I.S. 061 William A Morris

ELA proficiency at 35.9% and math at 22.8% sit well below district averages of 61.3% and 61.0% respectively — students here are catching up, not leading. But the trajectory matters: math has climbed from 15.3% in 2016 to 22.8% today, and ELA rose from 25.9% to a peak of 39.4% in 2023 before dipping this year. The school's overall score of 1.17 out of 4 is roughly half the district average of 2.47. Math scores are notably uneven across grades — eighth graders drop to 13.2%, suggesting the proficiency test may be catching students at a rough moment in their math sequence.

Parents who engage with the school feel heard: parent-teacher trust sits at 92% and parent-principal trust at 89%, both strong. The gap that jumps out is teacher-principal trust at just 56% — far below the district's parent satisfaction levels — suggesting a disconnect between staff and administration that doesn't seem to reach families. Attendance at 86.6% trails the district's 91.4%, and chronic absenteeism is high at 52.1%, with Asian students showing an especially elevated 80% rate. The suspension rate of 5% is more than ten times the district average, though the trend is moving in the right direction (45 suspensions two years ago, 42 last year).

I.S. 061 serves a student body that looks quite different from the neighborhood around it. About 53% of students are Hispanic and 30% are Black, with smaller shares of White, Asian, and multiracial students. The economic need index of 79.3% indicates a high proportion of students from low-income households, even though the surrounding census tract shows a median household income over $109,000 and a poverty rate around 10%. This is a school where many families travel in from outside the immediate blocks, and 28% of students have IEPs — a meaningfully high share that shapes classroom life.

The school sits in the West New Brighton-Silver Lake-Grymes Hill area of Staten Island, a stretch of the borough where homeownership is common and most adults have at least some college education. About a quarter of nearby households include children, and the neighborhood skews toward middle- and upper-middle-income families. That said, the student body at I.S. 061 reflects a broader cross-section of the borough than the immediate census tract suggests, with high economic need among enrolled families.

This school is beyond walking distance of the subway — there are no subway stations within a 20-minute walk, so families will rely on cars, school buses, or local bus routes to get here.