J.H.S. 131 Albert Einstein

Both ELA (36.8%) and math (37.8%) proficiency sit well below the district averages of 46% and 48%, and the overall quality score of 1.49/4 is below the district's 1.88. What the raw numbers miss is the trend: in 2016 only 12% of students were proficient in ELA and 7.5% in math, so the school has effectively lifted proficiency by roughly 25 and 30 percentage points in nine years. The grade-by-grade breakdown reinforces the growth story — sixth-graders arrive at 29% ELA and 24% math, while eighth-graders leave at 46% and 48%, meaning students gain around 20 percentage points in each subject during their three years here. The math dip in 2022 (7.7%) was a real setback, but the rebound to nearly 38% suggests it was an anomaly rather than a ceiling.

The day-to-day feel at Einstein is unusually positive for a school at this proficiency level. Parent satisfaction is 97% (district average 93%), parent-principal trust is 97%, and teachers rate their own instructional quality at 100% (district average 88%). The family survey response rate of 99% — 312 of roughly 315 families responding — signals a community that is genuinely plugged in. Teacher collegial trust (89%) and teacher-principal trust (92%) are solid, though slightly below the parent-side numbers. Discipline is mild in absolute terms (8 suspensions, a 2% rate), but worth noting that the rate has crept up from 1 suspension in 2021-22 to 8 in 2023-24, and the school sits above the district average of 0.6%.

The student body is 64% Hispanic, 27% Black, and 6% Asian, with an economic need index of 89.4 — meaning nearly nine in ten students come from low-income households. About a quarter of students are classified as English language learners or have IEPs (26%), and the school offers ELL support to meet that demand. The neighborhood around it skews similar: a working- and middle-class stretch of the Bronx with median household income around $64,000 and a poverty rate just over 20%.

Soundview-Clason Point is a residential, family-oriented stretch of the eastern Bronx where about 14% of households include children, just over a fifth of adults hold a bachelor's degree, and the homeownership rate (28%) is solid for the borough. Median home values near $513,000 place it above many Bronx neighborhoods, but the 21.8% poverty rate keeps it firmly working-class. Families who live here tend to be renters and homeowners in roughly equal measure, and the 6 train is the main artery into the rest of the borough.

The school is roughly a 15-minute walk from the Parkchester or St. Lawrence Avenue 6 train stops, and about 19 minutes from Castle Hill Avenue on the same line — plan for a bus or a car if your kid is commuting in winter.