Samara Community School

Samara's proficiency numbers are meaningfully above district averages — 60% in ELA versus a District 12 average around 45%, and 67% in math versus roughly 43% — and the trajectory is the more striking story. The school spent years in the low-20s on both subjects (2018 through 2022), then climbed to 48%/47% in 2023, 46%/58% in 2024, and now 60%/67% in 2025. Scores also strengthen with grade level: Grade 5 ELA hits 75.8% and Grade 5 math hits 70.6%, suggesting the gains are compounding rather than fading. The 2.54/4 overall score places Samara comfortably above the district average of 1.76.

The culture data here is unusually strong across the board. Parent satisfaction sits at 99% (versus a district average around 92%), and teacher-reported trust in the principal is 100%, as is teacher-rated quality of instruction. Teachers rate school safety at 97%, well above the district's 85% average. Zero suspensions in each of the last three reporting years is also notably better than the district's roughly 0.4% suspension rate. The one signal that complicates the picture is chronic absenteeism at 75.4% — meaning three out of four students missed enough school to be flagged — though the daily attendance rate of 92.6% is still above the district's 90% average. The combination of near-perfect survey scores and high chronic absence suggests families feel deeply connected to the school even when logistics make daily attendance a challenge.

Samara serves a student body that is 89% Hispanic and 10% Black, with a diversity index of 21% — meaning the school population is fairly homogeneous rather than mixed. Twenty percent of students have IEPs, and the economic need index of 84.1% indicates that most families qualify for economic assistance. The 317 family survey responses (a 99% response rate) reflect an engaged parent body, even though PTA fundraising lands at about $42 per student — slightly below the district's $53 average.

Crotona Park East is a working-class Bronx neighborhood where the median household income is around $41,400, about 29% of residents live below the poverty line, and only about 15% of households include children. Homeownership is low (roughly 10%) and a little over 14% of adults hold a bachelor's degree — a context that shapes both the challenges and the closeness of the families who do send their kids here.

The school is reachable by the 2 and 5 trains at 174th Street (about a 6-minute walk) and Freeman Street (about a 9-minute walk), plus the 6 train at Whitlock Avenue (about a 10-minute walk). With low car ownership typical of the area, most families likely arrive on foot or via public transit.