P.S. 452

P.S. 452's results outpace the district by a wide margin. The 73.7% ELA proficiency rate runs roughly 14 points above the district's 59.3%, and the 81.5% math proficiency rate is a striking 27.5 points above the 54% district average. Math has trended upward over the past two cycles — 2025's 81.5% is the highest in the eight-year window — after dipping in 2022. ELA has held in the low-to-mid 70s since 2019, suggesting math is the school's clearer strength and ELA is solid-but-not-leading. Across grades 3-5, results are remarkably consistent, with math proficiency hovering around 80-83%.

Day-to-day climate looks strong on the surface — 96% of parents say they're satisfied, 98% of teachers say students feel safe, and 100% report strong teacher-family relationships — but 71.6% of students are chronically absent, meaning more than 7 in 10 kids miss 10% or more of the school year. That gap between satisfied families and high absenteeism is worth understanding; in this neighborhood it may reflect travel, long weekends, or simply the comfort of well-resourced families who don't feel every absence matters. Discipline is essentially a non-issue: zero suspensions in each of the past three years. Teacher-principal trust at 77% and instruction-quality ratings at 81% both sit below district norms, a quieter flag beneath the parent-survey glow.

The student body is 46% White, 19% Hispanic, 17% Asian, and 13% Black, with a diversity index of 78% — meaningfully more diverse than the surrounding neighborhood, where census figures show high incomes and high educational attainment. About 30% of students qualify as economically disadvantaged, well below citywide norms, and 17% have IEPs. With 368 students total, P.S. 452 pulls from a narrow geographic zone but draws a wider mix of New York families than its zip code alone would suggest.

P.S. 452 sits in Lincoln Square, where median household income is around $162,000 and 83% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Only about 15% of neighborhood households include children, which helps explain why a zoned school here feels less crowded than a comparable building in a more family-dense part of the city. The area is dense with cultural institutions and well-served by transit, with homeownership around 37% and a median home value north of $1.5 million.

The 1 train at 66 St-Lincoln Center is about a 7-minute walk, and 59 St-Columbus Circle — served by the 1, A, C, B, and D lines — is about 8 minutes away.