P.S. 021 Philip H. Sheridan

The 2025 numbers tell two stories at once. The long-running trend from 2016 through 2024 showed proficiency stuck between roughly 13% and 28% on ELA and a similar band on math. Then 2025 arrived and ELA proficiency jumped to 62.2% (well above the district average of about 57%) and math hit 72.4% (versus a district average near 56%). Whether that signals a real instructional shift or reflects state-test changes, it's a dramatic year, and 5th-graders in particular posted the strongest results (78.4% ELA, 87.5% math). 4th-graders lagged (43.8% ELA, 56.3% math), so the picture varies by cohort. The school's overall quality score of 2.69 out of 4 sits above the district average of about 2.25.

This is a school where the adults clearly trust each other. 98% of teachers trust their principal, 98% trust the instructional quality of their colleagues, and 96% rate instruction highly. Parents are equally positive — 94% satisfied overall, with 97% trusting the principal and 98% trusting teachers. The 91% teacher-reported safety score is solid though a touch below the district average of 95%. On discipline, the school recorded zero suspensions in 2023-24, after just one the year before. The day-to-day feel here reads as calm and community-oriented rather than enforcement-driven.

The student body is 54% Black and 38% Hispanic, with small Asian, White, multiracial, and Native American populations — a mix that reflects the Williamsbridge-Olinville neighborhood reasonably closely. With an economic need index of 88.7 (meaning close to 90% of students qualify as high-need), most families here are working on tight budgets. About one in five students has an IEP, which is a meaningful share and worth asking about if your child needs services.

Williamsbridge-Olinville is a working- and middle-class section of the eastern Bronx where median household income sits around $55,600 and roughly one in five households lives below the poverty line. About 14% of households have children under 18, and a fifth of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Homeownership is around 31%, with a median home value near $518,000 — modest by city standards but not inexpensive. The area has a settled, family-oriented feel rather than a transient one.

The school is essentially at the doorstep of the 225 St station on the 2 and 5 lines — about a one-minute walk. The 219 St and 233 St stops on the same lines are also reachable on foot within roughly 7 to 8 minutes, giving families decent redundancy if one entrance is closed.