The top reported proficiency rate is 24% in Science. The lowest is 7% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Facing History School (the)
The Facing History School sits on the west side of Midtown Manhattan, a short walk from the subway lines that thread through Hell's Kitchen and the Theater District. The school is a small public high school serving grades nine through twelve, and its enrollment is modest even by the standards of small New York City high schools. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial share of Black students, and very few white or Asian students. The school serves a deeply economically disadvantaged population: the vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, one of the higher such concentrations among New York City schools. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what we reviewed.
On the New York State assessments, proficiency rates are low across all tested subjects and grades. In math, across the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade cohorts tested, only a small fraction of students scored at proficiency level in any given grade. ELA rates are similarly low, running in the range of roughly one in five students or fewer at each tested grade. Science at the eighth grade follows the same pattern. Placed against other schools in New York County using the county's district comparison set, the school's overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile. These are real gaps and parents should go further: ask the school directly what academic supports are in place, how students typically progress from entry through graduation, and what the school's theory is for building skills in students who arrive behind grade level.
It is worth pausing on one structural note. The school is classified as a regular public high school and primarily serves grades nine through twelve. The state testing data that appear here cover middle-school grade levels, suggesting the school may serve some students in grades six through eight as well, or that students entering in ninth grade are being assessed on prior-year skills. In either case, the tested cohorts are small, and proficiency counts in some grades amount to only a handful of students, which means these rates can shift considerably from year to year. No multi-year trend data was available to show direction of travel.
The school's name signals a particular pedagogical identity. Publicly reported information describes "Facing History and Ourselves" as the curricular framework that gives the school its name, centering history, ethics, and civic identity in how students engage with content. That orientation attracts families specifically looking for a school grounded in social justice and humanistic inquiry rather than a test-prep or STEM-focused model. A graduation rate was not available in the data provided, which is a gap parents will want to fill directly with the school or through the New York City DOE's public reporting. Similarly, program details, AP or dual-enrollment course offerings, and course access data were not in what we received.
The housing market immediately surrounding the school is among the most expensive in the state, well above statewide and national medians, with rents moving upward year over year. For families considering this school from outside the immediate neighborhood, the cost of living near it is a real planning factor. The school draws from across the city rather than a single catchment zone, so physical proximity is less the determinant than it would be at a zoned neighborhood school.
The broader district context includes ongoing turbulence around Gifted and Talented admissions at the elementary level, though for a high school family that is less immediately relevant than it would be for parents of younger children. The district brief did not turn up Facing History-specific news about leadership, programming shifts, or facility changes, so we left that out rather than guess.
The picture this data gives is of a small, identity-driven school with a specific humanistic mission, a student population that is economically disadvantaged and predominantly students of color, and academic proficiency results that are well below state norms. Whether that combination fits a particular family depends on what they are looking for and what questions they need answered about the school's trajectory and support structures.
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