P.S. 78

ELA proficiency of 29.8% and math at 28.4% sit well below the District 31 averages of roughly 61% in both subjects — students here are catching up, not leading. The good news is the trajectory: math rose from 11.1% in 2022 to 33.2% in 2024 before slipping to 28.4% this year, and ELA climbed from 11.2% in 2022 to the high 20s. The school's overall score of 1.16 out of 4 is less than half the district average of 2.45. Within the building, Grade 5 math stands out at 45.7%, while Grade 4 math at 11.8% is a clear weak spot worth asking about.

The feel inside P.S. 78 is warmer than the data might suggest. Parents give the school a 95% satisfaction rating, 96% trust their child's teacher, and 96% trust the principal — all above district averages — and teachers rate their own instructional quality at 97%, also well above the district norm. The 100% rating on strong relationships between teachers and students is worth noting. But the picture has real cracks: chronic absenteeism is 51.2%, meaning more than half of students miss enough school to be flagged, and teacher-reported safety sits at 61% versus a district average near 95% — a significant gap. Discipline is not a problem here at all (just one suspension in 2023-24, down from four the year before), so the safety concern is more about how adults perceive the environment than about behavior issues on paper.

P.S. 78's student body is 47% Hispanic and 41% Black, with small Asian, White, and Native American populations rounding out a 62% diversity index. The economic need index of 94.1% tells you most families are coming from low-income households, and 37% of students have IEPs — a notably high share. Family survey response was modest at 31% with 129 respondents, but those who did respond were nearly unanimous in their satisfaction.

P.S. 78 sits in Tompkinsville-Stapleton-Clifton-Fox Hills, a stretch of Staten Island where the median household income is $52,653, the poverty rate runs near 26%, and only about 34% of households own their homes — the kind of numbers that point to a mobile, working-class population. Just over a quarter of adult residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and only 12% of households include children, which partly explains the relatively small neighborhood elementary-age pool. The school is the kind of place where families are stretched thin but visibly engaged.

Stapleton and Clifton, both on the Staten Island Railway, are each about a nine-minute walk from the school — most families will arrive on foot or by car rather than depending on the subway for daily drop-off.