P.S. 56 The Louis Desario School

At 77.3% ELA and 76% math proficiency, P.S. 56 sits roughly 15 percentage points above District 31 averages in both subjects — meaningful outperformance, not a rounding error. The trajectory tells you more than the headline number: ELA proficiency has climbed from 67.9% in 2016 to 77.3% in 2025, and math has jumped even more dramatically from 55.9% to 76%. One pattern worth noting: third-graders score in the high 80s in both subjects, but fifth-graders land in the high 60s — the school seems to peak in the early grades, then proficiency slides as students approach middle school.

The day-to-day climate here is remarkably calm — zero suspensions for three consecutive years in a school of 622 is essentially unheard of. Parents report 95% satisfaction and near-universal trust in both teachers and the principal (97% parent-teacher trust, 97% parent-principal trust), with 75% of families responding to the survey, which is unusually high engagement. Teachers feel supported too: 93% rate instruction quality positively and 99% report the school is safe. The wrinkle is chronic absenteeism at 85.1% — an unusually high figure that, despite a 94% daily attendance rate, suggests many students are missing enough days to cross the chronic-absence threshold and is worth asking the school about directly.

The student body is 72% white, 15% Hispanic, and 11% Asian, with very small Black and multiracial populations — a diversity index of 49%, which is moderate. That mix mirrors the surrounding Arden Heights-Rossville neighborhood closely, where the population is largely homeowner, middle-to-upper-middle-income, and predominantly white. Twenty-nine percent of students have IEPs, which is higher than typical and reflects the school's self-contained special education classrooms sitting alongside its general education population. Economic need is relatively low here — the index sits at 27.1, meaning most families don't qualify for free lunch.

Arden Heights-Rossville is the kind of Staten Island neighborhood where families tend to put down roots — 85.6% homeownership and a median home value around $564,758 point to a stable, owner-occupied area. Median household income is comfortably above the city average at $104,843, the poverty rate is just 4.9%, and 35.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. About 28% of households include children, so there are plenty of school-age families in the area.

There are no subway stations within a 20-minute walk of the school, so families here rely on cars, school buses, or local buses to get to and from P.S. 56.