids do. And that's why I love Newfield.
    Read 4 Reviews

    • B
      Overall Niche Grade
    • 3 Total Schools
    • 825 Students
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  5. Dryden Central School District

    • School District
    • Dryden, NY
    • 21 reviews

    Senior: As with anything, there are pros and cons, but overall my experience at Dryden Central School has been positive. The small classes lend to very close relationships where you know everyone in your graduating class. The AP and concurrent classes have helped me to enter college with many credits. I am very appreciative to have those opportunities. There does seem to be some issue though with principals and other staff leaving the Dryden school district much more frequently than other schools. I'm not sure why and have stayed away from the negative aspects, but I do hope that it settles down and some stability can be found for the future classes.
    Read 21 Reviews

    • B-
      Overall Niche Grade
    • 5 Total Schools
    • 1,544 Students
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  6. Groton Central School District

    • School District
    • Groton, NY
    • 9 reviews

    Junior: Groton Central School, is currently in a transitional period for the betterment of education. While in past years, the school was on a target list for poor grades, the school has since dug itself off that list and is on the up. Recently remodeling and adding a STEM lab the school is doing lots to improve small town education. There are plenty of athletic opportunities and clubs to join. The only con is that currently as I said they are going through a transition, and one of the growing pains is constant changes in staff. This can make it hard when the school has had three different principles in the past five years and they've taken things in different directions and had different focuses.
    Read 9 Reviews

    • C-
      Overall Niche Grade
    • 2 Total Schools
    • 839 Students
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  9. Sponsored

    Emma Willard School

    • Private School
    • Troy, NY
    • 9-12
    • 55 reviews

    Alum: Class of 1978- My time at Emma was transformative. To be surrounded by energetic, motivated, intelligent and well rounded young women caused me to re-evaluate my life goals and become a better person. The faculty and staff were very supportive, engaging, available and clearly loved sharing their personal passions for learning and living. The instructors were inspiring. They typically had spent time in the cultures or artistic world of which they taught.
    Read 55 Reviews

    • A+
      Overall Niche Grade
    • 358 Students
    • 7:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
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