Amber Charter School Kingsbridge

The 2025 numbers tell a strong story on the surface — 60.5% ELA proficiency and 58.1% Math proficiency, compared to the District 10 averages of roughly 45% ELA and 43.5% Math. Dig into the trend, though, and there's real volatility. In 2019, Math proficiency was 97.4%; by 2022 it had fallen to 36%. It has since climbed back to 58.1%, and ELA followed a similar dip-and-recover arc (69.2% in 2019, 47.3% in 2024, 60.5% in 2025). The current direction is clearly improving, but the school is still well off its 2019 peak, and there's a wide spread across grades — 3rd graders score in the 70s and 80s on Math, while 5th and 7th graders dip into the 30s and high 60s. That kind of grade-level swing suggests uneven instruction or coursework difficulty rather than a uniform trajectory.

On paper, the climate here is hard to beat. Teacher-reported safety is 100% — every responding teacher agreed students feel safe — and teacher-principal trust is at 99%. Parents echo this: 96% trust teachers, 95% trust the principal, and parent satisfaction is 94%. That paints a picture of a school where adults feel aligned and families feel heard. But chronic absenteeism sits at 74.1%, which means roughly three out of four students missed 10% or more of the school year. The average daily attendance rate is 92.5%, slightly above the district's 90.8%, which means most kids do show up most days — the chronic absenteeism number reflects a long tail of students missing lots of school in chunks. For an individual family this can be a totally manageable number; as a schoolwide pattern, it's the biggest issue here.

The student body reflects the surrounding neighborhood closely: 82% Hispanic, 13% Black, and small shares of Asian, White, and multi-racial students. The diversity index of 32% reflects this concentration rather than broad demographic variety. Economic need is high — index of 77.4 — and 14% of students have IEPs. In a neighborhood where roughly 28% of households live below the poverty line and median income is about $53,700, the school's makeup tracks the block.

Kingsbridge-Marble Hill is a working- and middle-class stretch of the Bronx where about 14% of households include children, homeownership is relatively low (16.8%), and roughly 28% of residents live in poverty. About 30% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the median home value sits around $603,000 — reflective of the area's mix of rentals and prewar co-ops. It's a transit-dependent neighborhood, with the 1 train providing the backbone of north-south access.

Three 1-train stations serve the immediate area: 231 St is about a 4-minute walk, while Marble Hill-225 St and 238 St are each about 9 minutes on foot.