P.S./M.S. 004 Crotona Park West

The numbers here are unusual and worth sitting with. ELA proficiency is 95.8% and math is 93.2%, both roughly double the District 9 averages of about 45%. In science, every tested student met standards. But the more interesting story is the trajectory: from 2016 to 2022, scores hovered between 22% and 32% in math and ELA, then jumped to 59%/73.7% in 2023, 80%/92.4% in 2024, and the current 95.8%/93.2% in 2025. Across every tested grade — 3 through 8 — proficiency is in the high 80s or 100%. Including among the 28% of students with IEPs. That kind of year-over-year climb can reflect a real culture shift among staff, a curriculum overhaul, or both — and is the kind of change worth asking the principal about directly.

The survey data paints a remarkably trusting, tight-knit school community. Parents give 97% satisfaction, 99% trust in teachers, and 99% trust in the principal — well above district norms. Teachers rate leadership and instruction quality at 100%, and 97% say they feel safe (compared to 83% districtwide). With only 3 suspensions last year (a rate of 1%, just above the district's 0.42%), the day-to-day climate reads as calm. The family survey response rate of 95% is unusually high, suggesting parents are deeply plugged in. One note of caution: chronic absenteeism sits at 58% — high even by post-pandemic standards — and the gap is widest among Black students (62.1%). Strong academics can coexist with chronic attendance gaps, and this is the one to watch.

The 324 students are almost evenly split between Black (48%) and Hispanic (49%) students, with very small numbers of white, Asian, multi-racial, and Native American students. That makes the diversity index fairly low at 46% — this is essentially a two-community school. Notably, 28% of students have IEPs, a meaningfully higher share than most city schools, and those students are posting strong proficiency numbers alongside their peers. The school does offer ELL support, though English-language learners are not broken out separately here. Parent engagement runs unusually high: 199 families completed the survey, a 95% response rate.

The school sits in Claremont Village-Claremont (East), a quiet residential pocket of the central Bronx. Median household income in the surrounding census area is around $30,475 and the poverty rate is 44.1%, which gives a sense of the economic backdrop families are coming from. Homeownership is just 2.7% — almost everyone rents — and only 10% of households include children, a small share that reflects the neighborhood's mix of long-time residents and multi-family buildings. Only about 11% of adults here have a bachelor's degree, so this is a school where many families are navigating education systems with limited institutional familiarity themselves.

There is no subway right at the door. The closest options are the 174 Street station on the 2 and 5 lines, about a 13-minute walk south, and Tremont Avenue on the B and D lines or 174–175 Streets on the B and D, each about a 15-minute walk. Most families will rely on the bus or local car trips rather than the train.