At a Glance
A longtime zoned Washington Heights elementary showing real academic gains, where families feel heard and discipline is non-existent.
Best suited for
Families zoned for the school who value a calm, suspension-free environment, an actively involved parent community, and a school on an upward academic trajectory — and who can commit to getting their child to school every day.
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 consecutive years — a genuinely rare climate signal in District 6.
- Academic trajectory reversed sharply in the last two years, with math proficiency jumping 13 points since 2023.
- Parent trust scores (95–96%) are among the strongest in the district, signaling deep family-school partnership.
- IEP enrollment of 26% means strong inclusion infrastructure and a high ratio of special-ed support staff per classroom.
- Class size of 21.9 matches the district average, so students aren't lost in oversized rooms.
Things to consider
- Chronic absenteeism at nearly 59% is among the highest in the district and is the single biggest obstacle to academic gains.
- ELA proficiency (31%) is more than 15 points below the district average, so reading support at home matters here.
- Teacher-principal trust at 58% and teacher-rated instruction quality at 75% are both well below district norms — worth watching if leadership changes.
- Compared to the high-scoring District 6 charters nearby (Zeta Inwood at 93, Success Academy Washington Heights at 90), this zoned school looks very different on paper; families choosing between zoned and charter should weigh that gap carefully.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 6
Among District 6 elementary options, P.S. 048 sits in the lower band on standardized measures — the top charters in the district score 80–93/100 while P.S. 048's overall score of 1.36/4 is well below the district average of ~1.98. It looks more like a school turning a corner than one currently outperforming its peers, with the most relevant comparison being the most similar zoned schools rather than the charter standouts.
Academics
ELA proficiency at 31.1% and math at 37% both sit meaningfully below the district averages of 47% and 52%, respectively, so on a typical year P.S. 048 would be in the bottom tier of District 6. But the multi-year trend is genuinely encouraging: ELA climbed from 20.5% in 2023 to 31.1% in 2025, and math rose from 23.7% to 37% over the same span — the strongest two-year jump in the school's recent history. Grade 3 math at 53.7% actually meets the district bar, while grades 4 and 5 lag, suggesting the gains are strongest where intervention is freshest.
Culture
Day-to-day, this is a calm school: zero suspensions in any of the last three reported years, parent satisfaction at 93% (matching the district average), and parent trust in teachers and the principal sitting at 95–96%. Families clearly feel welcome. The flip side is that teacher trust in the principal is only 58%, and only 75% of teachers rate instruction quality positively — both well below the district averages of ~90% — suggesting some internal friction between staff and leadership. Attendance is a real worry: 89.6% is below the district's 91%, and chronic absenteeism at 58.7% means the average student is missing a month-plus of school each year, which directly caps classroom gains.
Community
P.S. 048's student body is 88% Hispanic, with small Black, White, and Asian populations, and an economic need index of 84 — among the higher-need schools in the district. About a quarter of students have IEPs, well above the citywide rate, so the school carries a meaningful special-education caseload. The diversity index of 28% reflects this concentration rather than a true mix, but the neighborhood census shows it as a family-rooted community (13% of households have children) where roughly 4 in 10 adults hold a bachelor's degree and the median household income sits in the mid-$70Ks.
Neighborhood
Northern Washington Heights is a working- and middle-class neighborhood built around families — a quarter of households include children, and homeownership is low at 17.5%, meaning most families rent. Median household income is about $77K with a 14% poverty rate, and about 42% of adults have a bachelor's degree, giving the school a parent base that's engaged but stretched. The area is overwhelmingly residential, with classic prewar tenements and small apartment buildings dominating the blocks around the school.
Three subway options sit within a 6-minute walk: the 181 St stop on the 1 line and the 181 St stop on the A line, plus the 191 St stop on the 1 line.
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) · 321 families responded (87% 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. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek 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
P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek has an attendance zone. At elementary level, in-zone students get a guaranteed seat. Every family still applies on MySchools: the application confirms the zoned seat, and ranking other schools doesn't cost you it.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Check that your address is inside the zone — zones change, so confirm it before you sign a lease.
- 2Apply during the kindergarten application, even with a zoned seat.
- 3Rank this school along with any others you'd take, in true preference order.
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. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek earns an overall rating of 34/100 — 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 6 average.
- What grades does P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek serve?
- P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek?
- P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek admits by zone — children who live in its attendance zone get a guaranteed seat.
- Is P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek is a public school in NYC Community School District 6.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek in?
- P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek is in Washington Heights (North), Manhattan.