Ps 18 Park Terrace, New York NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 18 Park Terrace

PS 18 Park Terrace is a public elementary and middle school in upper Manhattan that serves kindergarten through eighth grade. The school is small in enrollment and sits in a densely urban neighborhood with very high concentrations of poverty. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the vast majority of the student body is Hispanic, with small numbers of Black and multiracial students and a single white student. The demographics are essentially homogeneous by ethnicity and economic need.

The school's state test results show weak proficiency across the board. In math, results range from roughly ten percent proficient in fourth and eighth grade to about forty-five percent in sixth grade, with most grades in the low-to-mid range. English language arts proficiency is similarly low across grades, hovering between roughly ten and fifty percent, with eighth grade performing somewhat better than most. The one science assessment available, from eighth grade, shows about twenty-five percent proficiency. These results place the school substantially below the median for districts across New York County. A parent should look into whether this reflects the school's instructional approach, student mobility, staffing stability, or other factors that matter to the particular decision at hand.

Eighth grade appears to be a notably smaller cohort and shows some unusual testing-participation patterns: the math participation rate dropped to about one-third of enrolled students, which warrants a conversation with the school about what drives those absences on test days. The school has undergone recent disruption. PS 18 was re-sited to a new building in the 2024-25 school year after its previous lease expired, and in that same year District 6 (the geographic district serving upper Manhattan) implemented mandatory phonics-based reading curricula across all elementary schools as part of the citywide NYC Reads initiative. That shift from balanced-literacy approaches is a lasting change to early reading instruction. The school is now also part of a co-location arrangement with another school in the same building.

The neighborhood itself is dense, walkable, and well-served by the subway, with mixed-use residential and commercial space typical of Manhattan. Housing values are near the citywide median but rents are moderately high relative to national benchmarks. The area is anchored by major employers in finance, professional services, technology, and tourism. Major construction and housing growth is underway across the city, including office-to-residential conversions and infrastructure projects.

District 6 as a whole has experienced declining enrollment in elementary and middle grades over recent years, driven by fewer resident families and rising charter-school enrollment. The district has consolidated some schools and adjusted building capacity accordingly. For families considering this school, the test data, the recent building transition, and the district's enrollment shifts are all worth understanding in detail. The school's programs and what supports are available for students struggling in core academics would be reasonable topics to discuss directly with the school.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

1 course reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Math	23	43.0%

Math

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 53% · ▼ 23 pts below district

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

Grade 411%

School 11% · District 53% · ▼ 42 pts below district

▼ 47 pts below state median · ▼ 50 pts below county median

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 53% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 40% · ▲ 5 pts above district

even with state median · even with county median

Grade 741%

School 41% · District 51% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 55% · ▼ 39 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 47% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 412%

School 12% · District 48% · ▼ 36 pts below district

▼ 41 pts below state median · ▼ 51 pts below county median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 54% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 42% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 43% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 49% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 41% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 45% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 562%

School 62% · district not reported

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

Grade 88%

School 8% · district not reported

▼ 70 pts below state median · ▼ 46 pts below county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT # 6, 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.