At a Glance
A small screened middle school on the Chinatown border where math scores have nearly quadrupled in a decade and suspensions have dropped to zero.
Best suited for
Families who value a small, screened middle school with restorative culture, accelerating academics, and exceptional parent-school trust — and who are prepared to support consistent attendance to make the most of the trajectory.
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
- Math proficiency has nearly quadrupled since 2016, the most dramatic upward trajectory of any school in its peer set.
- Zero suspensions last year, down from six two years earlier — paired with explicit restorative-justice programming.
- Parent satisfaction at 97% and parent-principal trust at 99% are well above district norms.
- 44% of students have IEPs, making this one of the more inclusive middle schools in the district.
- 8th-grade ELA proficiency (53%) actually exceeds the district average, showing real exit outcomes.
- Rich programming includes Regents-level Living Environment, Algebra I, and Specialized High School test prep — uncommon offerings for a middle school.
Things to consider
- Math proficiency at 25% is well below the district average of 47% — even with strong recent gains, students are still catching up.
- Chronic absenteeism is 38.9% overall and 45.6% among male students, which can erode the gains families hope to see.
- The student body does not reflect the surrounding neighborhood — only 4% Asian despite a location adjacent to one of the city's largest Asian communities.
- Only 8% of neighborhood households include children, so this is essentially a destination school rather than a true neighborhood zoned option.
- Teacher survey responses were quite low (21), so the glowing teacher scores should be read with that small-sample caveat.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 1
Among District 1 middle schools, University Neighborhood is neither a top performer nor a struggling one — it lands below the district average on overall score (1.42 vs. 1.98) but above peers like P.S. 110 and P.S. 015 on the program-richness metric, and well behind NEST+M. Its standout trait in the district context is the combination of rapid academic gains and a near-total absence of suspensions.
Academics
ELA proficiency at 45.8% is a few points below the district average of about 52%, and math at 25% trails the district's 47% considerably — but the trajectory tells the real story. Math proficiency has climbed from 6.9% in 2016 to 25% in 2025, and ELA from 24% to 46%, with the steepest gains coming in the last three years. Scores also rise sharply by grade: 6th-grade ELA sits at 34%, but 8th grade hits 53% — above the district average — suggesting students genuinely grow into the school rather than entering already-proficient.
Culture
Day-to-day, this is a calm, well-trusted school. Teacher ratings are sky-high — 99% say instruction is strong and 99% trust the principal — and parent trust scores sit in the high 90s across the board. Discipline has moved in a remarkable direction: suspensions went from 6 in 2021-22 to 4 to zero last year, paired with restorative circles and peer mediation in the program catalog. The one climate flag is attendance: 83.8% lags the district's 88.9%, and over a third of students are chronically absent, particularly boys (45.6%).
Community
The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (62%) and Black (21%), with smaller White (11%) and Asian (4%) populations — notable given the school is located in a neighborhood whose name begins with "Chinatown." Nearly 85% of students qualify as economically needy and 44% have IEPs, far above city norms, which means a typical classroom carries real academic diversity. Only about 8% of neighborhood households include children, so most of the kids here arrive from elsewhere or from the small share of local family households.
Neighborhood
The school sits in the Chinatown-Two Bridges neighborhood, where median household income is around $35,000, the poverty rate runs about 33%, and only 8% of households include children — a population profile shaped heavily by immigrant elders and adult-only households. About 30% of neighborhood adults hold a bachelor's degree, homeownership is rare at 10%, and most residents rent in a market where the median home value exceeds $630,000. It's a dense, walkable pocket of Manhattan where families who do live here tend to be stretched but deeply rooted.
From the F train at East Broadway, it's about a 5-minute walk; from Delancey St-Essex St on the F, M, J, or Z lines, around 8 minutes.
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) · 59 families responded (45% rate)
Programs & Activities
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. University Neighborhood Middle School admits through 2 programs, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Next Generation Extended Learning @ NYUScreened22 seats
- University Neighborhood Middle SchoolScreened66 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.
- 2Screened programs rank 4th-grade course grades, so last year's report card is the one that counts.
- 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 University Neighborhood Middle School a good school?
- On Motley, University Neighborhood Middle School earns an overall rating of 36/100 — 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 below the District 1 average.
- What grades does University Neighborhood Middle School serve?
- University Neighborhood Middle School serves grades 6 to 8.
- How do students get into University Neighborhood Middle School?
- University Neighborhood Middle School is a screened school — it admits by application, ranking applicants on their course grades (4th grade for middle school, the 7th-grade core-course average for high school); a few schools add an assessment, writing sample, or interview.
- Is University Neighborhood Middle School public, charter, or private?
- University Neighborhood Middle School is a public school in NYC Community School District 1.
- What neighborhood is University Neighborhood Middle School in?
- University Neighborhood Middle School is in Chinatown-Two Bridges, Manhattan.