At a Glance
A Carnegie Hill elementary where nearly every student tests proficient and PTA dollars run nearly four times the district norm.
Best suited for
Academically driven families in or near the Upper East Side who want a stable, high-performing elementary and are ready to lean into an unusually active and resourced parent community.
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
- ELA and math proficiency both near 99%, sustained across nearly a decade of state testing.
- PTA raises about $1,955 per student — nearly four times the district average of $516 per student.
- Zero suspensions over three consecutive reporting years.
- Parent satisfaction (95%) and parent-teacher trust (98%) are both very high.
- Attendance rate of 95.5% comfortably outpaces the district average of 92%.
Things to consider
- Teacher-principal trust at 77% lags well behind parent-principal trust at 95% — the small sample of only 17 teacher respondents makes this hard to read, but the gap is real.
- The student body is not racially representative of New York City; families seeking a broader demographic mix should know that upfront.
- Average class size of 25.8 students sits right at the district average, despite the school's deep PTA resources.
- With test scores already near the ceiling, there is little measurable academic headroom to judge continued growth on.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 2
Lower Lab sits at or near the very top of Manhattan's District 2 elementary schools, with an overall score of 3.96 out of 4 against a district average of 2.91. Its closest peers are Success Academy charter schools and other top performers like P.S. 290 Manhattan New School, which also cluster in the 94-96 range.
Academics
With ELA at 98.8% and math at 99.4%, both subjects run roughly 25 percentage points above the district averages of 73% — and these scores have held remarkably steady for nearly a decade, with ELA between 97-100% and math between 96-100% in every reported year. There simply isn't much room left to grow on the state tests; the trajectory is essentially flat at the very top, which is the best kind of problem to have. By grade, every tested cohort hits 96-100% in both subjects, with the only soft spot being third-grade math at 98.4%.
Culture
Strong attendance at 95.5% (vs. district 92%) and zero suspensions over three years set a calm baseline for the day-to-day. Parents give the school rave reviews — 95% satisfaction, 98% trust in teachers — but teachers are notably more measured in their view of leadership, with only 77% reporting trust in the principal, well below the 95% parent-principal trust figure, though the sample is small at just 17 respondents. Teacher-reported safety sits at 97% and instruction quality at 89% (just a touch below the district's 90%).
Community
The student body is 46% Asian, 35% White, 13% multiracial, 6% Hispanic, and 0% Black — a notably narrow racial mix by New York City standards, even though the overall diversity index is 64%. Economic need is very low at 9.7%, and only 6% of students have IEPs. The school mirrors its Carnegie Hill surroundings closely: highly resourced families, college-educated parents, and a population that looks very different from the city as a whole.
Neighborhood
Carnegie Hill is one of Manhattan's wealthiest census tracts — median household income sits around $198,000, only about 5% of residents live in poverty, and 84% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Around 17% of households have children at home, and most families own rather than rent, with a median home value pushing $1.85 million. It is an unusually stable and family-dense pocket of the Upper East Side.
The school is about a 2-minute walk from the 96 St (6) station and a 4-minute walk from the 96 St (Q) station, with the 103 St (6) line roughly 9 minutes away on foot.
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) · 117 families responded (32% rate)
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Kindergarten
P.S. 77 Lower Lab School doesn't have an attendance zone of its own, so living nearby doesn't guarantee a seat here. Families apply on MySchools, and seats go to the school's priority groups first, then by random lottery.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the kindergarten application.
- 2Rank this school with your zoned school, if you have one, and 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. 77 Lower Lab School a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 77 Lower Lab School earns an overall rating of 99/100 — 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 above the District 2 average.
- What grades does P.S. 77 Lower Lab School serve?
- P.S. 77 Lower Lab School serves grades K to 5.
- Is P.S. 77 Lower Lab School public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 77 Lower Lab School is a public school in NYC Community School District 2.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 77 Lower Lab School in?
- P.S. 77 Lower Lab School is in Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill, Manhattan.