At a Glance
A prosperous downtown K-8 with standout academics, deep PTA funding, and a striking chronic absenteeism rate
Best suited for
Families who want a single K-8 home in a transit-rich downtown location, value strong academics and PTA-funded enrichment, and are willing to ask pointed questions about attendance patterns before enrolling.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- K-8 structure lets families stay in one school from pre-K through 8th grade, unusual in Manhattan
- PTA fundraising of $1,904 per student is nearly four times the district average, funding enrichment most schools can't afford
- Eight years of steadily improving test scores in both ELA and math, with a notable jump in 2023
- Essentially zero suspensions — just one per year, three years running
- Programs span accelerated/honors coursework, modern band, foreign language, and Living Environment, backed by a program richness score of 89.3/100
Things to consider
- Chronic absenteeism of 83% is unusually high and worth asking the school about directly on a tour
- 8th-grade math proficiency (70.8%) lags the rest of the school and trails 3rd-grade math (94.7%) by a wide margin
- Family survey response rate is only 40%, so the parent satisfaction numbers reflect a self-selected group
- Average class size of 25.8 is on par with the district — not a small-class school
- Competition from Lower Lab and other District 2 standouts can complicate zoning realities in this neighborhood
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 2
In a district full of standouts — P.S. 77 Lower Lab, Manhattan New School, and the Success Academy charters — Spruce earns a 3.33/4 overall score, placing it solidly above the district average of 2.91 but a step below the very top tier.
Academics
ELA proficiency of 85% and math at 81.7% both run about 12 points above the District 2 average, placing Spruce among the stronger performers in an already high-performing district. The trajectory is clearly upward: ELA climbed from 70.8% in 2016 to 85% in 2025, and math from 72.4% to 81.7%, with a notable jump in 2023. Scores by grade are mostly strong, though 8th-grade math at 70.8% lags the rest of the school and trails 3rd-grade math (94.7%) by a wide margin.
Culture
Teachers rate safety at 100%, parent-teacher trust at 93%, and parent satisfaction at 91% — all above district averages — and discipline is essentially a non-issue, with just one suspension each of the past three years. The chronic absenteeism rate of 83.1% is striking and out of step with the school's strong 93.3% daily attendance, a puzzle families should ask about directly on a tour. The pattern by group is also unusual: white (89%) and Asian (91%) students show higher chronic absence than Hispanic (59%) and Black (71%) students, which doesn't match citywide norms.
Community
Spruce's student body is 47% white, 21% Asian, 16% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, and 5% Black — a mix that mirrors its Financial District neighborhood, where median household income tops $192,000 and only 6.1% of residents live in poverty. The economic need index of 22.2 is well below citywide norms, and 20% of students have IEPs. With unscreened admissions, this is a zoned school drawing from one of Manhattan's wealthiest catchments.
Neighborhood
The Financial District-Battery Park City neighborhood around the school is dense with high-earning professionals — median household income of $192,000, a 6.1% poverty rate, and 82.7% of adults holding a bachelor's degree. Only about 14% of households include children, which means the school draws from a relatively small pool of local families given how many workers and pied-à-terre dwellers live nearby. Homeownership is low (25%) and median home values exceed $1.27 million.
Three subway stations sit within about a three-minute walk: Fulton St (2,3), Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall (4,5,6), and Fulton St (J,Z) — about as transit-rich as any school in the city.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 174 families responded (40% rate)
Programs & Activities
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Pre-K
Spruce Street School also has Pre-K classes. They're a separate application from kindergarten, made on MySchools.
Pre-K application
Applications typically open in the winter and close in the spring, with offers in late spring; the city announces exact dates each year.
Kindergarten
Spruce Street School has an attendance zone. At elementary level, in-zone students get a guaranteed seat. Every family still applies on MySchools: the application confirms the zoned seat, and ranking other schools doesn't cost you it.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Check that your address is inside the zone — zones change, so confirm it before you sign a lease.
- 2Apply during the kindergarten application, even with a zoned seat.
- 3Rank this school along with any others you'd take, in true preference order.
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. Spruce Street School admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Spruce Street SchoolUnscreened48 seats
Middle school application
- Opened
- Wed, Oct 14
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 11
- Offers
- Wed, Apr 7
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the middle school application, in 5th grade.
- 2Unscreened programs fill by random lottery among the families who rank them.
- 3Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Spruce Street School a good school?
- On Motley, Spruce Street School earns an overall rating of 83/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run above the District 2 average.
- What grades does Spruce Street School serve?
- Spruce Street School serves grades Pre-K to 8.
- How do students get into Spruce Street School?
- Spruce Street School admits by application through a random lottery, with no academic screen.
- Is Spruce Street School public, charter, or private?
- Spruce Street School is a public school in NYC Community School District 2.
- What neighborhood is Spruce Street School in?
- Spruce Street School is in Financial District-Battery Park City, Manhattan.