Community Action School - MS 258

The numbers here are hard to sugarcoat. ELA proficiency at 38% and math at 25.3% are both well below the district averages of roughly 59% and 54% respectively. Math has bounced around over the years — hitting 46.5% in 2023 before falling back to the mid-20s — and ELA peaked around 44% in 2022-2023 before dipping. Looking grade-by-grade, sixth graders are struggling the most (24% ELA, 16.7% math) while seventh graders showed the strongest results. The overall school quality score of 1.27 out of 4 sits in the bottom third of the district.

This is where the story gets interesting. Parent satisfaction is 95% (vs 88% district average), trust between parents and teachers sits at 95%, and teachers rate instructional quality at a perfect 100%. That kind of warmth is real and parents clearly feel heard. But attendance tells a harder story — the 84.9% rate trails the district's 90.4%, and nearly half of students are chronically absent. On the bright side, suspensions are at zero, and teachers report strong collegial trust. The day-to-day feel seems supportive, but getting kids through the door consistently is the ongoing challenge.

The student body is 46% Hispanic, 34% Black, 14% White, and 5% Asian — a mixed group that doesn't mirror the predominantly white, affluent profile of the surrounding Upper West Side. About a third of students have IEPs and the economic need index of 76.5% is high, meaning most students come from low-income households. Total enrollment is just 175, which means families and staff really do know one another.

The school sits in the heart of the Upper West Side, one of Manhattan's wealthiest zip codes, where median household income tops $150,000 and over 80% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Yet the school itself draws predominantly from lower-income families — a reminder that public school zones and neighborhood affluence don't always line up. About 17% of neighborhood households have children, and homeownership is around 38%.

The 96 St station (1, 2, 3 trains) is about a four-minute walk away, and families coming from other directions can use the 86 St stops on the 1 or the C and B lines, both within an eight-minute walk.