P.S. 126 Jacob August Riis

With ELA at 72.7% (right at the district's 73.2%) and math at 79.3% (well above the district's 72.5%), this is a clear math stronghold. The decade-long trajectory is the real story: ELA has climbed from 56.3% in 2016 to 72.7% in 2025, and math from 67.2% to 79.3% — gains that put the school well ahead of where it stood ten years ago. Grade 3 math at 94.3% is genuinely exceptional, and Grade 8 math at 85.3% shows the school sustains rigor into middle school. The weak spot is Grade 5 math at 66%, a noticeable valley in an otherwise consistent record.

Attendance is healthy at 93.3% (above the district's 91.95%), but the chronic absenteeism figure of 78.6% — meaning nearly four out of five students miss at least 10% of the school year — is striking and worth probing. Parents are wildly engaged: 94% satisfaction, 98% trust in teachers, and 99% trust in the principal, on a 43% response rate that suggests these aren't just the most motivated voices. Teachers tell a different story: only 73% rate instruction quality positively (vs. the district's 89.8%) and just 71% report feeling safe (vs. the district's 95.3%). Discipline is the trend to watch — suspensions climbed from 1 to 2 to 8 over three school years. The feel is a school families love and a workplace where adults are struggling.

PS 126 is a predominantly Asian-American school at 61%, with a sizable Hispanic population (20%), and smaller Black (10%), White (5%), and multiracial (4%) communities. The diversity index of 63% reflects real heterogeneity, particularly within the Asian-American population, which in this neighborhood includes long-established Chinese and other East and Southeast Asian families. The economic need index of 77.1 is high — most students come from low-income households — which aligns with the neighborhood's $35,443 median income and 33.3% poverty rate. This is a working-class, immigrant-rooted community that depends heavily on its public schools, and the screened admissions process suggests families make a deliberate choice to land here.

Chinatown-Two Bridges is one of Manhattan's most densely populated neighborhoods, where roughly one in three households lives below the federal poverty line despite a $633,022 median home value that reflects newer condo development alongside aging tenement housing. Only 7.8% of households include children, which is low and signals the area's mix of immigrant seniors, working-class renters, and a growing population of higher-income newcomers. The BA+ rate of 30.3% is below the city average, and homeownership is rare at 10.4%. PS 126 sits within a tightly woven residential grid where most families walk or take public transit to school.

Three subway stations serve the school: Chambers St (J, Z) and Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall (4, 5, 6) are each about an 8-minute walk, and Canal St (J, Z) is about an 11-minute walk.