School in the Square Public Charter School

ELA proficiency of 53.8% sits comfortably above the District 6 average of 47%, while Math at 46% runs about 6 points below the district average of 52.1%. The more striking story is the seven-year trend: ELA more than tripled from 17.1% in 2017, and Math climbed from 16.2% to 46%. Results by grade are uneven — Grade 3 ELA is just 26.7%, well below the school's own average — while Grade 4 ELA at 71.4% and Grade 8 ELA at 53.1% pull the school into solidly above-district territory at the upper elementary and middle-school levels. The 2/4 overall Quality Review rating is above the district average of 1.98/4.

Families clearly trust this school: 95% of parents trust the principal, 95% trust teachers, and 98% say they have strong relationships with staff — numbers that would be impressive anywhere and are even more striking here. Teachers rate the school safe at 95% (above the 93% district average) and trust their colleagues at 81%. The chronic absenteeism figure, however, is the loudest number in the file: 61.2% of students miss enough school to be chronically absent, and the rate hits 88.9% for the small White subgroup. The overall 89.5% attendance rate sits just under the district average of 91%. This is a school where parents feel heard and teachers feel safe, but where getting kids physically through the door is a real struggle.

The student body is 86% Hispanic, with smaller populations of White (6%), Black (4%), Multi-Racial (2%), and Asian (1%) students — a demographic profile that mirrors the surrounding Washington Heights neighborhood closely. The diversity index of 30% reflects a community that is more culturally unified than the city as a whole, with 17% of students having IEPs and an economic need index of 79.3 indicating most families are working- or lower-income.

Washington Heights (South) is a working- and middle-income, renter-heavy neighborhood with a median household income of $55,786, a 22% poverty rate, and only 8% homeownership among a typical renter-heavy housing stock. The neighborhood is younger than the city as a whole, with a modest 33.9% rate of residents holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and is well connected to the rest of upper Manhattan via multiple subway lines.

Three subway options are an easy walk: the 1 line at 181 St (about 3 minutes), the A line at 181 St (about 5 minutes), and the A line at 175 St (about 5 minutes)