At a Glance
A family-loved South Bronx elementary where parents feel deeply heard but academic results trail the district
Best suited for
Families who want a small, relationship-driven school with on-site special education services and who are ready to partner closely on attendance — and who value warmth and community over top test scores.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Zero suspensions for three straight years signals a restorative, relationship-based approach to behavior.
- Parent-principal trust sits at 100% — families clearly feel heard and supported.
- Self-contained special education classes on site serve students with IEPs without needing a separate placement.
- ELA proficiency has climbed from 18% in 2016 to 28% in 2025, a real long-term gain despite year-to-year bumps.
- Small enrollment of 362 keeps things family-style from Pre-K through 5th grade.
Things to consider
- Test scores in both ELA and math run roughly half the district average, and the year-to-year swings are wide.
- Teacher-principal trust at 38% and teacher-reported safety at 58% suggest staff-side concerns that don't show up in family surveys.
- Chronic absenteeism at 63.5% means most students miss substantial school — a real drag on academic growth.
- Most peer schools in District 7 are high-performing charters; P.S. 018 sits well below that benchmark.
- The surrounding neighborhood has limited economic resources, which shapes what any school here can offer.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 7
With an overall score of 0.99 out of 4, P.S. 018 sits well below the District 7 average of about 2.01 and trails the high-performing charter peers that dominate the local list — it's among the lower-scoring zoned options in the area.
Academics
Proficiency rates of 27.6% in ELA and 22% in math land well below the District 7 averages of roughly 51% and 49%, and the school's overall score of 0.99 out of 4 is less than half the district average. ELA has improved meaningfully over the long arc — from 18.4% in 2016 to 27.6% last year — but the year-to-year path is bumpy, with a jump to 33.6% in 2023 followed by a dip to 20.4% in 2024. Math has hovered in the low-to-mid 20s for most of the past decade with no clear direction.
Culture
Parents clearly feel heard — 92% are satisfied, 100% trust the principal, and 100% say the school builds strong relationships — but teachers tell a different story, with only 38% trusting the principal and just 58% reporting they feel safe at work (versus a district average of 80.5%). Attendance is just slightly below the district norm at 90.4%, yet chronic absenteeism runs high at 63.5%, meaning more than six in ten students miss substantial school. The zero-suspensions record across three years points to a restorative, relationship-based approach to behavior.
Community
Two-thirds of the 362 students are Hispanic and just over a quarter are Black, with smaller White, multiracial, and Native American shares — a diversity index of 50%. Nearly a quarter of students have IEPs, and the school runs self-contained special education classes on site. The surrounding Mott Haven-Port Morris neighborhood skews low-income and renter-heavy, so the student body closely tracks the families who live within walking distance.
Neighborhood
Mott Haven-Port Morris is a working-class corner of the South Bronx where median household income hovers near $29,000, roughly four in ten households live in poverty, and only about 6% of homes are owner-occupied. About 12% of neighborhood households include children, and just over 12% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Three nearby subway stations put the 2, 4, and 5 lines within a short walk, making the commute manageable for families coming from other parts of the Bronx.
The 2 and 5 lines are about six minutes away at both 149 St–Grand Concourse and 3 Av–149 St, and the 4 line stops at 149 St–Grand Concourse with the same walk.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 75 families responded (28% rate)
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Pre-K
P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger also has Pre-K classes. They're a separate application from kindergarten, made on MySchools.
Pre-K application
Applications typically open in the winter and close in the spring, with offers in late spring; the city announces exact dates each year.
Kindergarten
District 7 is a school-choice district, so it has no elementary zones: no address guarantees a seat at P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger. Families across the district apply on MySchools, and seats go to priority groups first (siblings, then families in the school's area — District 7 is split into a north and a south area), then by random lottery.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the kindergarten application.
- 2Rank every school you'd accept, in true preference order — with no zoned seat to fall back on, a longer list matters.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger earns an overall rating of 25/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run below the District 7 average.
- What grades does P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger serve?
- P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger?
- P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger admits by application through a random lottery, with no academic screen.
- Is P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger is a public school in NYC Community School District 7.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger in?
- P.S. 018 John Peter Zenger is in Mott Haven-Port Morris, Bronx.