P.S. 002 Alfred Zimberg

ELA proficiency of 65% and math of 65.8% both edge out the District 30 averages of roughly 61% and 62%, putting P.S. 002 comfortably above typical for the area. Scores have bounced around since the pandemic year — 2019's peak (70% ELA, 74% math) hasn't returned, and 2024 dipped sharply to 53%/57% before rebounding this year. The 2025 recovery is encouraging, though the Grade 5 math result of 55.3% (well below the school's own third- and fourth-grade math numbers) is worth watching closely.

The school-side culture reads as unusually strong: 100% of teachers report feeling safe, 99% rate instruction quality positively, and parent-principal trust sits at 97%. With zero suspensions over three straight years, discipline is clearly handled in the classroom rather than through removal. The asterisk is attendance — the 93.2% attendance rate is solid, but the 75.6% chronic absenteeism figure is high, and it varies sharply by group (53% for Black students, 86% for White students), which suggests the average is hiding uneven patterns families should ask about.

The student body is roughly split three ways — Hispanic (37%), White (36%), and Asian (21%) — with a small Black enrollment of around 5%, a diversity index of 72%. That's a notably different mix from the surrounding neighborhood, which census data shows has a median income around $94K and a 52.6% college-degree rate, suggesting the school pulls from a somewhat broader swath of the area's families than the immediate blocks alone. About 19% of students have IEPs and the economic need index is moderate at 60%.

The school serves the Ditmars-Steinway portion of Astoria, where median household income sits near $94,000 and roughly half of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — solidly middle-class territory with a renter majority (only 30% own) and a home-value median approaching a million dollars. About one in six households here have children, and the poverty rate runs around 10%. It's a quieter, more residential stretch than the Steinway Street corridor closer to the N/W trains.

There are no subway stations within a 20-minute walk of the school, so families in this catchment should plan on buses, a longer walk to the N/W lines further south in Astoria, or driving.