Sixth Avenue Elementary School

ELA proficiency of 86.1% is more than 13 points above the district average of 73.2%, and the trajectory is clearly improving — up from 74.3% in 2018 and 80.8% as recently as 2023. Math has been steadier, hovering in the high 70s, and lands about 5 points above the district average of 72.5%. The current grade 5 cohort hit an extraordinary 95.7% ELA proficiency, suggesting real momentum as students progress through the school.

Parent-facing climate metrics are uniformly strong — 97% trust teachers, 96% trust the principal, 98% report strong relationships, and the family survey response rate of 83% signals real engagement. Teacher-reported safety is 99% and there were zero suspensions last year, continuing a multi-year zero-suspension streak. The picture from the teacher side is more uneven: teacher-reported instruction quality (67%) and teacher-principal trust (71%) both run well below district averages of roughly 90% and 95%, suggesting staff experience the school differently than families do. Attendance at 93.2% is solid and above the district average of 92%, though the reported chronic absenteeism figure is unusually high relative to that attendance and worth asking the school about directly.

Sixth Avenue's student body is 60% White, 17% multiracial, 12% Hispanic, 9% Asian, and 2% Black — notably less Black and Hispanic than the citywide public school average, and reflective of a downtown enrollment zone that skews affluent. The economic need index of 15.7 confirms a low-poverty population, and 14% of students have IEPs. PTA fundraising of $669 per student is well above the district average of $517, a concrete signal of an organized and resourced parent body.

The school sits in Midtown South-Flatiron-Union Square, where the median household income tops $171,000 and 81% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — a downtown professional neighborhood with relatively few families, since just 9% of households have children. Home values average $1.66 million and homeownership is around 31%, meaning most local families rent. Public-school families here tend to be dual-income professionals who chose the neighborhood before or around having kids.

Three lines within four minutes make this one of the easiest-to-reach elementary schools in the borough: 14 St (F, M) about a 2-minute walk, 6 Av (L) about 3 minutes, and 18 St (1) about 4 minutes.