P.S./I.S. 210 - Twenty-first Century Academy for Community Leadership

P.S. 210's academic story is the upward arc. ELA proficiency rose from 28.5% in 2016 to 52.5% in 2025, and math from 34.4% to 60.2% — both now roughly 5 to 8 points above the District 6 averages of 47% and 52%. The math trajectory is especially telling: after dipping to 30.3% in 2022 (post-pandemic, like many schools), it has rebounded to its highest point in the dataset. The ELA score also climbed nearly 10 points in the last two years. That said, the picture isn't uniform across grades — Grade 5 math came in at 41.7%, well below that grade's ELA (62.5%), and Grade 6 ELA (45.7%) sat below the school average. Grade 7 math, meanwhile, hit a striking 78.4% proficiency. The overall DOE quality score of 2.25 out of 4 edges out the district average of 1.98.

Families love this place. Parent-principal and parent-teacher trust both register at 97%, every surveyed family reports strong relationships with staff, and 95% of families returned the survey — an extraordinarily high response rate that signals real engagement. The 94% parent satisfaction figure matches the district average, and teacher-reported safety sits at 92%, just slightly under the district's 93%. Discipline is essentially a non-issue (one suspension a year for three years running). Where the picture gets murkier: teacher-rated instruction quality is 76%, well below the district's 90% average, and chronic absenteeism at 69.6% is high — though that mirrors a citywide pattern in high-poverty schools. The teacher-principal trust at 86% and collegial trust at 83% are decent but not glowing. Day-to-day, expect a place families feel ownership of, where teachers are committed but have reservations about resources or instructional support.

The student body is 97% Hispanic, with small numbers of Black, Asian, multiracial, and White students, and 23% of students have IEPs. The economic need index of 86.5% indicates that most students come from lower-income households. This composition mirrors the surrounding Hamilton Heights neighborhood closely, and the school's strong survey engagement (370 family responses, 95% response rate) suggests the families who are here lean in hard.

Hamilton Heights-Sugar Hill is a middle- and working-class Manhattan neighborhood where about 22% of residents live below the poverty line and median household income sits at $65,619. Homeownership is low (14%), and renters predominate, though the BA+ education rate of 40.9% suggests a population with real educational attainment. Only about 13% of households have children, which is consistent with the mix of long-term residents and newer arrivals in this part of upper Manhattan.

Three subway options sit within a short walk: the C at 155 St (about 4 minutes), the 1 at 157 St (about 6 minutes), and the B/D at 145 St (about 8 minutes). The C and 1 together cover most commutes to the rest of Manhattan and the Bronx.