At a Glance
A zoned Murray Hill elementary where students post strong test scores and parents report unusually high satisfaction — though the teacher-leadership picture is complicated.
Best suited for
Families zoned for Murray Hill-Kips Bay who want a high-performing, low-drama elementary where parent engagement is strong and the day-to-day culture is stable — particularly those comfortable with an 11-minute walk to the nearest subway and a classic zoned-school admission path.
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
- Test scores consistently land in the top tier of District 2, with 88.8% ELA and 91.1% math proficiency in 2025
- Family engagement is unusually high — 80% of families completed the 2025 survey, and 100% report strong teacher-family relationships
- Teacher collegial trust sits at 95% with 100% teacher-reported safety, suggesting a tight-knit and secure staff culture
- Discipline is essentially nonexistent district-wide context aside — just one suspension across three recent years
Things to consider
- Teacher-principal trust sits at 42% — strikingly low given the otherwise strong climate signals — worth asking the school directly about how that plays out day to day
- Teacher-rated instruction quality (81%) is below the district average of 90%, even though test scores are excellent
- Average class size of 25.8 is roughly in line with the district, so don't expect unusually small cohorts
- The nearest subway is an 11-minute walk, which matters for kids commuting on their own later on
- Admissions are strictly zoned — eligibility depends on your specific address, not a lottery or test
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 2
District 2 includes some of the city's most sought-after public elementary schools — P.S. 77 Lower Lab (99), P.S. 290 Manhattan New School (95), P.S. 89 and P.S. 183 (both 94) — and River School belongs squarely in that conversation with strong proficiency rates and a 3.6/4 overall rating. It's not a charter or screened program; it's a neighborhood zoned school performing at the level of many gifted-and-talented peers.
Academics
With 88.8% ELA proficiency and 91.1% math proficiency in 2025, River School runs ahead of the District 2 averages of 73% ELA and 73% math. The school's 3.6/4 overall score places it firmly in the district's upper tier. Grade-level data is especially strong in 3rd grade (93.2% ELA, 97.9% math) and 4th grade (87.7% ELA, 96.7% math), with a noticeable drop in 5th-grade math (80%). The long arc is clearly upward — from 68.2% ELA and 63.6% math in 2017 to record or near-record highs in 2025 — though 2024 saw a dip before numbers rebounded.
Culture
Parents feel heard here — 94% are satisfied, with 100% reporting strong relationships and 97% expressing trust in both teachers and the principal. The 80% family survey response rate is unusually high. Teacher dynamics tell a more complicated story: teachers trust each other (95% collegial trust) and feel safe (100%), but only 42% report trusting the principal and just 81% rate instruction quality as strong — well below the district average of 90%. Attendance is solid at 93.6%, above the district's 92%. Discipline is essentially a non-issue, with a single suspension in 2023-24 after two prior years of zero.
Community
River School's 458 students are predominantly White (37%) and Asian (34%), with Hispanic (15%), Black (8%), and multiracial (4%) students making up the remainder. The economic need index sits at just 20.9, low even for District 2, and reflects the surrounding Murray Hill-Kips Bay neighborhood where median household income is about $137,000 and the BA+ rate is 82%. About 14% of students have IEPs. It's a comparatively affluent school body that nonetheless draws from across the city's middle class.
Neighborhood
River School sits in Murray Hill-Kips Bay, a quiet residential stretch of Manhattan where median household income tops $137,000 and just 7.9% of residents live below the poverty line. The neighborhood is dominated by professionals in doorman buildings and townhouses, with an 82% bachelor's-degree-or-higher rate among adults. Households with children under 18 make up just 7.6% of the population, so this is a notably adult-skewed pocket of the city. Homeownership is 28%, with a median home value near $970,000.
Public transit access is a walk: the closest station is the 6 train at 33rd Street, about 11 minutes on foot, with Grand Central (4, 5, 6, and 7 lines) roughly 11–12 minutes away. School buses, driving, or stroller-pushing are typical routines for families with younger kids.
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) · 390 families responded (80% rate)
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
The River 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
The River 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.
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 The River School a good school?
- On Motley, The River School earns an overall rating of 90/100 — 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 The River School serve?
- The River School serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into The River School?
- The River School admits by zone — children who live in its attendance zone get a guaranteed seat.
- Is The River School public, charter, or private?
- The River School is a public school in NYC Community School District 2.
- What neighborhood is The River School in?
- The River School is in Murray Hill-Kips Bay, Manhattan.