Stem Institute of Manhattan, New York NY

Original Research by School Decision on Stem Institute of Manhattan

The STEM Institute of Manhattan sits on West 113th Street in Harlem, part of New York City's Geographic District 3, which stretches along the Upper West Side and into this part of upper Manhattan. It is a small public elementary school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade, with an enrollment that puts it among the smaller schools in its tier. The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic, and the overwhelming majority of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, making this one of the highest-need schools in the district by that measure. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.

The school's name signals a STEM identity, but program specifics were not available, so a parent interested in how that focus is implemented in classrooms, what materials or partnerships support it, and how it differs from a conventional elementary should ask the school directly.

On the New York State assessments, the picture is mixed and worth examining carefully. In third and fourth grade math and ELA, proficiency rates sit below what would typically represent the midpoint for a public school, and the science result at fifth grade follows a similar pattern. Fifth-grade math is a clear exception: a much larger share of those students tested as proficient, well above the other grades. The tested groups at each grade level are small enough that single-year results can shift substantially with just a few students, so these figures are better read as indicators to explore than as settled judgments. Still, across third and fourth grade, where the tested groups are somewhat larger, the proficiency rates in both reading and math are low, and a parent would reasonably want to ask the school what supports are in place and how performance has been moving over time. Multi-year trend data was not available for this school.

Relative to other districts in New York County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile of that comparison set. That is a meaningful position and worth naming plainly, though the school's high concentration of students from low-income families, a population that faces documented academic gaps citywide, is a relevant part of that context.

The housing market around the school reflects central Manhattan realities. Home values in the surrounding zip code are substantially above both the New York State median and the national median, and rents have been rising. This is not an entry-level market. The broader city is in a housing-growth phase, with major zoning reforms adopted in 2024 aimed at increasing supply across neighborhoods, and the area remains fully integrated into the city's transit network, walkable in the everyday sense that Manhattan neighborhoods typically are.

District 3 has been active on structural changes that matter for elementary families thinking past fifth grade. Middle school admissions shifted to a lottery system, removing academic screens beginning with the 2022-2023 cycle, layered onto a standing diversity plan that prioritizes a share of seats for lower-income students at each school. Families who expected to compete academically for specific middle schools should understand that pathway has changed. Separately, the district went through a prolonged and contentious process around proposed closures and relocations of several Upper West Side schools; those proposals were withdrawn in spring 2026 after significant community opposition, but the episode reflects a degree of instability in middle school options that families weighing long-term plans would want to track. On the accelerated-learning front, New York City's Gifted and Talented admissions were overhauled citywide, replacing the single high-stakes test with a lottery for eligible students, with eligibility in grades one through four tied to report card grades.

The social studies data in the system is from well over a decade ago and attached to a prior school name at this location; it is not meaningful for evaluating the current school and is left aside here.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 73% · ▼ 43 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 420%

School 20% · District 71% · ▼ 51 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 65% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 71% · ▼ 34 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 70% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 73% · ▼ 36 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Science

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 60% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 566%

School 66% · district not reported

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 816%

School 16% · district not reported

▼ 62 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT # 3, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income63%Higher-income57%5 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income23%Higher-income33%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income71%Higher-income71%0 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income13%Higher-income17%3 pp gap