Soundview Academy for Culture and Scholarship

Soundview's 2025 results mark a real turning point. ELA proficiency climbed to 36.2% from 21.5% the year before, and math jumped to 43.8% from 23.2% — both are still below district averages (46% ELA, 48% math), but the trajectory is unmistakable after years stuck in the teens and twenties. The strength is concentrated in the younger grades: 6th graders hit 57.9% proficiency in math and 7th graders 47.3%, while 8th-grade math falls back to 28.9%, suggesting students may lose momentum as they approach the state test. The school's overall score of 1.6/4 sits below the district average of 1.88/4, but the recent jump is the headline here.

Day-to-day, parents feel respected and connected — satisfaction, parent-teacher trust (96%), and parent-principal trust (94%) all run well above district norms — but the picture from the staff side is more mixed. Only 58% of teachers say they trust their principal and just 60% report collegial trust with peers, both markedly below district averages, and teacher-rated instruction quality sits at 82% vs. the district's 88%. Attendance is a real concern: at 86.2% it's three points below the district, and 43.5% of students are chronically absent — meaning nearly half miss enough school to count as chronically absent. Discipline has also trended the wrong way, with suspensions rising from 7 to 14 to 18 over three years, and the 6% suspension rate is far above the district's 0.6%.

The student body is 69% Hispanic and 28% Black, with a diversity index of 44% reflecting a mostly two-group population rather than a wide mix. The economic need index of 86% tells you most students arrive from low-income households, and 30% have IEPs — well above the citywide average — while ELL support is offered for the small slice who are English learners. The surrounding neighborhood tracks the school closely: 21.8% poverty, $64k median household income, and only 13.6% of households include children, which is on the low side for the city and signals a fair number of grandparent- or extended-family arrangements mixed in with kids.

Soundview-Clason Point is a working-class stretch of the eastern Bronx where homeownership is relatively low at 28.3% — most families rent — and the median home value sits around $513,000, modest by city standards. Just 22.4% of adult neighbors hold a bachelor's degree, and the population skews family-rooted but child-light at the household level. Getting around leans heavily on the 6 train, with Parkchester and St Lawrence Avenue stations each about a 15-minute walk and Castle Hill Avenue closer to 19 minutes — close enough for older students to manage, but a real haul for little ones in winter.

The 6 train is your lifeline — Parkchester and St Lawrence Avenue are each about a 15-minute walk, with Castle Hill Avenue about 19 minutes away.