The Clinton School

Clinton's 86.2% ELA proficiency and 80.4% math proficiency both run well ahead of District 2 averages of 73.2% and 72.5% respectively. Scores climbed sharply from 2016 through a 2019 peak (92.5% ELA, 92.6% math), held strong into 2022, then dipped to 83.3% ELA in 2024 before partially recovering this year. The math score has slipped from its 2018 high, suggesting some loss of ground even as the school remains a clear outperformer against its district peers.

Daily attendance is strong at 95.1% versus the district's 91.9%, and the school has reported zero suspensions for three straight years — a genuinely distinctive disciplinary record. Parent trust in teachers and the principal is solid (86% and 87%), but parent satisfaction at 85% sits below the district's 92.1% average, and teacher-rated instruction quality at 72% is a notable 18 points below the district's 89.8%. The teacher survey itself had only 27 respondents, so the data is worth weighing carefully rather than treating as definitive. Reported chronic absenteeism at 91.2% is unusually high and uneven across demographic groups, which is something families should raise directly with the school.

Clinton's student body is 61% White, 15% Asian, 12% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, and 3% Black, with an economic need index of just 20.6 — a profile that mirrors the surrounding Union Square neighborhood, where median household income is $171,008 and 81% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. The school draws from a professional, college-educated parent base across Manhattan, and the demographic mix skews notably narrower than the citywide average. Eighteen percent of students have IEPs, which is meaningful for a screened school, and the IB programme plus ELL support signal some breadth in academic pathways.

The school sits in the Midtown South-Flatiron-Union Square neighborhood, where residents are predominantly affluent professionals in their childless or early-family years — only 9.2% of households have children, and homeownership is just 31.4%, reflecting a renter-heavy, high-rise district. Poverty is relatively low at 11.8%, and median home values around $1.66 million tell you what kind of household most families sending kids here already live in or aspire to. The mix of families who do have school-age children tends to be highly educated and commute-focused, given how central the location is.

Three blocks from Union Square: the N, Q, R, and W lines are about a three-minute walk, and the L and the 4, 5, 6 are about four minutes away, making this one of the most transit-accessible middle schools in the city.