P.S. 018 Park Terrace

ELA proficiency is 33.1% and math is 30.8%, both well below the District 6 averages of roughly 47% and 52%. The trajectory is the more encouraging story here: ELA has climbed from 15.9% in 2016 to 33.1% in 2025, and math rose from 18.8% to a peak of 34% in 2023 before dipping to 30.8% this year. The school also runs an Accelerated/Honors track and offers Algebra I, chess, and a Saturday Academy, which suggests staff are pushing enrichment even as overall proficiency lags. Scores vary sharply by grade — Grade 4 ELA sits at just 11.1%, while Grade 8 ELA reaches 44.1% — pointing to uneven performance across cohorts.

The day-to-day feel at P.S. 018 is warm and stable. Teacher-reported safety is 100%, the highest in the district, and parent satisfaction is 98% — both well above district averages. Teachers rate their instructional quality at 95% and trust in their principal at 90%, suggesting a school where adults feel supported and focused on their work. The school has had zero suspensions for three straight years, a quiet but meaningful indicator of how conflicts are handled. The elephant in the room is attendance: chronic absenteeism sits at 60.3%, and overall attendance is 89.7% — below the district average of 91.1%. So while the adults on campus are aligned, getting students in the door consistently is the school's biggest day-to-day challenge.

P.S. 018's student body is 95% Hispanic, with small Black, White, and multiracial populations, and a diversity index of just 14% — among the most homogeneous schools in the city. This mirrors Inwood's identity as a predominantly Dominican neighborhood. Twenty-seven percent of students have IEPs and a substantial share are English-language learners, meaning most classrooms include students who need differentiated support. With only 282 students, the school is small enough that families and staff tend to know each other well, which shows up in the unusually high family survey response rate of 72%.

Inwood is a working- and middle-class neighborhood at Manhattan's northern tip, with a median household income around $63,000 and a poverty rate of 15.4%. About 15% of households have children, and 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Homeownership is unusually low at 9%, meaning most families in the area rent, and the median home value is just over $500,000 — modest by Manhattan standards. The school sits within walking distance of several subway stops that connect families to the rest of the borough.

Families can reach the school via the 1 train at Dyckman St (about a 5-minute walk) or at 207 St (about a 6-minute walk), and the A train at Inwood-207 St is roughly an 11-minute walk away.