At a Glance
A small South Harlem elementary where parents are deeply engaged but students are well behind grade level
Best suited for
Families in South Harlem who want a small, community-rooted school where parents are heard and engaged, and who are prepared to actively support their child's academics outside school given the proficiency gaps.
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
- Exceptionally high parent trust — 94% of families trust the principal
- Accelerated/Honors track available at an unscreened neighborhood school
- Saturday Academy extends learning beyond the regular school week
- Algebra I offered to upper-grade students
- Wide extracurricular menu including peer mediation, leadership, and a foreign language program
Things to consider
- Academic proficiency is far behind district averages — 14% in math is a real gap that families should expect to address at home
- Nearly half the students are chronically absent, which compounds learning loss
- Math scores have swung sharply year to year, making it hard to gauge momentum
- Suspension rate is above the district average, though trending down
- Family survey response rate of 30% limits how representative parent feedback actually is
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 3
P.S. 76 operates in District 3 alongside some of the city's most selective schools — the Special Music School, The Anderson School, and P.S. 166 — but as an unscreened neighborhood school it serves a very different population. Compared to those screened peers, P.S. 76 sits well below the district average on overall quality (0.93 vs. 2.27), but it is serving one of the more challenging demographic profiles in the district with real intentionality.
Academics
P.S. 76's academic picture trails the district on virtually every measure. ELA proficiency of 32.8% is roughly half the district average of 59%, and math at 13.8% is a fraction of the district's 54%. Science proficiency at 42.9% is also below average. The trend is more encouraging on ELA, which has nearly doubled since 2016 (16.4% to 32.8%), though with a COVID-era dip in 2022. Math has been volatile — a notable jump to 31.4% in 2024 was followed by a steep drop back to 13.8% in 2025, making year-over-year comparisons hard to read. The school's overall quality score of 0.93 out of 4 places it well below the district average of 2.27.
Culture
The day-to-day feel at P.S. 76 is warmer than the test scores suggest. Parent satisfaction (90%) and family trust scores (93–94%) run above district averages, and 88% of teachers rate their own instruction positively. Teacher collegial trust is exceptionally high at 96%, pointing to a staff that genuinely supports each other. The discipline picture is mixed: suspensions jumped from 4 in 2021-22 to 7 in 2022-23 before falling to 3 in 2023-24, but the 1% suspension rate still sits well above the district average. Attendance is a serious concern — 86.2% versus a district average of 90.4% — and chronic absenteeism hits 57.4% among Black students, a gap worth flagging.
Community
The student body is 75% Black and 17% Hispanic, with a diversity index of 44% reflecting the demographic concentration. Nine in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch (economic need index of 90.2), and 21% have IEPs — both well above typical. The neighborhood tells a similar story: a 20.3% poverty rate and a median income of $68,758 paint a picture of a working-class community where many families are stretching to get by, even as 51.7% of adult residents hold a bachelor's degree.
Neighborhood
P.S. 76 sits in South Harlem, a neighborhood where most residents rent (homeownership is just 18%) and 20% of residents live below the poverty line. With a 51.7% bachelor's-or-higher rate, the area blends working-class and professional families. Households with children make up 12.4% of the population — a smaller share than many NYC neighborhoods — but the families enrolled here are committed enough to keep the school full at 295 students.
Three subway options sit within walking distance: the B and C trains at 116th Street (about a 5-minute walk), the 2 and 3 at 116th Street (about a 7-minute walk), and the A, C, B, and D at 125th Street (about a 7-minute 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
Science Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Science 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) · 65 families responded (30% rate)
Programs & Activities
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. 076 A. Philip Randolph 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. 076 A. Philip Randolph 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. 076 A. Philip Randolph a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph earns an overall rating of 23/100 — 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 3 average.
- What grades does P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph serve?
- P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph?
- P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph admits by application through a random lottery, with no academic screen.
- Is P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph is a public school in NYC Community School District 3.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph in?
- P.S. 076 A. Philip Randolph is in Harlem (South), Manhattan.