P.S. M226

This school doesn't publish state ELA or math proficiency rates the way general-education schools do, because District 75 students are typically assessed through alternative measures aligned to their IEPs rather than grade-level standardized tests. That makes a straight academic comparison to the district's 73% ELA and 73% math averages impossible — and not the right frame for this school. The relevant academic question here is whether students are making progress on their individualized goals, which the strong parent satisfaction and instruction-quality scores (96%, above the district's 90%) suggest is happening.

The day-to-day feel here is one of strong family-school partnership: 96% of parents are satisfied, 100% report strong relationships with teachers, and 99% trust the principal. Teachers give instruction quality a 96%, well above the district's 90% average. The one soft spot is teacher-principal trust at 78%, noticeably lower than the parent side of the ledger, which can signal front-office friction that families don't see. Teacher-reported safety is solid at 93%, and the school recorded zero suspensions — a remarkable figure that points to a culture built on de-escalation rather than removal.

The student body is 52% Hispanic, 31% Black, 10% White, and 4% Asian, with an economic need index of 89% — a population that looks nothing like the surrounding census tract, where median household income is $153,847 and only 10% of households have children. Almost no students walk over from the Gramercy townhouses; families travel here from across the city because they need what this school offers. With 100% of students on IEPs, the community is unified by a shared need for individualized, smaller-setting education rather than by neighborhood.

Gramercy, on paper, is one of Manhattan's most established and well-resourced neighborhoods — highly educated (83% of adults have a bachelor's or higher), high homeownership, and a median home value above $920,000. But it has relatively few children: only 10% of households here include kids, and the poverty rate is low. So while the building sits in a calm, leafy, transit-convenient pocket of the city, the families whose children attend this school are mostly commuting in from elsewhere.

The school is well-served by transit: the 1 Av and 3 Av L stops are about 3 and 4 minutes on foot, and 14 St-Union Sq (4, 5, and 6 lines) is roughly a 9-minute walk.