The top reported proficiency rate is 73% in Social studies. The lowest is 35% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Dr Emmett W Bassett School (the)
Dr. Emmett W. Bassett School is a public elementary school in the Bronx serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The school enrolls a diverse, economically stressed population: nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the enrollment is predominantly Hispanic and Asian, with smaller populations of Black, White, Native American, and Pacific Islander students. The student body is multilingual and economically challenged, with a substantial housing market around the school defined by rising rents and home values that year-over-year remain above state benchmarks.
The school's academic results show math strength paired with notable struggle in English language arts and science. In math, proficiency across the tested grades (three through five) clusters around two-thirds of students meeting the standard, with the strongest performance in grade three and fifth grade. English language arts tells a different story: proficiency rates are substantially lower, ranging from about one-third to about two-fifths across the same grades. Science proficiency, tested only in grade five, sits at roughly one-third of students. These results place the school at the top quartile of overall proficiency when measured against other districts in Bronx County, yet the ELA and science numbers warrant a parent's attention; a parent considering this school may want to discuss with the school how it is addressing literacy instruction, particularly in grades four and five, and what science resources are available given the low proficiency rate.
The school is part of New York City Geographic District 8, which has experienced sustained enrollment decline since the mid-2010s in both elementary and middle grades, driven by fewer school-aged residents and a shift of families toward charter schools. The district has excess seats, a signal that the traditional public school system in this area faces competition and may have room to serve families flexibly. At the same time, the district is under a citywide reading curriculum mandate: all elementary schools now use one of three approved literacy programs, replacing the prior system where principals chose their own materials. This change, which took effect in September 2024, means Bassett's approach to reading instruction is now standardized across the district rather than individually selected. For families enrolling in early grades, this standardization signals a district-wide commitment to evidence-based reading practices.
The Bronx itself is experiencing significant growth and development. New affordable housing projects are breaking ground across the borough, and a major transit expansion through the Penn Access Project will add Metro-North stations in coming years, reshaping commute patterns and accessibility. The commercial and civic life of the Bronx is distributed across neighborhood centers organized around transit hubs and commercial corridors rather than concentrating in a single downtown. Walkability is generally strong in denser neighborhoods like Fordham, though the borough varies sharply from block to block, mixing dense apartment districts with quieter residential enclaves. Major employers include Montefiore Medical Center, the health-care sector broadly, nonprofits, and the city school system itself.
The school's small size within its grade band makes it a neighborhood school that families can likely walk or reach by short transit to; it sits in a neighborhood where families do the same. Bassett serves children from pre-K through elementary grades, so it does not have a graduation rate, high school results, or the academic breadth of a larger district school. What it offers is foundational literacy and mathematics instruction to young students in a diverse, economically challenged community alongside the district's new reading mandates. The gap in performance between math and ELA suggests the school has work to do on literacy, particularly in the upper elementary grades. A family weighing enrollment should ask the school directly about its reading program, the training and resources behind it, and whether the school has identified the specific barriers to proficiency in grade four that dip below the school's overall profile.
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