P.S. X037 - Multiple Intelligence School

The school's 2025 results — 45.4% ELA proficiency and 40.4% math — represent the strongest showing in nearly a decade. ELA essentially landed at the district average (45.0%), and math closed most of its longstanding gap to the district (43.5%). For context, back in 2016 the school was posting ELA around 25% and math around 31%. The gains aren't perfectly linear — math actually dropped to 16.8% in 2022 before climbing back — but the trajectory over the last three years is clearly upward. One real warning sign is grade 8 math at 21.7%, which is well below the rest of the school and suggests students may be losing ground as they head toward middle school graduation. Science proficiency sits at 17.8%, which is low but reflects how few elementary schools in the city test well on science.

The day-to-day feel here, according to the surveys, is warm and family-driven. Parent satisfaction (97%), parent-teacher trust (96%), and parent-principal trust (97%) all run above the district averages — the families who engage feel genuinely heard. Teachers rate instruction quality at 94% and report feeling safe at 95%, both notably above district norms. The less flattering number is teacher-principal trust at 73% and teacher collegial trust at 74%, which suggests the staff room may not feel as unified as the parent-facing side of the building does. Discipline is essentially a non-issue — one suspension across the entire 2023-24 school year, in a school of 504 kids. The big asterisk is attendance: 86.7% (below the district's 90.8%) and chronic absenteeism at 46.2%, meaning nearly half of students missed enough school to be flagged. That number is high enough to drag down academic outcomes and is worth taking seriously.

The student body is 78% Hispanic, 18% Black, and about 2% each Asian and White — a much more working-class, less affluent mix than the Riverdale-Spuyten Duyvil neighborhood itself. The economic need index of 88.6 (very high) confirms that most families here are navigating real financial pressure, despite the relatively wealthy census tract around the school. Twenty-eight percent of students have IEPs, well above typical, and the school offers ELL support. The PTA raised only about $7 per student last year — a fraction of the $74 district average — which speaks to limited family financial bandwidth rather than disengagement, given how highly families rate the school on surveys.

The school sits in Riverdale-Spuyten Duyvil, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the Bronx — median household income over $112,000, poverty under 8%, more than 60% of adults holding a bachelor's degree, and a homeownership rate above 58%. Households with children make up about 17% of the area. That said, the demographics of the school don't mirror the neighborhood, which tells you this zoned school pulls from a wider geography than the immediate blocks would suggest.

The 1 train is your option here — Marble Hill-225 St is about a 7-minute walk, 231 St is about 10 minutes, and 215 St is about 12 minutes. No other subway lines are nearby.